Why Jesus Cursed the Fig Tree and “Flipped Out” in the Temple: The Mark Series pt 42 (11:12-25)

Jesus isn’t “acting like Jesus” here. He does a number of things that simply don’t fit our modern pacified version of Jesus. And that’s a good thing. I don’t want to fall into the pacified version of Jesus that our culture likes but I also don’t want to act like Jesus’ radical and aggressive actions of cursing the fig tree and kicking people and animals out of the temple while flipping tables is somehow an excuse for me to overstep my own authority and act sinfully in my own anger just because I think I am in the right. But, there’s more to this passage than just finding the balance of how we can apply Jesus’ extreme actions. We need to see the theological message of the passage as well as apply it into our lives by seriously evaluating our own status as the “temple of the Holy Spirit” and restoring the purpose of prayer and relationship with God in our lives.

Craig Evan’s article, which had a lot of interesting historical insights into this passage.
“Jesus’ Action in the Temple: Cleansing or Portent of Destruction?”
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43717764?read-now=1&seq=23#page_scan_tab_contents

See the WHOLE Gospel of Mark playlist here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHuGenHwUdeiQ5M-uj5XW4sF

Be the first to comment

Give Feedback About This Article