Mark 11 - A hungry Savior

Chad Werkhoven
Jan 31, 2022
2 min read

Jesus has triumphantly entered your life, and He expects you to bear fruit for Him.

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Mark 11 Summary

v1-11 - Jesus enters Jerusalem in a way that the Israelite kings of old did.
v12-14 - The next morning on His way back in, Jesus curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit even though it wasn't fig season.
v15-19 - Jesus upends the crass commercialism that's taken over the temple (compare it to what's happened to Christmas in our culture).
v20-25 - Once again the fig tree takes center stage, this time withered in response to Jesus' curse. When asked about it, Jesus curiously pivots to an explanation faith.
v27-33 - Jesus has come into the home turf of the Establishment riding like a king. He disrupted one of their main sources of revenue at the temple, and the crowd is on His side. Understandably, the Establishment is angry, but they still fail to trap Jesus in His words.

Dig Deeper

Mark has often mentioned hunger in his gospel, telling of the hunger of the two massive crowds that Jesus miraculously fed, and the disciples preoccupation with food and eating.

In v12, Mark writes about Jesus' hunger for the first time, but the way Mark expresses it seems to paint Jesus as losing it since He seems to get angry that there's no figs on the tree when it wasn't even close to the right time of the year.

It helps here to know that fig trees are often used as metaphors for God's people in the Old Testament. Just as the fig tree carries with it the promise of figs, Jerusalem carried the promise of bearing fruit for God's kingdom.

Mark isn't just describing Jesus' physical hunger here, but rather His hunger for His people to bear fruit. Yet Jesus finds both the fig tree and the Jerusalem temple to be hopelessly barren, and His patience wears out for both.

Understand this passage is not as much about having faith that can 'move mountains,' as it is about having faith that is more than just an empty promise.

AAA Prayer:

ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, to whom we cry out for salvation - Hosanna!
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will faithfully bear the fruit you have promised to bear for God, so you're not full of empty promises like the fig tree.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED: