Mark 11:20-24

As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Amazing! What Yeshu says is like lifting a mountain out of Tibet and dropping it into the Bay of Bengal On the other hand my faith is as small as a mustard seed. But Yeshu is emphasizing a great truth.

What to say then? Is there some great thing you want? Do you believe that God can do it for you? Is it your own liberation that you desire? or do you wish that your enemy’s crops be destroyed by hail?

Read on to find what God will do for you.

Mark 11:15-19

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. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 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.” 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. And when evening came they went out of the city.

With vigorous forceful authority Yeshu sweeps clean the temple from being a huge emporium for wealthy money-changers  where simple pilgrims were made to pay high rates for their animals, and changes it for the rest of that long day from being a busy corridor for trade into a place for worshipping the Lord God, and a place where he could continue his teaching of the dharma.

Mark 11:11-14

And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 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. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

After looking at the misuse of the temple, Yeshu went to find lodging.  As for the words spoken to the fig tree, what to say? Was he, in his thoughts, commanding the tree with no figs never to produce fruit again? or  was he giving words to a condemnation in his mind of the Jewish sangha (dke-‘dun)? Because no prayer and sound teaching – like figs as it were for spiritually hungry people – were to be found in their temple, so he would command the  whole system of temple worship to come to an end.

[Read next message for what Yeshu saw in the temple, and read the one after that for what happened to the fig tree]