12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
(ESV)
STOP! Think a little 🤔 What is God saying to you?
- What is the writer saying?
- How do I apply this to my life?
Jesus has been welcomed in as the expected conquering king who would free the Jews from oppression but the first thing He does is take on the religious leaders of His own people. He cleanses the temple by throwing out all who were using the template to make themselves wealthy. God had intended the template as a place of worship and the religious leaders had made it a place of selfishness and greed.
While the cleansing of the template might not have been a sign people expected of the Messiah, healing people was. He healed all the blind and lame who came to Him in the temple. The children around the temple continued the singing of the people, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The religious leaders were upset because Jesus was comfortable to receive the praise they were singing to Him. Jesus replies by quoting Psalm 8:2 that it is from the mouths of children and babies that perfect praise comes. Then Jesus left Jerusalem, because He had not received the welcome that was due Him, and He went and stayed in an outside town of Bethany.
What is your worship like? Is it the pure and perfect praise of a child or has it been warped and distorted into something selfish and ultimately detestable to God? Would Jesus accept your praise or want to clean it up a bit like He needed to clean up the temple?
The next morning as Jesus returned to Jerusalem, he was hungry and saw a fig tree. Because of the leaves and the time of year, He expected little green figs to eat but the tree had only leaves. He cursed the tree because of its lack of fruit. The tree was symbolic of Israel who had often been compared to a fig tree and cursing the fig tree was a symbol of judgement against Israel. Israel had not produced fruit and so it could not be blessed by Messiah. The disciples marvel at how quickly the fig tree withered. Jesus explains that unlike Israel who had no faith, the disciples would need faith to see God work in their lives. If you desire to serve God and pray with faith, you will experience God working in your life (Psalm 37:4).
I love the comparison of a fig tree to Israel. The people didn’t produce any fruit from God and his word, just like that fig tree didn’t produce fruit.
Jesus says if we have faith in Him we can do anything and so this comforted and excited me that we can have a God who can do anything that is willing to have a relationship with us.
Just something that I thought about when I was reading this is that when the pharisees criticized everything that Jesus did he never retaliated. People will always find fault with what you do and what you believe so we must be like Jesus and not retaliate.