{"id":30142,"date":"2022-04-11T12:59:12","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T16:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=30142"},"modified":"2022-04-11T12:59:12","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T16:59:12","slug":"jesus-and-holy-week-monday-day-2-jesus-curses-a-fig-tree-and-cleanses-the-temple-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=30142","title":{"rendered":"Jesus and Holy Week – Monday, Day 2 – Jesus Curses a Fig Tree and Cleanses the Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo Credit: Fig Tree by Bob Orchard<\/a><\/p>\n

[Adapted from the Archives<\/a>]<\/p>\n

On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing 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.<\/span> He said to it, \u201cMay no one ever eat fruit from you again!\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 Mark 11:12-14<\/a><\/p>\n

When Jesus woke on Monday morning, after that glorious Sunday entering Jerusalem…I wonder what he thought. Did he know that, in just four days, he would be crucified? Whew…<\/p>\n

Back to Monday:<\/p>\n

During that week in Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples spent the nights with friends in Bethany, two miles outside of the city. Each morning, they would walk into Jerusalem. On\u00a0that Monday morning, just four days prior to his crucifixion, Jesus\u00a0became hungry on the walk in. Seeing a leafy fig tree, he looked for fruit. With fig trees, where there are leaves, there\u00a0should be\u00a0figs. Since green figs are edible, and it wasn\u2019t yet harvest season, there should still be some fruit on the tree.<\/p>\n

When he found no figs, Jesus cursed the tree. This seems out of character for Jesus, until his action is put in the context of his culture and community. Throughout his public ministry, especially as he became more known and revered, the Jewish religious leaders held him in contempt. Jesus\u2019 teaching of our dependence on God\u2019s righteousness and not our own flew in the face of the Pharisaical teaching of the day \u2013 that of strict adherence to Jewish law as the only hope of finding favor with God. For Jesus, the leafy barren fig tree must have been a picture of religious Jews of that day, all flash and finery but no fruit of faith.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Christ’s single miracle of Destruction, the withering of the fig-tree, has proved troublesome to some people, but I think its significance is plain enough. The miracle is an acted parable, a symbol of God’s sentence on all that is ‘fruitless’ and specially, no doubt, on the official Judaism of that age. That is its moral significance.”<\/em> – C. S. Lewis<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesus was left still physically hungry. He remained spiritually hungry\u00a0 as well \u2013 for this people of the Book to receive the good news that the Messiah had come.<\/p>\n

Finally, arriving back in Jerusalem, Jesus was deeply troubled by what he found inside the Temple. The crowds of Passover pilgrims did not disturb him, but temple grounds turned marketplace did. In this sanctified place, meant only for worship, there were money-changers and sellers of animals for sacrifice, right in the Court of the Gentiles \u2013 in the only place where non-Jewish God-believers could worship.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span>Photo Credit: \u201cExpulsion of the Moneychangers from the Temple<\/em>\u201d by Luca Giordano<\/a><\/p>\n

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all 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.<\/strong><\/span> And He said to them, \u201cIt is written, \u2018MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER\u2019<\/em>; but you are making it a ROBBERS\u2019 DEN.\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 Matthew 21:12-13<\/a><\/p>\n

Often in film depictions of Jesus cleansing the temple, he appears a crazed individual, flailing about, throwing tables and flinging pigeons into the air. I can\u2019t even imagine him that way. We can\u2019t know how it happened except that in Jesus\u2019 anger, he did not sin. He would not sin.<\/strong> I know the Jesus Film<\/em> <\/a>is just another director\u2019s film rendering, but in this scene<\/a>, Jesus showed considerable restraint. Disturbed at the buying and selling that actually kept\u00a0believing Gentiles from worshiping, he moved to correct the situation. He was unafraid of the temple officials, burning with zeal for his Father to be truly worshiped in that place.<\/p>\n

Zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.<\/strong> \u2013 Psalm 69:9<\/a><\/p>\n

Later in the week, he himself would be the one for sale \u2013\u00a0 sold for 30 pieces of silver, betrayed by one of his own disciples, to satisfy the wrath of the religious leaders. That story is for another day.<\/p>\n

This Holy Monday, we are drawn again to this Messiah who teaches us that the way we live our lives matters but not more than the way we relate to God. He makes space for us…room for all of us to receive Him. He is holy, and in His righteousness, we stand\u2026on solid ground.<\/p>\n

Holy Week \u2013 Day 2: Monday Jesus Clears the Temple<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video with Lyrics of In Christ Alone<\/em> by Stuart Townend & Keith Getty<\/a><\/p>\n

Reasoning Why Jesus Cursed the Fig Tree<\/a><\/p>\n

Monday of Holy Week<\/a><\/p>\n

The Righteous Anger of Jesus<\/a><\/p>\n

Cleansing the Court of the Gentiles<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesus Film Media \u2013 website & app to watch videos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Fig Tree by Bob Orchard [Adapted from the Archives] On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing 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, … Continue reading Jesus and Holy Week – Monday, Day 2 – Jesus Curses a Fig Tree and Cleanses the Temple<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3346,1628,1618,1148,1067,183,1000,808,3208,50,33,18,1179,2611,1450,353,433,761,775,1456,610,1002,203,946],"tags":[37,4562,1025,10012,1026,1140,1835,4563,76,4578,1459,1458,1156,5839,75,10013,8124],"class_list":["post-30142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anger","category-character","category-courage","category-critical-thinking","category-cross-cultural","category-culture-religion","category-easter-and-lent","category-film","category-finishing-strong","category-god","category-inspired","category-jesus","category-lamb-of-god","category-love-your-neighbor","category-monday-morning","category-monday-morning-moment","category-pray","category-redeeming-restoring","category-seasons-2","category-steadfast-love","category-thanksgiving-or-gratefulness","category-transformational","category-word-of-god","category-worship","tag-c-s-lewis","tag-cleansing-the-temple","tag-crucifixion","tag-cursing-the-fig-tree","tag-easter","tag-holy-week","tag-jesus","tag-jesus-film","tag-keith-getty","tag-mary-fairfield","tag-monday-morning","tag-monday-morning-moment","tag-religious-leaders","tag-righteous-anger","tag-stuart-townend","tag-the-court-of-the-gentiles","tag-timeline"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-7Qa","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30142"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30144,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30142\/revisions\/30144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}