Jerusalem Controversies
Commentary for the August 31, 2024, Sabbath School Lesson
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it. Mark 11:12-14, NIV
Figs are not grown where I grew up and spent most of my life. Although I enjoy figs, since they are imported from elsewhere, they are not competitively priced with locally produced fruits. I live in Washington State which is best known for apples. I enjoy crisp, sweet apple. Fuji apples are my preference, while my wife prefers Galas. They are next to one another on the sweetness spectrum, far from the tart Granny Smith apples. But as sweet as they are, I prefer the soft sweetness of apricots.
My great grandmother had a small fruit orchard on her farm, and it included yellow plums and apricots. While school was out during the summer I would help her with the irrigation and harvesting of her raspberry fields. But as the weeks rolled by, I would keep an eye on the orchard, yearning for the delicious soft fruits soon to ripen, especially the apricots.
When I attended Walla Walla College, I was happy to see that apricots grew well there. In fact, across the street from our apartment was a large apricot tree. I enjoyed opening the fruit on a scorching summer day, seeing the juice around the pit, and savoring its sweetness. Although some who know me might argue the point, I prefer a juicy apricot on a summer day to ice cream.
When we bought a home in Spokane County, one of the first things I did was plant an apricot tree. The first year we only had a few fruits, but the second year there were many more, and I made apricot jam, so we could enjoy the fruity sweetness all winter long. However, Spokane is a marginal area for growing soft fruits, and that winter killed our tree. It tried valiantly to survive on the nourishment that remained in its trunk and limbs, but the ground had frozen so deeply that the entire root system died. It broke my heart to have to dig up the deceased fruit tree. I tried replacing it, hoping that the harsh winter was just a fluke. It was not. The new tree died also. Some might wonder why I would be so torn by it. The stores sell fresh apricots. However, anyone who has plucked a tree ripened apricot and then tasted those in the stores that were picked too green so they would not spoil before being sold knows there is no comparison. Instead of the sweet juiciness of the tree ripened fruit, the apricots in the stores tend to be dry and mealy.
My experience with the apricot trees here in the Spokane area helps me to understand Jesus and the fig tree. Could this be an enigma that challenges the character of God? Apologists have offered explanations to defend such an out of character action by Jesus. This story is only found in Mark and Matthew with scholars believing that much of Matthew was derived from Mark's gospel. Since Mark portrays it in a manner that has Jesus condemning the tree, Matthew has that perspective as well. The other synoptic gospel, Luke, does not contain the story. After examining the Greek text, I am not sure that is the only possible interpretation of what happened, especially considering the vineyard metaphor found in the first part of the next chapter. Remember that the writers of these gospels did not divide the text into chapters and verses, so the parables may have closer connections originally than the separate chapter headings might imply. Also remember the section headings are not in the original text either. The word "curse" does not occur in the text.
Jesus is intrinsic to the creation of our world. (John 1:1-3) As such, his knowledge of every created thing transcends that of the most intelligent biologist or botanist. When he walked up to that fig tree and declared that no one would ever eat fruit from it, he could understand the tree's plight in ways the disciples could not, and a simple declaration may have been interpreted as a curse. In the same way, when I looked at my apricot tree and knew it would never bear fruit again, even though it also had leafed out from the nourishment that remained in its trunk and limbs, those who could not read the signs that were apparent to me would not understand. It is more likely that Jesus already knew the state of the fig tree and saw it as an opportunity to illustrate the condition of Israel. The disciples did not grasp the lesson. Even when writing the gospel account, it comes forth as an enigma as opposed to a lesson about the character of God.
Sadly, even those who professed to be knowledgeable about their faith and God were even more obdurate, for when Jesus said essentially the same thing in the parable of the vineyard, they knew what it meant but refused to acknowledge its meaning because it condemned them for not producing the fruit that emulating God's loving character should have produced. Just as the fig tree had leaves identifying it as a fig tree, they had the "leaves" that identified them as Jews, descendants of Abraham, but they did not produce the fruits Abraham did, revealing that the roots of their ancestors that should have nourished a pure faith had been left to rot and the days of the tree they had become now were numbered. This was not God's doing. He did not curse them to be fruitless. It was their own doing. When we read the account of the vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7, it becomes clear that these stories are parables about the state of God's chosen people. It is not about God's desire to curse anyone. Jesus wept over Jerusalem and its sorry state. (Matthew 23:37) In the end, Jerusalem could no more be saved than it was when the Babylonians destroyed her. Rome also plundered Jerusalem, destroying the temple and carrying the temple treasures off to Rome, as the Babylonians had previously carried them to Babylon. One would think that history would have shown them the truth about their corruption and how far they were from the character God intended humanity should have. A counter point to the rest of these two chapters in Mark that demonstrates what was taught Israel about character and relationships is when the scribe agrees with Jesus about the two greatest commandments. Jesus commends him for his insight.
Sadly, we tend to see ourselves as that scribe and not like the Pharisees and certainly not the fig tree, or the tenants of the vineyard. We want to identify with the heroes of the story and not the villains. Because if we did, then like the Pharisees who were bested in entrapment by Jesus, we would have to admit our error and would have to change. Repentance is not a one-and-done event. It is a lifestyle change where we are open to growth. At no point in this life do we arrive at a point where we are fully grown into the loving character of God in whose image mankind was created. If we look at someone else and say that person has no right to approach God in that manner, it is proof that we are not yet in the image of God. We become like the disciples who would not let children come to Jesus. We feel we are the mature believers and therefore see ourselves as preferred by God, just as the Jews felt they were chosen by being descendants of Abraham. But it is our love for God and others that identifies us as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Our family tree grants us nothing. It does not matter how many generations we have been in a denomination. We cannot save our children, even if our characters are right before God, just like our ancestors could not save us.
It troubles me greatly that those who claim to be leaders of God's remnant church of the End Times are at times so unloving, so willing to attack those they do not approve of. They are persuaded that what happened to the Jews via Babylon and Rome could never happen to them. They do not see the peril of the course they are on. They feel that the title "The Remnant Church" has been bestowed unconditionally on them by God, just as the Jews claimed to be God's chosen people. But if those originally called forth from Egypt could fall from grace, how much more for those of us who have been adopted as foundlings? The prophets of old, like those servants who came to the vineyard and were beaten or killed, called out the flaws of God's chosen and warned of the conditional nature of their relationship to God. Despite rulers who filled the streets of Jerusalem with blood (2 Kings 21:16), the Jews still felt they were God's chosen people and no harm would come to them. Twice they showed that they were ready to murder the innocent without letup and only the intervention of the Babylonians and the Romans brought an end to the evil.
We might ask ourselves; do we delight when those we feel are our enemies suffer? Are we willing to sacrifice the powerless if they challenge what we want to see happen? How much blood would we spill literally or figuratively and still feel we are doing God's will and have his blessing on our blood-soaked hands? How much chutzpah does it take to believe that God would always protect us and our country no matter what when even his chosen people fell so far that they became easy prey for two ancient empires? Nonetheless, should we fall, it will be our doing, not God's curse. God gave us a better path to follow. But for so many, it just gets in the way of what they lust for. Putting on the trappings of a denomination, even one calling itself The Remnant, does not change who we are in our heart of hearts. Only God can do that and only if we allow him, even if it interferes with our plans.
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