Let’s begin. Start with a prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what he wants to show you.

Read Mark 11:1-14 in your Bible. 

As you are reading, ask the questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how as well as any repeated words or phrases. We’ll go through these together. Look for a verse(s) that stand out to you the most. The one that grabs your attention. 

Now let’s go through these questions together.

Who? Who is speaking, who is being mentioned?

Jesus, disciples, and others/crowd

When?

Continuation from the previous verses. Keep on going.

Where?

Near Jerusalem and outside of Jerusalem in the towns of Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives

What? What is happening in these verses?

Jesus goes to Jerusalem, but before entering the city, he asks 2 of his disciples to obtain a donkey for him and gives them some instructions if they are hindered from taking the donkey. The disciples find the donkey bring it to Jesus and Jesus enters the city on the donkey. As he is traveling into the city, people are laying down their garments and branches showing honor to Him and shouting “Hosanna!”

After this, Jesus then goes to the temple and looks at everything. Then heads home. The next day he is hungry and headed back to the city when He sees a fig tree. The fig tree did not have any fruit on it so Jesus curse the tree.

Why? Why is this being mentioned? Why is this/will be happening?

There are 2 things going on. The first event is fulfilling a prophecy from the Old Testament displaying that He is the Messiah. The second event with the fig tree has much more depth and meaning that I’ll discuss in a moment.

How does this happen/take place?

Jesus is fulfilling the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 where it says that the Messiah will be riding a donkey. 

Repeated words or phrases?

colt/donkey, Blessed, Hosanna, fig tree

Before we continue any further, what verse(s) stood out to you? 

My verse is verse 11.

What does this mean?

This passage is showing us more about the Messiah as it was prophesied in the Old Testament with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). Jesus riding a donkey displays him as a humble King coming in peace and not riding in on a war horse ready for battle. It was what he did afterward that caught my attention. Jesus went into the temple and looked around. For me, this felt like Jesus looking around at everything was more than a regular visit to the temple. It’s almost as if he was taking note as to what was going on there, which will see in the next passages that we’ll read next time. 

The next day Jesus is hungry. He sees this fig tree and goes over to it hoping it would have some fruit on it, but it does not have any fruit and Jesus curses the tree. It makes me laugh just a little because Jesus was “hangry”. Just kidding. That’s not what was going on. What is interesting here is that it was not the season for the fig tree to be bearing any fruit.  After looking into this a little further, fig trees during this point in the season would have some type of beginnings of becoming a fig on it, meaning that it would be bearing fruit later on in the year. But this tree did not even have this beginning. If a fig tree does not bear any fruit, then it has no purpose. It’s not big enough for shade or to even shelter a bird and its nest. This tree has all the potential to bear fruit but it does not have any fruit. Looks good on the outside, but nothing on the inside. No fruit. So Jesus curses it. 

Even though I understood this, it felt like there was more to this tree, because it says in verse 14 that the disciples heard Jesus curse the tree. It was almost as if it was on purpose; we all know that Jesus did things with purpose. So this time I did pull out some commentary to see what I was missing. One commentary mentioned that it was almost like this story of the fig tree was a living parable which Jesus often told parables. Jesus cursed the tree that did not bear fruit, right after visiting the temple the previous day and just before returning to the temple that we’ll read next time. Jesus was foretelling what was to come very shortly. The temple a place for worship. It looked like a temple on the outside, but the inside was not producing a fruit of worship and service to God. Again we’ll read more about what happens at the temple next time. 

What does this mean to me?

At first, this passage was a struggle. But when verse 11 was highlighted to me by the Holy Spirit (and some conversation with my hubs), it all made sense. Jesus always talked in parables, so why not have a living parable here. Let’s take it a step further. The Bible says our bodies are the temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell. So here’s the question that I had for myself, and maybe for you as well, am I producing any fruit or am I an empty shell, with the appearance of looking like we have it all together. My life needs to be one who worships our Heavenly Father and produce fruit all around me to be a blessing to others just like the tree that gives its fruit for the benefit of others.

In case your asking what fruit should we be producing, we can read about the spiritual fruits in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. It’s a good chapter to read and study to learn about living by the Spirit.

What verse spoke out to you and what is God trying to show you through it? Write it out in your journal. Then say a prayer and have a conversation with God about it.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, thank you for speaking to my heart once again. Heavenly Father, I want my life to be one that produces fruit. I don’t want to be an empty shell, but one that has fruit on the inside of me that comes out to be a witness and a blessing to others for your glory. I am grateful for this life check that you have shown me. Help me produce better fruit. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.