Second Sunday in Lent (CL)

Mark 11:12-26

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. 

¹⁵ And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹⁶ And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷ And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸ And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ¹⁹ And when evening came they went out of the city. 

²⁰ As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. ²¹ And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” 

Is this a lesson of having fruit when the master comes to us?  Is this a lesson about not using the house of God or His Word for financial gain?  Or Is this text about prayer and faith?  I am going to lean toward the last one.  If I start at the end of the text, Jesus is talking about prayer for forgiveness and intercessions of objects or help.  Jesus treat the curse of the fig tree like a prayer.

Jesus reminds his disciples that they need to pray for forgiveness for their own wickedness.  They need to ask for the Lord to have mercy upon them and likewise should pray for the strength to forgive others.

But if you are going to spend time in prayer you need a place of prayer.  You need a place devoted to God, for you to offer up your intercessions and request.  God had Moses build a Tabernacle to be that place where people knew God was listening.  Likewise God instructed Solomon to build a temple for all nations to offer their prayers.  God even encouraged Darius to instruct his people to build a second temple.  For us God has raised Jesus from death as a perfect temple for us to direct our prayers.

But this still means we need to offer up our prayers certain that those prayers will come true in accordance with the Will of God.  God will continue to encourage you to pray.  He will continue strengthen you as you pray.  But if you don't pray, your faith will wither just like the fig tree.  If our prayer life is overcome by business and other priorities we will wither up just like the fig tree.  But Christ and his church will continue to pray for you to pray.