Not the Season for Figs
Preached by Jason Abbott
March 9, 2014
Introduction
To be clear, today’s passage is merely the 1st chapter in a three chapter story. Thus, if you’re hoping for a neat and tidy ending to this part of Mark’s narrative, you’ll have to come back in two weeks. But, if you just come back in two weeks then you’ll have missed the real substance of this drama. So, hopefully we’ll hook you guys this week, and you’ll come back for all three chapters and the full story.
The good news is that Mark isn’t telling a slow moving story but a fast one. And, this first chapter (of the three) has been a mystery to a good many readers. It’s a doozy of an introduction. Jesus curses a fig tree for apparently not bearing fruit out of season.
And, you would not believe the outpouring of sympathy from various readers for this “victimized” fig tree:
For example, Bertrand Russell, the 20th century atheist scholar, upon reading this passage, wrote about Jesus:
I cannot myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history.1
Walter Wessel highlights two other incredulous comments from biblical scholars concerning Jesus’ altercation with the fig tree:
[One comments that this miraculous encounter] approximates more closely than any other episode in Mark to the type of “unreasonable” miracle characteristic of the non-canonical Gospel literature.2
[Another explains that] we find it frankly incredible that [Jesus] could have used his power to wither a fig tree because it did not yield figs two or three months before its natural time of fruitage.3
Perhaps, this is not a good time for me to confess that I’ve cut-down a number of trees for simply being ugly. May God have mercy upon my soul!
Yet, all joking aside, we do want to understand why Jesus curses this tree. And, in order to faithfully get at the answer to that question, we’ll need to ask two other questions: (1) What would a fig tree mean to a hungry traveler in 1st century Palestine? (2) What might this cursed fig tree highlight for us in Mark’s narrative?
Well, let’s read this short passage and, then, pray for our time together in it.
Mark 11:12-14
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
1. What would a fig tree mean to a hungry traveler in 1st century Palestine?
Perhaps this isn’t the fullest possible form of the question we should ask. Perhaps we should more fully be asking this: What would a fig tree with leaves mean to a hungry traveler in 1st century Palestine during this particular season?
This is what we need to find out in order to better understand Jesus’ curse. (Too bad we don’t have a plant doctor in the congregation.)
To begin, we can safely assume that a fig tree would have offered a hungry traveler some kind of nourishment during Passover since Jesus sees it in leaf expecting to find something he can eat on it.
And Jesus, of all people, should know such things. Shouldn’t he? After all, this is a man who, for three years, survived on such well-timed harvests of food. Consequently, Jesus would have been an expert in finding something to glean from a tree or a field in each and every season.
Jesus knows there should be a meal here. So, what’s the meal?
Figs are harvested between the middle of August and the middle of October. Following the harvest, the trees produce small undeveloped buds which remain throughout the winter. However, in spring, these buds swell into fig knops.
These knops are called paggim and appear even before the tree’s leaves do. Therefore, if the fig trees were typically sprouting leaves by the middle of April, they would have had fig knops on them by late March or early April—well before they even had leaves!
Now, paggim aren’t going to win any five-star fruit awards, “but they can be eaten, and often are by natives.” And this is precisely what Jesus was looking for. He didn’t expect fully ripened and perfect figs, but he did expect some fig knops, just a small meal to satisfy his hunger, just an appetizer until the ripened fruit was ready for harvest.
So let’s back our narrative up and start once again from the top.
Jesus is walking over to Jerusalem from Bethany, and he’s really hungry. Off in the distance, he is happy to see a fig tree in leaf because—as the hungry travelers of his day know—that means fig knops are available to pick and eat. When he gets to the tree, however, he finds no knops at all.
One commentator explains:
So, as Mark says, the time for figs had not yet come. But if the leaves appear without any [knops], that is a sign that there will be no figs. Since Jesus found ‘nothing but leaves’ – leaves without any [knops] – he knew that ‘it was an absolutely hopeless, fruitless fig tree’, and said as much.5
The time may not have come for fully ripened figs, but the time had come for fig knops. And, if these knops weren’t present when Jesus went over to the tree, then neither would ripened figs be present at harvest time.
Suddenly the complexion of this story takes on a slightly different color. Suddenly Jesus doesn’t appear nearly as harsh and vindictive as his critics fashioned him to be. And, this is a lesson for us in context!
The pastor of the church Natalie and I attended while at seminary often said: A text without a context is a pretext to say what you want to say. In other words, whenever we take something out of its original context, we can easily pervert it.
In the current passage, Jesus may look, to us, like an ill-tempered baby throwing a tantrum when he doesn’t get the meal he wants from this tree.
Yet, when we more fully situate this account in its season (likely early April) and the stages of fig growth (to bear edible fig knops even before bearing leaves), then we will begin to see—what has been for some an objectionable passage—more clearly. And, I would argue, far less objectionably!
If we see rightly, I believe, we can see that, for the traveler in Jesus’ day, this fig tree was quite a deceiver.
It looked, from a distance, as if it would certainly provide a meal for a hungry traveler, but, in fact, it was barren!
It was created to bear figs—but the lack of fig knops—clearly indicates that it will not bear them! It is a fruitless tree!
Consequently, Jesus curses this barren fig tree. Jesus calls a spade a spade. He calls what, at first glance, appears to be a bountiful fig tree what it actually is—a barren fig tree.
Yet, Jesus’ actions are charged with meaning! This curse is about far more than a deceptive fig tree! Just like in last week’s text, Jesus’ actions are speaking quite powerfully and clearly here.
Thus, we must ask our second question:
2. What might this cursed fig tree highlight for us in Mark’s narrative?
There are two ways you can share a story. You can tell it using words—either write it down or speak it—or you can act it out. Here Jesus is acting one out! It is what’s called an enacted parable, and Mark has beautifully preserved Jesus’ little narrative sketch for us.
Recall (from last week’s sermon) that Jesus has just ridden victoriously into Jerusalem—as Israel’s promised King. However, Mark ended that account rather anticlimactically. Remember that Jesus came into the temple and there was no crowd, and there was no royal welcome! He simply looked around and then left. Something had gone wrong in Israel!
Now, we find Jesus on his way back into the city to confront the problem. And, on his way in, he uses this deceptive fig tree to highlight for his disciples the issue at hand. He’s giving a very important warning to them—and to us—through this enacted parable.
So, what’s this parable’s storyline? What’s the warning?
Well, throughout the Old Testament’s prophetic books, the fig tree and its fruit are used “to symbolise the people of God and their obedience.”6 For example, the prophet Micah (speaking for God) expresses the desire to see the “fruit of righteousness” among his people. So he cries out:
Woe is me! For I have become / as when the summer fruit has been gathered, / as when the grapes have been gleaned: / there is no cluster to eat, / no first-ripe fig that my soul desires. / The godly has perished from the earth… (Micah 7:1-2).
Like one searching for fruit after it has all been harvested and hidden away, so too is the Lord when he searches for righteousness among his covenant people! Israel is a fruitless people, a faithless people!
In short, passages like this (c.f. Jeremiah 8:13; 24:1-10; Hosea 9:10, 16-17) suggest “that Mark and his readers would have had no difficulty in recognising the symbolism of the unsuccessful search for figs.”7 The deceptive fig tree is symbolic of Jerusalem and the temple.
[And] the curse of the fig tree is a symbol of God’s judgment of the temple.8
Jesus is heading into Jerusalem here, into the very temple itself, in judgment. He has inspected the city and the temple, and they appear alive in so many ways. However, like this fig tree, their looks are deceptive. They’re dead; they’re barren. Despite all its hustle and bustle, as we’ll see in next week’s text, Jesus will judge it a den of robbers (v. 17).
So, I mentioned earlier that this was a warning for the disciples and for us. And, it is! We must take a personal inventory following this enacted parable.
Let me close by sharing my own story so as to bring this point home.
When I was growing up, I was blessed to have a mother and father who took very seriously their relationship with Jesus. Furthermore, they did an excellent job of shepherding me and my brother and sisters in the things of God. In short, they hoped and prayed that we would trust Jesus as they had.
As I grew up, I prayed and went to church and to local gatherings of FCA. Mostly I was a respectful kid, made pretty good grades, and didn’t ever get into really bad trouble around town.
Later on I became a people pleaser at some point:
I spoke at other schools around the area about not using drugs.
I went to national leadership camps and athletic camps.
I dated nice girls and hung out with nice guys.
I was the homecoming king and the student body vice president.
I did all these things because I was a good guy, a Christian! And after all, that’s what Christians are (really good guys and gals) and that’s what Christians do (stay sober, lead others, date nice people, befriend nice people, and succeed). Without a doubt, I would have told you I was a Christian, and, likely, you would have agreed with me.
However, the reality was that I was a deceptive fig tree—lots of green leaves on the tree but no fruit!
The reality was that I was what Jesus called a white washed tomb—pristine on the outside rotting and dead on the inside!
Here’s the warning from Jesus. Like I did for about 20 years of my life, many of you may believe that you’re following Jesus but in reality you may not be. If you follow Jesus, you’ll be transformed! If you follow him, there will be change!
Salvation is by grace thru faith in Jesus, but such faith will bear fruit!
1 Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian, and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects, 19.
2 Walter W. Wessel, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Mark, 726.
3Ibid.
4James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, 340.
5F. F. Bruce, The Hard Sayings of Jesus, 209.
6 R. T. France, The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Mark, 439.
7 Ibid.
8 Edwards, 340.
