What Jesus Did! 'The Fig Tree' — Mark 11:12-14

What? What in the world is this about? ... Yeah, that's most people's response to this story. Jesus uses his miraculous powers to place a curse on the fig tree. Our human viewpoint looks on this curse as capricious and unfair. It's not even the season for figs, and yet Jesus curses the tree because it is fruitless. Clearly, Jesus is trying to teach his close followers — and us in the process — something very important. As in some other stories and events in the New Testament, it is important that we focus on the one key point of the story. As this story unfolds, it is possible to see that the lack of fruit on the fig tree foreshadows Jerusalem and all that it symbolizes with the Temple — the central religious place for God's people at that time. Jesus will die near Jerusalem. He will die for the people there ... and people all over the world. He will come again looking to see if there is fruit as a result of his life, sacrifice, and resurrection. There will be choices to make. There will be a season of decision, followed by fruit-bearing. Jerusalem had its time. Now it is our own time of decision and continuous fruit-bearing. What will our future be?