Mark 11

Mark 11 tells the only story in the Bible about Jesus destroying a living thing. It’s a strange and confusing story.

Jesus loved creation. He himself was the creator. Cursing and destroying a tree is out of character for him. Why would an innocent tree have to suffer? Well, Jesus told many parables. In this chapter, he acts out a parable. He curses the fig tree one morning (“No more fruit for you!”). And the next morning, the tree isn't just fruitless. It's completely withered from the roots up.

Between the cursed and withered fig tree episodes, Jesus clears out the Temple, the sacred centerpiece of religious life that was built on a mountain. The Temple was where people went to be with God, to pray, and to offer sacrifices. When Jesus said that the mountain could be lifted up and thrown into the sea, he was probably talking about the Temple.

All of these things together are showing and telling truth. Jesus is passing judgment on those who claim to love God and be truly religious but whose lives don’t show it (that's the fig tree). And he claims that from now on, he is the true Temple. He is the ultimate and final sacrifice. He is where people will be with God. He is both the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes and the beginning of a new way of life.