Context, Context, Context

“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again'” (Mark 11:12-13).

“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.”

Okay. That can happen. Bethany is about two miles east from Jerusalem. Jesus, being fully man and fully God gets hungry. So far so good.

The hungry Jesus sees in a distance a fig tree, and he goes to it wanting to snack on some yummy figs. But when he reaches the tree, he finds nothing but leaves. And, get this, BECAUSE IT WAS NOT THE SEASON FOR FIGS.

So, what does hungry Jesus do? Look for another snack option? Nope. He curses the fig tree for not having fruits. And we are told why – BECAUSE IT WAS NOT THE SEASON FOR FIGS!!!

What’s that about? That doesn’t sound right. What did the fig tree do that Jesus curses the tree? The fig tree was just doing what the fig tree was supposed to be doing during the season when it’s not budding fruit. We are told later that by morning, the fig tree Jesus cursed had withered and died.

Context, context, context. Context matters. If we were to read this verse in isolation, it makes Jesus look like an angry tyrant who kills an innocent tree because he doesn’t get his way.

But read in context, we see why the gospel writer Mark tells this story.

• v.11 tells us – “Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts…”
• v.15 tells us – “On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there…”

The gospel writer Mark “sandwiches” the fig tree story right in the middle of verses talking about the temple. What Jesus was cursing was the Jewish religion as it was being practiced. The temple should have been the place where people were coming to be transformed by God and his word. Instead, it only looked fruitful. It bore no fruit. By this time, after all these years, the temple ought to be the place of transformation. Instead, Jesus says, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of robbers” (Mark 11:17).

Context, context, context. Context matters. Context absolutely matters.

Got it?