SUMMARY
Through the cursing of a fig tree and his disruption of daily business, JesusJesus is the Messiah whose life, death, and resurrection are God's saving act for humanity. predicts the coming destruction of the TempleThe Jerusalem temple, unlike the tabernacle, was a permanent structure, although (like the tabernacle) it was a place of worship and religious activity. On one occasion Jesus felt such activity was unacceptable and, as reported in all four Gospels, drove from the temple those engaged....
ANALYSIS
Just as with the healing of the women with the hemorrhage and the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:21-43 Two Nested Miracles), Mark employs a frame narrative to highlight the significance of Jesus’s actions in the Temple courtyard. The cursing of the fig tree and its result help the reader to interpret Jesus’ disruption of daily business in the Temple. Just as Jesus expected to find fruit on the fig tree, he expected to find a house of prayer on his visit to the Temple. Just as he curses the fig tree to never bear fruit again, he quotes JeremiahProphet who condemned Judah's infidelity to God, warned of Babylonian conquest, and promised a new covenant. 7:11 to condemn the Temple as a den of robbers. PeterPeter (also known as Cephas, Simon Peter) was the disciple who denied Jesus during his trial but later became a leader in proclaiming Jesus. notices that Jesus’ words to the fig tree have power; they cause the tree to wither. In the same way, the early followers of Jesus would have remembered his condemnation of the Temple when it was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.
It is hard to overstate how absurd Jesus’ action would have seemed to his contemporaries. The business that he condemns–changing money and selling doves–was part of the normal work of a Temple in the ancient world and was actually offered as a service to pilgrims. The presence of buyers and sellers in the Temple allowed people to carry money on their pilgrimages instead of an animal to sacrificeSacrifice is commonly understood as the practice of offering or giving up something as a sign of worship, commitment, or obedience. In the Old Testament grain, wine, or animals are used as sacrifice. In some New Testament writings Jesus' death on the cross as the.... It also allowed urban people who had no access to animals to purchase sacrifices for festivals. However, in keeping his relationship to the SabbathSabbath is a weekly day of rest, the seventh day, observed on Saturday in Judaism and on Sunday in Christianity. In the book of Genesis, God rested on the seventh day; in the Gospel accounts Jesus and his disciples are criticized by some for not... and to dietary restrictions, Jesus calls for religion based on prayer and faith in God.
