Chapter # 11 Paragraph # 2 Study # 1
February 20, 2024
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(468)
1901 ASV
11:12 And on the morrow, when they were come out from Bethany, he hungered.
11:13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season of figs.
11:14 And he answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit from thee henceforward for ever. And his disciples heard it.
11:15 And they come to Jerusalem: and he entered into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and them that bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold the doves;
11:16 and he would not suffer that any man should carry a vessel through the temple.
11:17 And he taught, and said unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? but ye have made it a den of robbers.
11:18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, for all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.
11:19 And every evening he went forth out of the city.
11:20 And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.
11:21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
11:23 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it.
11:24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
11:25 And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
11:26 [But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]
11:27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders;
11:28 and they said unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? or who gave thee this authority to do these things?
11:29 And Jesus said unto them, I will ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
11:30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men? answer me.
11:31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; He will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
11:32 But should we say, From men--they feared the people: for all verily held John to be a prophet.
11:33 And they answered Jesus and say, We know not. And Jesus saith unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
- I. The Structure Of This Section.
- A. Following the chiasm of 9:1-11:11.
- 1. This chiasm has the main point in 10:13-16 where the issue of the entire chiasm is brought into focus: participation in the Kingdom of God is rooted in "receiving the Kingdom like a child": this answers the question, "What does it take to participate in the Kingdom of God?"
- 2. Following upon this major sub-thesis is the material of 11:12-12:44 which consists of "Jesus' rejection of the nation's leaders" (11:12-12:12), the leaders' attempts to trap Him with deceitful questions (12:13-34), and Jesus' justification of His rejection of those leaders (12:35-44): this answers the question, "Why did Jesus reject the nation's leaders?"
- 3. Following this record of the "rejections" (Jesus of the leaders and the leaders of Jesus), there is chapter 13 which answers the question, "When, then, will the Kingdom come?"
- B. The record of "rejection" begins with Jesus' curse upon the fig tree (11:12-26); a record that is structured in terms of "The Curse", "The Reason", and "The Necessity of Faith".
- 1. The record of Jesus' treatment of the fig tree is interrupted by the record of His treatment of those in the Temple who have perverted the essence of "worship" as it affects "others" (a category that reaches to the nations).
- a. The actual curse.
- b. The violent attack upon those in the Temple.
- c. The return to the curse with instruction about the missing element of "Faith".
- 2. The record of the actual "curse" is deliberately puzzling: it was not the season for figs.
- a. The issue of "the season" in Mark.
- 1) In 1:15 (within Mark's extended introduction to his record: 1:1-20), the beginning of the ministry of Jesus has his declaration: "The season is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand..."
- a) Prophetically, this is the time of the coming of "Messiah" (Daniel 9:25).
- (1) The time frame is the sixty-ninth week, the last set of seven years in which there is a convincing manifestation of "Messiah".
- (2) This time frame would be from somewhere in the year 27 A.D. to Passover in the year 33 A.D. according to the calendar that is now in place.
- b) This fits the statement of Luke 3:23 that Jesus was "beginning, as it were, His thirtieth year" (the Greek is flexible).
- (1) But not as "flexible" as the NASB implies because the phrase in that translation inserts "His ministry" and, thus, corrupts the actual statement by Luke.
- (2) Luke does not say "Jesus was beginning His thirtieth year", but, rather, "Jesus was beginning, as it were, His thirtieth year" which allows some level of imprecision, but not a lot.
- c) This is Mark's first mention of a "season".
- 2) Mark's second use of "season" is in 10:30.
- a) This "season" is the life span of the person who "follows Jesus" to the degree that certain significant sacrifices have to be made (10:28-29).
- b) This "season" is a time of "harvesting" the benefits of making the sacrifices.
- 3) Mark's third use of "season" is the one before us in 11:13.
- a) In this case, "season" refers to the typical time of fig production by fig trees.
- b) The jarring statement that Jesus cursed a fig tree when it was not the season of figs forces us to see some things that are not "obvious".
- c) The context argues that Jesus is using the "fig tree" as a metaphor of the nation's fruitlessness which, like the fig tree, has been seriously damaged by Sin's presence in the world.
- (1) There is no "legitimate season" for fruitlessness.
- (2) But, ever since the fall, trees have not borne fruit throughout the year as was the case in the Garden.
- 4) In 12:2 Mark records Jesus' parable about the greediness of those to whom the owner of the vineyard had entrusted his vineyard.
- 5) And Mark's last use of the term in 13:33 addresses the reality of a coming "season" when the days of tribulation will reach their climax.