Mark 11:12 - Meaning and Application

Here, first, Christ curses the fruitless fig tree. He had a comfortable place to rest at Bethany, so he stayed there at night. But his work was in Jerusalem, so he returned there in the morning, at the time for work. He was so fully focused on his mission that he left Bethany without breakfast, and before long he felt hungry (Mark 11:12). He experienced the same harmless weaknesses as the rest of our human nature.

When he needed food, he went to a fig tree he saw at a distance. Its green leaves made it look promising, so he expected to find fruit. But he found only leaves. He was looking for figs, and though the time for gathering figs was near, it was not yet the season. So no one could say the fruit had already been picked and taken away. Some understand the point as simply this, it was not a fig season, so it was not a good fig year. But this tree was worse than most, because it had not even one fig, though it had many leaves.

Christ used the tree as an example, not to punish trees, but to warn people of that generation. He cursed it with the opposite of the first blessing, “Be fruitful.” He said, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again” (Mark 11:14). In Jotham’s parable, sweetness and good fruit are the fig tree’s honor, because its usefulness to people is better than being promoted over the other trees (Judges 9:11). To lose that honor was a severe curse.

This was meant to be a picture of what would happen to the Jewish church. Christ came to it looking for fruit, but found none (Luke 13:6-7). And though it was not cut down at once, as in the parable, blindness and hardness came on them (Romans 11:8, Romans 11:25), so that they were from then on useless for their proper purpose. The disciples heard what Christ said to the tree and took careful notice of it. Warnings from Christ’s mouth should be remembered just as much as his blessings.

Second, he clears the temple of the sellers and buyers, and of those who used it as a shortcut. We do not read that Christ found food anywhere else after missing the fig tree. But his zeal for God’s house burned so strongly that he almost forgot his own hunger. Hungry as he was, he came to Jerusalem, went straight to the temple, and began correcting the wrongs he had noticed the day before. This showed that when the Redeemer came to Zion, his mission was to turn people from ungodliness (Romans 11:26). He did not come, as his enemies falsely claimed, to destroy the temple, but to cleanse it and bring his church back to its original purity.

He drove out the buyers and sellers, overturned the tables of the money changers, and threw their money to the ground, the proper place for it. He also knocked over the seats of those who sold doves. He acted with full authority, like a son in his own house. The impurity of Zion is removed, not by force, but by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. He did this without being stopped, because even those who had allowed the abuse, and profited from it, knew deep down that it was wrong.

This should encourage people who try to reform what is corrupt. Often, cleaning out abuses turns out to be easier than expected. Wise efforts sometimes succeed beyond hope, and the lions people feared along the road are not really there.

He would not allow anyone to carry any vessel, or any goods, through the temple just because it was a shorter way and saved effort (Mark 11:16). The Jews themselves said it was a mark of respect for the temple not to turn the temple hill, or the court of the Gentiles, into a road or common passage, or to enter it carrying a load.

He also gave the reason for his action: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17, Isaiah 56:7). That was the true purpose of the temple from the beginning. When Solomon dedicated it, he had the foreigner in mind too (1 Kings 8:41). And Scripture had already foretold that it would become even more clearly a place of prayer. Christ wanted the temple, as a picture of the gospel church, to be, first, a house of prayer. After he drove out the oxen and doves, which were used for sacrifice, he restored its true purpose as a house of prayer, teaching us that when sacrifices and offerings would end, the spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise would remain forever. Second, it was to be a house of prayer for all nations, not for the Jews only. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, even if he is not of Jacob’s physical family. It was unbearable, then, for the Jews to turn it into a den of thieves, which would push other nations away from it when they should have been drawing them in.

When Christ drove out the buyers and sellers at the start of his ministry, he said they had made the temple a house of merchandise (John 2:16). Now he says they have made it a den of thieves, because since then they had twice tried to stone him in the temple (John 8:59; John 10:31), or because the merchants there had become known for cheating customers, especially country people who were ignorant or in need. That is nothing better than theft. People who let worldly thoughts stay in their minds during worship turn the house of prayer into a house of merchandise. Those who say long prayers as a show, while they devour widows’ houses, turn it into a den of thieves.

The scribes and chief priests were deeply angered by this (Mark 11:18). They hated him, and they hated being corrected by him. At the same time, they feared him, because they knew he might next overthrow their own positions and drive them out. They were aware of how they had profaned and abused their power. They saw that he had great influence, that all the people were amazed at his teaching, and that everything he said carried the force of an oracle and a law to them. With such support, what would he not dare to do, and what could he not accomplish?

So they looked for a way, not to make peace with him, but to destroy him. It was a desperate plan, and one would think they themselves must have feared they were fighting against God. But they did not care, so long as they could protect their own power and greatness.

Third, he speaks with his disciples about the withering of the fig tree he had cursed.

At evening, as usual, Jesus went out of the city (Mark 11:19) to Bethany. It is likely that it was already dark, so they could not see the fig tree. The next morning, as they passed by, they saw that the fig tree had dried up from the roots (Mark 11:20).

There is often more in Christ’s curses than he says out loud, and the result shows it. His curse was only that the tree would never bear fruit again, but the effect went farther, it dried up from the roots. If a tree will bear no fruit, it will bear no leaves to deceive people. Christ’s words carry real power.

Now see how the disciples reacted. Peter remembered what Jesus had said and said with surprise, “Master, look, the fig tree you cursed has withered” (Mark 11:21). Christ’s curses have amazing effects. They quickly dry up what once seemed strong and flourishing. Those whom he curses are truly cursed.

This also pictured the state of the Jewish church, which from then on was like a tree dried up from the roots. It was no longer fit for food, only for fuel. The first setting up of the Levitical priesthood, the priesthood that handled Israel’s worship under God’s law, was confirmed by a miracle of a dry rod that budded and blossomed in one night and brought forth almonds (Numbers 17:8). That was a joyful sign of that priesthood’s life and fruitfulness. Now, by the opposite miracle, the ending of that priesthood was shown by a flourishing tree that dried up in one night, the right judgment on priests who had misused it.

This seemed very strange to the disciples, and almost unbelievable, that the Jews, who had long been God’s own people and his only professing people in the world, should be left like this. They could not understand how that fig tree could wither so quickly. But this is what comes from rejecting Christ and being rejected by him.

Christ also drew good teaching from this event, for even this withered tree was made fruitful in instruction. He taught them to pray in faith (Mark 11:22). “Have faith in God,” he said. They had admired the power of his command, and he showed them that living, active faith would give great power to their prayers (Mark 11:23-24). If someone says to this mountain, meaning a great obstacle like the Mount of Olives, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes what he says according to God’s word, it will happen. Through the power of God in Christ, the greatest difficulty can be overcome.

So Jesus added, “Whatever things you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24). This applies, first, to the faith that enabled the apostles and early gospel preachers to work miracles in natural things, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out demons. Those acts were like moving mountains. Paul even speaks of a faith that could do this and yet could still exist without holy love (1 Corinthians 13:2). It also applies to the miracle of faith given to all true Christians, which works wonders in spiritual things. It justifies us, that is, puts us right with God, and so removes the mountains of guilt and throws them into the sea never to rise against us in judgment again (Romans 5:1; Micah 7:19). It purifies the heart (Acts 15:9), and so removes mountains of corruption and levels them before God’s grace (Zechariah 4:7).

By faith, the world is overcome, Satan’s flaming darts are quenched, and the soul is joined to Christ and yet lives. By faith, we keep the Lord always before us, see the invisible God, and have him present in our minds. That truly can remove mountains, because at the presence of the Lord, the mountains were moved and removed (Psalm 114:4-7).

Jesus also added another needed part of effective prayer, that we freely forgive those who have wronged us and live in love with everyone (Mark 11:25-26). “When you stand praying, forgive.” Standing was not an unusual posture for prayer among the Jews, so they even called their prayers their “standings.” When they spoke of the world being upheld by prayer, they said, “The world stands by standings.” Early Christians more often used a humbler posture, especially kneeling on fast days, though not on the Lord’s Day.

When we pray, we must remember to pray for others, especially our enemies and those who have hurt us. We cannot sincerely ask God to do them good if we are nursing anger and wishing them harm. If we have hurt others before praying, we must go and make peace with them first (Matthew 5:23-24). But if they have hurt us, we must take the shorter path and forgive them at once from the heart.

We must do this, first, because it is a good step toward receiving pardon for our own sins: “Forgive, that your Father may forgive you.” That is, God may forgive you without dishonor to his own name, because it would not fit his mercy to grant that blessing to people who are so unlike the mercy they ask for. Second, the lack of forgiveness in us is a sure barrier to receiving pardon for our sins. If we do not forgive those who have hurt us, if we hate them, hold grudges, think about revenge, or seize every chance to speak badly of them, then our Father will not forgive our trespasses.

This must be remembered in prayer, because one great reason we come to God is to ask for forgiveness of sins. We should think about that every day, because prayer is part of our daily duty. Our Savior often pressed this point, because his great purpose was to lead his disciples to love one another.