April 1 | All
Read Mark 11:11-26
Cursed trees. Overturned tables. These verses contain some of the most confusing narratives about Jesus. What are we to make of Jesus cursing a tree, just because it didn’t have any figs on it? And the tables in the temple- people needed sacrifices! Why did Jesus kick out the poor pigeon sales guy?
To understand these verses, we have to understand a technique Mark uses, called ‘sandwiching,’ in which he puts two related narratives outside with one seemingly unrelated in the middle (the two fig stories with the temple narrative in between). The center of the sandwich is to clarify the outside narratives.
Jesus’ clearing of the temple was about making space for ALL to come and worship. The place where all the buying and selling was happening was the court of the Gentiles- the only place available to Gentiles. Referencing Isaiah 56:7, Jesus says that there needs to be a place for anyone who wants to come in to worship.
Here, Mark is arranging the narrative to show that just as the tree is cursed for looking like it had fruit, but not producing what it was supposed to produce, the temple will suffer the same fate.
Today, let’s confess any place we have been trying to appear fruitful without actually allowing Jesus to change us to make us be fruitful.