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-   -   Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14) (https://www.landoverbaptist.net/showthread.php?t=20466)

Jeb Stuart Thurmond 03-08-2009 02:36 PM

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
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Mark 11:12-14: 12 And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.

14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it

One of the more misunderstood passages in the gospels involves Jesus’ cursing of a fig tree for not having any fruit for him despite the fact that it wasn’t even the season for fruit. Would the hippie-Jesus portrayed by false Christians deliver such a gratuitous, arbitrary curse? And why would this be Jesus’ only miracle in the environs of Jerusalem?

Actually, Christ's only miracle in Jerusalem works on two levels - both literally and as a parable-in-deeds.

Jesus was not only angered at not having figs to eat - he would have known that it was far too early in the year for that, and if he really wanted figs, he could have simply created one with a miracle. Jesus is making a larger point about Jewish religious traditions. Specifically: it was not the time for Jewish leaders to “bear fruit,” and therefore they would be cursed by God never to bear any fruit ever again.

Thus, instead of merely cursing and killing a lowly fig tree, Jesus is saying that Judaism itself is cursed and will die off — “dry up at the roots,” as a later passage explains when the disciples see the tree the next day (the tree dies immediately).

Israel is to be cursed because it “bears no fruit” by not welcoming the Messiah — but clearly the tree here isn’t being given the choice to bear fruit or not.

The tree bears no fruit because it is not the season and Israel does not welcome the Messiah because that would contradict God’s plans. There can be no apocalyptic battle between good and evil if the Jews welcome Jesus. Therefore, they must reject him so that the message can more readily spread to the Gentiles. Israel is cursed by God not because of something they willfully chose, but because it’s necessary for the apocalyptic story to play out.

Why should Christians harbor warm feelings towards Jews when they and their religion have been cursed for not bearing fruit? Why should Jews be treated well when God has determined that they should reject the Messiah?

Thus, Jesus was not only producing a dead fig tree, but also every pogrom, inquisition and terrorist attack on Jews ever since. He even created the holocaust, in which several thousand Jews died.

Pastor Rune Enoe 03-09-2009 08:10 PM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeb Thurmond (Post 303748)
Jesus was not only angered at not having figs to eat - he would have known that it was far too early in the year for that, and if he really wanted figs, he could have simply created one with a miracle.

Jesus has admitted to being the smartest man in the whole wide world (Matt. 12:42), so consequently He would have been an expert on everything including figs and their seasons:

Luke 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Matthew 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

You are quite right in asserting that Jesus knew the fig tree wouldn't bear fruit a few days before Easter. Obviously He just wanted to teach the tree and the hook-nosed Jews a lesson. :jesus:

Ezekiel Bathfire 03-09-2009 10:04 PM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
Brother Jeb, Most instructive. If I may, may I refresh you on

Ec:3:1: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ec:3:2: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

Indeed, Jesus could have produced a fig or two from nothing but the point would have been lost – hardly worth talking about. We can take it as read that Jesus knew the above verses.

Thus we see a subsidiary meaning in the parable: by attempting to pluck out of season, and then cursing the tree, Jesus shows that mankind is irrational in his vain attempts to understand the world and God and, further, that all mankind's frustrations too easily turn to anger instead of acceptance through Faith.

This theme is echoed in later verses:


Ec:3:10: I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
Ec:3:11: He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Ec:3:12: I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

Bobby-Joe 03-09-2009 10:32 PM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
Godly explanation Brother Jeb and underscores one of the basic points about Christianity; the Jews are a people chosen by God for special treatment. Any examination of the Jews since the earthly minstry from the burning of the Temple to the Holocaust has sown the Jews have got that special treatment from The Lord in spades. I dare any skeptic to show any other race that has been treated in a similar fashion for such a long period of time.

Wally's World 09-12-2009 01:26 AM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
The only valid explanation is the literal one. When you start talking about metaphor and parables, you are making it a subjective interpretation of the Bible. A metaphor can be construed many different ways and two people can come to opposite conclusions. This destroys the infallibility of the Bible. However, when the Bible is read strictly literally, it is perfectly non-self-contradictory.

Jesus cursed the fig tree because it had no fruits. Even though he knew the figs were out of season, he took his anger out on the tree.

There's nothing about Jews in there at all.

TruthBringerBarbetto 01-13-2010 05:38 AM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
My brothers and sisters,
I believe that you have misunderstood the context of this verse and the intentions of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who are knowledgable in the botany of jeruselem know that almost all fig trees have seasons in which they grow figs, and seasons they don't; however, there are a few fig trees that you will see on very rare occasion that will bear fruit year long. In and out of season.
Jesus was not looking for any ordinary tree, but he was looking for a tree that produces fruit year-round.
This was no metaphor for a curse on Jeruselem. If Jesus was cursing jeruselem then why would he have his disciples do any ministry there after his descension?
No, this is a metaphor that Jesus uses to show that he is looking for believers who bear fruit year around. True seekers of Him without faltering in the seasons. Do not show fruit when the other Christians do and then go baren with them as the hypocrites do. Be seekers of the Lord and His will.

Now this act of Christ served another purpose. What was the reaction of the disciples when they saw that the tree had whithered only a couple days later? How much faith was produced when they saw that all nature obeyed the words of Jesus? And then to also be told that they would do even greater works in the name of their Lord.

this miracle was an amazing thing

TruthBringerBarbetto 01-13-2010 05:42 AM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
Sorry i meant to say Jesus' ascension, not descension. Forgive me brothers

Cranky Old Man 01-22-2010 12:48 AM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by TruthBringerBarbetto (Post 447574)
I believe that you have misunderstood the context of this verse and the intentions of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So our entire community of people devoted to studying the Bible has been wrong all along? Thank you for bringing that to our attention. Wow, I just checked and it is in the Bible. God must have made a mistake there.

Don't you think the likely explanation here is that you are wrong?

WWJDnow 01-22-2010 09:40 PM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Wally's World (Post 398589)
The only valid explanation is the literal one.

Of course it literally happened--the Bible never lies. But the reason Jesus cursed the fig tree was to make a point, not that He was pissed off at a fig tree. God did symbolic things all the time. He created rainbows to show that He wouldn't try to wipe out all of humanity ever again. That was a metaphor, but rainbows are nevertheless real.

Quote:

However, when the Bible is read strictly literally, it is perfectly non-self-contradictory.
Without doubt, you're right there.

Jacques 02-10-2010 02:53 AM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
I really enjoy that verse, Thanks for explaining it more!

existance 02-16-2010 01:30 AM

Re: Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14)
 
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