In Mark 11: 12-25, on his way into the Temple, Our Lord Jesus Christ wished to pick some fruit from a fig tree. But there were only leaves on this tree… and Jesus cursed it, and the tree withered. It was dead when He and His disciples next saw it.
This incident has puzzled many Bible readers (including me) over the centuries; but in fact it was part of something much bigger.
After he cursed the tree, Jesus entered the Temple and cleaned house, overturning the tables of the money-changers and the merchants, smacking them with a makeshift whip, and condemning the Temple as a house of prayer transformed into a den of thieves. What ever happened to that meek and mild Jesus that we thought we knew?
This 10-minute sermon by Brandon Robbins explains the critical significance of this action by Our Lord. “Finally I get this!” my wife exclaimed, after she watched it.
Really, it’s rather brilliant–and at the same time, clear and understandable. I wondered why I hadn’t seen it myself.