13 

Nothing but Leaves
(Mark 11:12–21) 

On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. 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. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” (11:12–21)

This passage introduces a monumental day in redemptive history. On Tuesday of Passion Week, the Lord Jesus Christ, in a complete reversal of the Jewish people’s messianic hopes and expectations, in essence pronounced a curse on the temple. That curse, consigning it to God’s judgment, by extension included the corrupt religious leaders and the entire nation. In a shocking turn of events, Israel, the covenant nation, chosen (Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 1 Kings 3:8; Pss. 105:6; 135:4; Isa. 44:1; Amos 3:2) and blessed (Gen. 12:2–3; Num. 22:12; Deut. 1:11; Ps. 33:12) by God, was cursed by God’s Messiah, because of its rejection of Him. That rejection would culminate on Friday when the crowd, urged on by the religious leaders, called for the execution of the Son of God.

Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree, the only destructive miracle recorded in the Gospels, serves as a symbol previewing the coming destruction of the temple. The Lord’s assault on the temple and the merchants polluting it is a prediction by action of the temple’s destruction. His cursing of the fig tree, and thus symbolically the temple, manifests God’s displeasure with the place, its leaders, and the people who worshiped there.

Throughout the nation’s history, the temple had been the heart of Israel’s religious life. For centuries before the first temple was built, Israel’s worship occurred around the tabernacle, which was in effect a mobile temple (cf. Ex. 25–30; 35:30–40:38; Lev. 10:1–7). The first fixed temple was planned by David (2 Sam. 7:1–11; 1 Chron. 22:1–19), who purchased the site of the temple (Mt. Moriah [2 Chron. 3:1], where centuries earlier Abraham had been told by God to offer Isaac [Gen. 22:2]), and built by Solomon (1 Kings 8:1–66). After centuries of apostasy and rebellion, God withdrew His presence from the temple (Ezek. 9:3; 10:4, 18–19; 11:22–23), and it was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the forces of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:9; 2 Chron. 36:19; Isa. 64:11).

After the seventy-year Babylonian captivity, the returned exiles under the leadership of Zerubbabel rebuilt the temple. That second temple did not at all approach the splendor of Solomon’s temple. Smaller and less ornate, the sight of it caused those old enough to remember the first temple to weep (Ezra 3:12). This second temple was desecrated during the intertestamental period by the diabolical Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), as predicted in Daniel’s prophecy (Dan. 11:31).

In 20 B.C. Herod the Great began the restoration and expansion of Zerubbabel’s temple, a long process (cf. John 2:20) that continued until A.D. 64—a mere six years before the Romans destroyed the temple in A.D. 70. It is this rebuilt and enlarged temple that is in view in this passage.

The story of the temple reflects Israel’s history of apostasy, which culminated in the rejection and murder of the Messiah. Since the Romans destroyed Herod’s temple in A.D. 70, no new temple has been built. In the future, however, there will be two more temples. A temple will be built during the tribulation, which Antichrist will desecrate (Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:4), and a final temple will be built during the millennial kingdom (Ezek. 40–43). In the eternal state, there will be no need for a temple, “for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Rev. 21:22).

This passage, which previews the demolition of Herod’s temple, may be examined under two headings: the curse previewed and portrayed in analogy, and the curse previewed and portrayed in action.

THE CURSE PREVIEWED AND PORTRAYED IN ANALOGY

On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. 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. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. (11:12–14)

On Tuesday, the next day after the triumphal entry on Monday (see the discussion of 11:1–11 in the previous chapter of this volume), Jesus and the disciples left the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany for Jerusalem. On the way, Jesus became hungry. Though He was God incarnate, Jesus was also fully man and thus subject to the limitations of being human (cf. Heb. 2:14). He not only regularly experienced hunger, as on this occasion and at His temptation (Matt. 4:2), but also thirst (John 4:7) and weariness (Mark 4:38; John 4:6). Perhaps the Lord had not eaten breakfast before they left, possibly because He chose to spend time in prayer. Jesus knew that He faced a formidable task that day that would require strength and energy, and thus He needed food.

In the distance Jesus saw a fig tree in leaf, and He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it. Fig trees were ubiquitous in Israel and are mentioned about fifty times in Scripture. It was reasonable for the Lord to expect to find immature fruit on this fig tree, even though it was not the season for figs. Although the main fig harvest was in late summer and fall, small but edible unripe figs (cf. Isa. 28:4; Hos. 9:10; Mic. 7:1) appeared in spring, about the time of Passover, before the leaves did. Since the tree in question had leaves, it would be expected to have figs.

But despite its promising appearance, the tree was barren. There were no figs on it, nothing but leaves. Seeing that, the Lord cursed the fig tree and said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” According to Matthew’s account, He declared, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you” (Matt. 21:19); hence, no one would be able to eat any from it. Jesus pronounced a curse (see the discussion of v. 21 below) on the fig tree that killed it.

The barren fig tree graphically illustrates the empty pretense of worship in the temple. Through the prophet Isaiah, God, using another agricultural metaphor, pronounced a similar judgment on Israel:

Quoting Isaiah 29:13, Jesus condemned the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees: “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men’” (Matt. 15:7–9; cf. 23:13–36).

The destruction of the temple would not take place immediately. But as another parable in which a fig tree symbolized Israel (Luke 13:6–9) teaches, God’s patient withholding of judgment was temporary. It would not be until four decades later, in A.D. 70, that Roman forces under the command of Titus would sack Jerusalem and burn and level the temple.

While His disciples were listening to Jesus talk about the fig tree, they no doubt remembered what the Lord said in Matthew 7:16–20, where He declared that false teachers are known by their fruits. They might also have remembered Deuteronomy 28:15–68, where Moses warned of the curses that would befall Israel should the people disobey God. Ultimately, the temple and the fruitless religious system it represented would be destroyed because Israel’s leaders and people “not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own … did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3).

THE CURSE PREVIEWED AND PORTRAYED IN ACTION

Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” (11:15–21)

To the surprise and dismay of the people, Jesus, contrary to their messianic hopes and expectations, did not assault the Roman oppressors but attacked the temple, leaders, and worshipers instead. When they came to Jerusalem Tuesday morning, Jesus entered the temple. He did not, however, come to worship. As He had done at the beginning of His ministry (John 2:13–16), Christ came to declare the divine intolerance for the religious activities going on there, and for a day, at least, purge the courts of corruption by evicting the merchants polluting it. In between those two assaults, Jesus regularly confronted the apostasy and iniquity of Israel’s religion and called the nation back to true worship of God through faith in Him (cf. John 4:23–24). The people of God are those “who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).

Jesus, of course, was fully aware of the disturbing realities, inequities, and injustices that marred Jewish culture—the tax collectors who extorted money from the people, the abuse of the poor and the sick, whose conditions were deemed to be God’s judgment on their sins, as well as many other evils that called for social reform and political action. But though disturbed by them, Jesus did not address any of those issues. He never deviated from the issue of worship, which dominated His life and ministry. A person’s repentance and saving knowledge of God dominated His purpose and ultimately nothing else could be addressed or corrected until that was made right.

Judgment on the nation began with the temple. Hieros (temple) is the general term for the temple grounds as a whole, the vast complex that was able to accommodate thousands of worshipers. Within this area were several inner courts nested one inside of another. The innermost were the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place, which were designated by a different word for temple (naos). The outer court was the Court of the Gentiles, beyond which Gentiles were forbidden to go on pain of death.

What was happening in the Court of the Gentiles was gross corruption in the name of God. Such an outrage was blasphemy that filled Jesus with holy wrath. The Father’s house had been turned into a commerce center, where hundreds of thousands of animals and the other items needed for the sacrifices were bought and sold. Money changers had also set up shop there. They provided a needed service. The temple tax could only be paid using Jewish or Tyrian coins, so foreigners had to exchange their money for acceptable coinage. But because they had a monopoly, granted by Annas and Caiaphas, the money changers charged exorbitant fees for their services.

The operations in the Court of the Gentiles had become known as the Bazaar of Annas, so named after the greedy high priest before whom Jesus would first be tried after His arrest in Gethsemane (John 18:13–23). Though Annas had been deposed by the Romans, he still retained the title of high priest and wielded tremendous power and influence behind the scenes. Along with his equally wicked son-in-law Caiaphas, the current high priest Annas ran the temple’s business, acquiring extreme wealth in the process. They sold franchises to the merchants for exorbitant prices and then skimmed off a huge percentage of the profits that the vendors made.

All of this had combined to turn the temple of God into a place of abuse and extortion. The sound of praise and prayers had been replaced by the bawling of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the cooing of doves, and the loud haggling of merchants and their customers. Filled with holy anger at the crass desecration of His Father’s house, Jesus made His way through the temple complex to the Court of the Gentiles and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

Instantly, the Lord Jesus turned the Bazaar of Annas into complete chaos. He so threatened the merchants that they fled as He overturned the money changers’ tables and sent their coins rolling on the ground with the money changers, no doubt, desperately scrambling after them. He also yanked the seats out from under the dove sellers (Matt. 21:12) and frightened them out of the temple. The Lord displayed the same zeal that He had the first time He cleared the temple, which had reminded His disciples of Psalm 69:9: “Zeal for Your house has consumed me” (cf. John 2:17).

In addition to evicting the merchants, Jesus also stopped people from using the temple grounds as a shortcut to carry goods into the city, as He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. This was an amazing display of singular authority and strength on the part of the Lord, who would have encountered significant resistance from the merchants. It forcefully demonstrates that the Lord hates those who pervert worship, especially for their own greed.

Mark relates a brief excerpt from what was undoubtedly a lengthy Old Testament exposition, noting that Jesus, subsequent to all this furious chaos, began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The first quote, My house shall be a house of prayer, is from Isaiah 56:7, where God declares, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” Prayer is the essence of worship, and the temple was where people came to commune with God (Ps. 65:4) and meditate on His majesty and glory (Ps. 27:4). The temple was not only for the Jews but also for all the nations.

There was no place for a Gentile proselyte to go to worship God except for the temple, as there were no temples outside of Israel. For example, Philip encountered “an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship” at the temple (Acts 8:27). Solomon, in his prayer of dedication for the temple, asked God “that [His] eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which [He had] said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place” (1 Kings 8:29). Later in his prayer, Solomon extended that request to include Gentiles:

But the noisy, smelly, busy robbers’ den that the temple had become was the antithesis of a place where quiet, thoughtful, instructional, prayerful worship of God could take place. Jesus’ likening the temple to a robbers’ den is a reference to Jeremiah 7:11: “‘Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,’ declares the Lord.” Robbers frequently hid in caves, from which they would issue forth to rob and plunder. That is what the temple had become; instead of the highest place of teaching, prayer, and worship, it was the lowest—a domain of plunder run by thieves.

Not surprisingly, the religious leaders were shocked and outraged by Jesus’ solo devastation of their temple marketplace. Therefore when the chief priests and the scribes heard of what had happened, they began seeking how to destroy Jesus; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. Their hatred was escalated by Jesus’ growing popularity and continued healings (Matt. 21:14) and teaching (Luke 19:47). Fearful of the threat He posed to them economically and to their prestige among the people (John 11:48), they intensified their efforts to destroy Him.

Mark noted that when evening came, Jesus and the Twelve would go out of the city and return to Bethany (cf. Mark 14:3). As they were passing by it on Wednesday morning on their way back to Jerusalem, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Peter’s remark, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered,” affirms that what the Lord curses will be destroyed. The destruction of the corrupted religious system centered on the temple began that Tuesday. It would accelerate dramatically on Friday when God tore the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies from top to bottom, and be completed four decades later by the Romans.

But that is not the end of Israel’s story. As Paul asked rhetorically in Romans 11:1–2, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” It is true that “a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (v. 25). But in the future the redeemed remnant of Israel will “look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10), “and so all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26). Until then, Jews are fellow members of the body of Christ with Gentiles (1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 2:11–16; Col. 3:11).