quote:
12On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.
13Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.
Jesus Drives Money Changers from the Temple
15Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;
16and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.
17And He began to teach and say 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 ROBBERS' DEN."
18The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
19When evening came, they would go out of the city.
20As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.
21Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."
22And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God.
23"Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.
24"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
25"Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.
26["But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions."]
This is an interesting passage because it shows Christ in a more human light than I have read of. It could be interpreted that Christ was angered that the fig tree bore no fruit so he cursed it for no reason. It could also be interpreted that he planned to use the fig tree as a symbol of the strength of prayer. I am more ready to accept the second interpretation but both interpretations require an assumption in the intention of Christ. One point that should be noted in favor of the first interpretation is that Christ was hungry.
The above passage in Mark should lend to a good discussion. I have no qualms about whether Christ is God or not personally. I find no fault in his words and in his words alone I see him as God. The various miraculous acts Christ performed hold no bearing on my belief in christianity (not referring to the cursing of the fig tree particularly).
I quoted the New American Standard Bible which is the closest to the translation that I read. The New American Bible is a easy translation that is more accurate than the NIV and it holds all of the books in the Catholic canon (Maccabees etc.).
Anyway, I would like to see what people here think of this passage if it interests them. Please feel free to share other interpretations of it if you don't subscribe to the two I wrote.
™ Version 4.2