Looking for Fruit

Read Mark 11:12-19

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. –Mark 11:15-16

There is a long history of “prophetic acts” in the Bible, in which a prophet acted out the judgment or restoration of the people of Israel. For example, God commanded Hosea to marry an unfaithful prostitute to represent his love for faithless Israel. Similarly, God commanded the prophet Ezekiel to lie on his side for 390 days to symbolize the many years of Israel’s sin, and then to lie on his other side for 40 more days to represent the years of their coming captivity. (On top of this, God commanded Ezekiel to cook his food over dung, to symbolize the “defiled food” that Israel will be forced to eat among the nations.)

On the more positive side, God commanded Jeremiah to purchase a field from his cousin during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. Even though Jerusalem’s destruction was imminent, this prophetic act represented the hope that one day Israel would be restored to the land that was their home.

After Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, he performed a series of prophetic acts, the most memorable being the “cleansing of the temple.” Jesus drove out the animal sellers and the money changers from the temple, in large part because they profited from the poor who had come to worship at the temple. As he turned over their tables, Jesus quoted the prophets: “My house will be called ‘a house of prayer for all nations’,” (quoting Isaiah 56:7), “but you have made it ‘a den of robbers’!” (quoting Jeremiah 7:11).

There was a prophetic act that preceded this moment, however. As Jesus was on his way to the temple, he came across a fig tree. Figs usually come into season in mid-summer. Because it was early April, the tree had no fruit to offer. Yet Jesus still cursed the tree for its lack of fruit. The next day, when the disciples passed by this same tree, they noticed that it had withered.

It might seem unfair for Jesus to curse a tree when it wasn’t even in season to bear fruit. However, Jesus cursed the tree as a prophetic act—the tree represented the nation of Israel. Again, we must hear the words of the prophets. In the book of Hosea we read: “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.” (Hos 9:10) Or from the prophet Jeremiah: “I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?” (Jer 2:21) Because the people of Israel failed to bear the fruit of righteousness, God promised that he would “consume” them: “There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.” (Jer 8:13)

Jesus wasn’t looking for fruit on a fig tree. He was looking for fruit in Israel, and like the prophets before him, he did not find the fruit that God had designed them for—justice, faithfulness, worship that is true.

Before we cast judgment on the Israelites, though, we must humbly ask if we are bearing the fruit that God is looking for within the church. Does our worship together produce a fruit that is pleasing to the Lord? Are the poor being restored? Are idols being cast down? Does God get all our glory and honor, or are we more interested in pleasing ourselves?

The apostle Paul was clear about the fruit that the Spirit produces among the faithful. God is looking for the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). We cannot produce such virtues on our own—they grow in our lives only when we live and worship in ways that invite God’s Spirit to work freely among us.  

I do not know, O God, if You are pleased with the fruit that grows in my life. I know there are times when I poorly return the love and goodness that You have given me. In humility of spirit, I invite Your Spirit to move freely in my life. May I bear fruit that brings You delight, through the grace of Your Son Jesus. Amen.