Mark 11:12-14; 20-26

¹² Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.

¹³ And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴ In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.

__________

²⁰ Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.

²¹ And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”

²² So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

²³ For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

²⁴ Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

²⁵ “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Also found in Matthew 21:18-22.

the next day (v.12) — Monday

not the season for figs (v.13) — I found several different interpretations.

According to Williams, it means that the fig harvest hadn’t begun so there should have been fruit.

According to Guthrie (pg. 875), “The fig tree in Palestine bears an early crop of immature fruit, like green knobs, which appears before the leaves. These are known as Taksh and are the common food of the peasants. Their absence was clear indication of the barrenness of the tree.”

According to Thomas (pg. 179), “Jesus knew that Passover time was not the season for figs, but He used His own hunger and this leafy fig tree as an object lesson for the disciples. In the Old Testament the fig tree is often a symbol for Israel (Jeremiah 8:13; 29:17; Hosea 9:10, 16; Joel 1:7; Micah 7:1-6). Such is the case here. The ritualism of national worship was hiding the absence of genuine piety among the people. Hence Jesus’ cure of this fig tree was emblematic of God’s judgment that was going to fall on Jerusalem.”

According to Chadwick (pg. 304), “It is that figs would not be in season for two months, but yet they ought to present themselves before the leaves did; and since the tree was precocious in show and profusion of luxuriance, it ought to bear early figs. … Retribution fell upon it not for its lack of fruit, since at that season it shared this with all its tribe, but for ostentatious, much-professing fruitlessness.”

According to Wuest (pg.220), “The tree was prematurely in leaf, growing in some sheltered spot, and it was reasonable to expect a premature crop of figs. The Lord condemned the tree, not only because of its fruitlessness, but because of its fruitlessness in the midst of a display which promised fruit.”

in the morning (v.20) — Tuesday

dried up (v.20) = withered away, dead

Our Lord’s answer to Peter, on the surface so unrelated to Peter’s words [can be explained as] the lesson to be learnt from the prompt fulfillment of His prayer. … Our Lord exercised faith in the cursing of the fig tree. He presses home the lesson of the necessity of faith to the disciples. The word “God” is in the genitive case, showing here the object of faith … “be constantly having faith in God.” — Wuest, page 224

__________

this mountain (v.23) — The Twelve were crossing the Mount of Olives; below them, between the mountains of Judaea and the mountains of Moab, lay the hollow of the Dead Sea. Faith, cooperating with the Divine Will, could fill the basin with the mass of limestone beneath their feet … Faith is regarded as the normal attitude of the heart, not a sudden emotion or isolated act. Faith contemplates the effect as potentially accompanying its exercise, though the actual fulfillment may be delayed. — Wuest, page 224.

doubt (v.23) = lit. “to judge between two,” so, a divided judgment, a wavering doubt

whatever he says (v.23) — not in some manuscripts.

[Verse 24 speaks of] the kind of faith that sees the fulfillment before it happens. “Faith is the title deed of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1).” Just as a title deed guarantees to the one whose name appear son it, the ownership of the property, even though he may not have it in his actual possession, so faith is the title deed that guarantees to the one exercising it, the answer to his prayer, even though that answer may be delayed, and the thing asked for not in his possession. — Wuest, page 225.

stand praying (v.25) — a common practice among Jews

trespasses (v.25) = a fall from the right course, a false step

Verse 26 does not appear in most manuscripts, although I wonder if this is simply due to an effort to reconcile the dispensations of Law and Grace.