Re:Verse passage – Mark 11:11-19 (day three)
“He said to [the fig tree], ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again!’”
In an agrarian society, it was not remarkable for everyone to know it wasn’t fig season. So why did Jesus look for them anyway? Because he saw a tree in leaf – not in bud – and from a distance it looked like an unexpected find. Mark’s gospel tells us that Jesus was hungry. A false fig signal enticed him and then disappointed him. We might even describe his mood as “hangry.” While he was still stewing over the hollow promise made by a leafy tree, he walked into the temple and in a moment of cosmic déjà vu, realized that just as the tree had falsely promised figs, the temple falsely invited people into an encounter with God. God takes seriously the promises we make to people.
