christiandiscussions

I have a question: I have an answer, but am curious what others think first.
What is the meaning behind Jesus's actions here? Why would Jesus curse a fig tree that had no figs on it, even though it wasn't the season for figs? Jesus growing up in this area would have know it wasn't the season for figs, as we would know what season it is for apples, pears, bananas, ect... depending on our area. So what was his purpose for doing this?


Mark 11:12-14, 19-21
12 On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.
13 Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14 He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.

19 When evening came, they would go out of the city.
20 As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.
21Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."

Dennis wrote:I have a question: I have an answer, but am curious what others think first.
What is the meaning behind Jesus's actions here? Why would Jesus curse a fig tree that had no figs on it, even though it wasn't the season for figs? Jesus growing up in this area would have know it wasn't the season for figs, as we would know what season it is for apples, pears, bananas, ect... depending on our area. So what was his purpose for doing this?


Mark 11:12-14, 19-21
12 On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.
13 Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14 He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.

19 When evening came, they would go out of the city.
20 As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.
21Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."

Hi Dennis,

This action of Jesus is in reference to the rottenness of the leaders of Israel from the Old Covenant and at the same time, I believe, He is symbolizing the New Covenant that God is making with His people.
This is a reference to Jeremiah 24 and the vision that the Lord showed to him of the two baskets of figs -- one with very good figs and the other basket containing very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten.
The Lord explained to Jeremiah that the good figs represent the exiles (the remnant) that He sent away from Judah and whom He would "build up."
Here we have the theme of redemption by God's plan -- Jer. 24:6-7, "I will set my eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart."

This is the familiar Word of the announcement of the New Covenant in Jer. 31:31-34, "Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant I made with their fathers . . . my covenant that they broke . . . I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people . . . I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sins no more."

The bad figs represent the corruption of the leaders of the house of Israel and those who have followed their covenant-breaking ways. They are so corrupt that they are beyond redemption.

Jesus is expressing the judgment of God on those who despise him. He has His mission of salvation in mind when he sees the barren fig tree even though it has leaves.
Jesus has come to inaugurate the New Covenant that He represents and His cursing of the fig tree is the wiping out of the Old Covenant with Himself as the New Covenant firmly entrenched in His mind.