Mark 11:19-25

The Lessons Of The Fig Tree Which Has Withered (11:19-25).

When Peter calls Jesus’ attention to the fact that the fig tree has withered, Jesus uses the fact to draw a number of lessons. Firstly that anything is possible to the one who has faith, secondly that even the mountain that they could see before them (symbolic of the withered Temple) could be cast into the sea (symbolic of judgment) by faith, and thirdly of the necessity for forgiving and being forgiven if they too were to avoid becoming withered.

a And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots, and Peter calling to mind the situation says to Him, “Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away” (Mark 11:20-21).

b And Jesus answering says to them, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22).

c “Truly I say to you, Whosoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be you taken up and cast into the sea’, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he says comes about, he shall have it” (Mark 11:23).

b “Therefore I say to you, All things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them” (Mark 11:24).

a “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one, that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25).

Note that in ‘a’ Peter calls attention to the withered fig tree, withered because it represents the unspirituality of Jerusalem, with its unforgiving and arrogant behaviour towards sinners and Gentiles, and in the parallel Jesus provides the basis on which the ‘new Jerusalem’, His church, can avoid becoming withered, by being based on the twin pillars of forgiveness and being forgiven. In that way it will avoid the curse that has come on Jerusalem. Forgiveness was always intended to be central to God’s deliverance and salvation (compare Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 18:15-35; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 44:22). In ‘b’ He tells them to have faith in God, and in the parallel He exemplifies this by describing how faith works. Centrally He depicts the downfall of Jerusalem and the Temple as flowing from His faith as expressed in the destruction of the fig tree.