Mark 11 is the eleventh chapter of the
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...
in the
New Testament
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
of the
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
, beginning
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
' final "hectic" week,
[Tuckett, C. M., ''57. Mark'', in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)]
The Oxford Bible Commentary
p. 908–9 before his death as he arrives in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
for the coming
Passover
Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt.
According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...
. It contains the stories of Jesus'
entry into Jerusalem
The triumphal entry into Jerusalem is a narrative in the four canonical Gospels describing the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem a few days before his crucifixion. This event is celebrated each year by Christians on Palm Sunday.
According to the ...
, his cursing of
the fig tree, his
conflict with the Temple money changers, and his argument with the chief priests and elders about his
authority
Authority is commonly understood as the legitimate power of a person or group of other people.
In a civil state, ''authority'' may be practiced by legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government,''The New Fontana Dictionary of M ...
. Biblical commentator
Christopher Tuckett notes that "the
Passion narrative
The Passion (from Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week.
The ''Passion'' may include, amo ...
in Mark is usually adjudged to start at
chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen refers to a fourteenth Chapter (books), chapter in a book.
Chapter Fourteen, Chapter 14, or Chapter XIV may also refer to:
Music
* Chapter 14 (band), an American post-hardcore/alternative rock band from Carlsbad, California
Telev ...
, but there is a real sense in which it can be said to start ... at the start of chapter 11".
Text
The original text was written in
Koine Greek
Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...
.
This chapter is divided into 33 verses.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
*
Codex Vaticanus
The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...
(325–350; complete)
*
Codex Sinaiticus
The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...
(330–360; complete)
*
Codex Bezae
The Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis is a bi-lingual Greek and Latin manuscript of the New Testament written in an uncial hand on parchment. It is designated by the siglum D or 05 in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts, and � ...
(~400; complete)
*
Codex Alexandrinus
The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
(400–440; complete)
*
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum C or 04 in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering of New ...
(~450; complete)
Timescale
Verses 1–11 reflect the events commemorated by Christians on
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is the Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Its name originates from the palm bran ...
. Verses 12–19 record actions of "the next day", and end that evening. Verses 20–33 commence early (, ''prói''), the following morning. Tuckett argues that Mark has "very likely" compressed a series of events into a single week whereas it is more plausible to assume they took place over a longer period of time.
Triumphal entry into Jerusalem

Jesus and his
disciples
A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to:
Religion
* Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ
* Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples
* Seventy disciples in t ...
approach
Bethphage
Bethphage (; ) or Bethsphage, is a Christian religious site on the Mount of Olives east of historical Jerusalem.
The Synoptic Gospels mention Jesus stopping in Bethphage before his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. There is an annual Catholic Pa ...
and
Bethany
Bethany (,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac language, Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā''), locally called in Palestinian Arabic, Arabic Al-Eizariya or al-Aizariya (, "Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba, lace
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...
of Lazarus (name), L ...
, towns on the edge of Jerusalem. Bethany was about two miles (3.2 km) east of the city on the
Mount of Olives
The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (; ; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem, east of and adjacent to Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive, olive ...
.
Zechariahbr>
14:4has the final
messianic
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach' ...
battle occurring on the Mount of Olives.
Bethphage is
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
for house of unripe figs, perhaps Mark's foreshadowing of the story of the fig tree.
Jesus instructs two unnamed disciples to go ahead to the town and collect a colt, by which he almost assuredly means a young
donkey
The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...
, which he says will be tied up and has never been ridden, for him to ride. This is to fulfill
Messianic prophecies
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...
, such as Zecharia
9:9 which is quoted in every Gospel except Mark. He instructs them that if anyone questions them they should say "The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately." , where Mark uses a
double entendre
A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
as the "Lord" is meant as the owner of the colt and Jesus. The two go and find the colt as Jesus had predicted and start to untie it and people standing nearby ask what they are up to and they tell them what Jesus told them to say and amazingly they leave them alone. Mark leaves the event seemingly showing Jesus' power of prediction, but it could be argued that the people already knew Jesus as this town was his base of operations over the next several days: according to Mark and the other Gospels, Jesus also had friends there including
Lazarus
Lazarus may refer to:
People
*Lazarus (name), a surname and a given name
* Lazarus of Bethany, a Biblical figure described as being raised from the dead by Jesus
* Lazarus, a Biblical figure from the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus
* Lazar ...
, his sisters, and
Simon the Leper
Simon the Leper ( Greek: Σίμων ὁ λεπρός, ''Símōn ho leprós'') is a biblical figure who lived in Bethany, a village in Judaea on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives. He is mentioned in the Gospels according to Matthew ...
.
They bring the colt back to Jesus and put their
cloak
A cloak is a type of loose garment worn over clothing, mostly but not always as outerwear for outdoor wear, which serves the same purpose as an overcoat and protects the wearer from the weather. It may form part of a uniform. People in many d ...
s on it and Jesus rides it into Jerusalem and people lay their cloaks and tree branches before him, singing him praise as the Son of
David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
and a line from
Psalm
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of H ...
br>
118:25–26
:''"
Hosanna
''Hosanna'' () is a liturgical word in Judaism and Christianity. In Judaism it refers to a cry expressing an appeal for divine help.Friberg Lexicon In Christianity it is used as a cry of praise.
Etymology
The word ''hosanna'' (Latin ', Greek , ...
! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!"''
The
Textus Receptus
The (Latin for 'received text') is the succession of printed Greek New Testament texts starting with Erasmus' ''Novum Instrumentum omne'' (1516) and including the editions of Robert Estienne, Stephanus, Theodore Beza, Beza, the House of Elzevir ...
repeats the words ἑν ὀνόματι Κυρίου (''en onomati kuriou'', "in the name of the Lord") in verse 10 as well as verse 9:
:''"Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord!"''
The ancient
Codex Alexandrinus
The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
supports the duplication, but other early
manuscript
A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
s, the
Vulgate
The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...
and the writings of
Origen
Origen of Alexandria (), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an Early Christianity, early Christian scholar, Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic, and Christian theology, theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Early cent ...
omit these words from verse 10.
The quotation from the Psalms is significant, as the composition of the Psalms is traditionally ascribed to King David. The word ὡσαννά, (''Hosanna'', "save us please") is derived from Aramaic (הושע נא) (see
Aramaic of Jesus#Hosana) from Hebrew (הושיעה נא) (, הוֹשִׁיעָה נָּא), meaning "help" or "save, I pray", "an appeal that became a liturgical formula; as part of the
Hallel
Hallel (, 'Praise') is a Jewish prayer, a verbatim recitation from Psalms which is recited by observant Jews on Jewish holidays as an act of praise and thanksgiving.
Types Full Hallel
Full Hallel () consists of all six Psalms of the Hallel, in ...
... familiar to everyone in Israel."
This event is celebrated by Christians as
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday is the Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Its name originates from the palm bran ...
, as the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...
says the branches were taken from
palm trees
The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially ...
.
Verse 11
:''And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.''
He goes into the city and checks out the Temple. Where this entry took place is unknown, some believing it was through what is now called
the Golden Gate where it was believed the Messiah would enter Jerusalem. Others think he might have used an entrance to the south that had stairs that led directly to the Temple. The crowd seems to have dispersed before Jesus reaches the Temple.
[ Maclear, G. F. (1893)]
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
on Mark 11, accessed 30 June 2021 He surveys the scene, but because it is late he leaves and goes back to Bethany. There were two
areas of the Temple, the main area of the building where people's activity took place and the
inner sanctuary, also called the Temple, where the power of God was thought to reside.
The fig tree and the money changers
As they leave Bethany next day, Jesus, who is hungry, sees a fig tree at (or from) a distance and goes over to see if it has figs.
George Maclear
George Frederick Maclear (3 February 1833 in Bedford - 19 October 1902 at St Augustine's College, Canterbury) was an English clergyman, theological writer and headmaster at King's College School, London (later Wimbledon). He was the eldest son o ...
suggests he may have
fasted overnight.
It is too early in the year for the tree to produce fruit, and it has none. Jesus
curse
A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...
s it (see verse 21): "May no one ever eat fruit from you again", words which his disciples hear.

They reach Jerusalem and Jesus goes straight to the Temple,
Herod's Temple
The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...
, and starts, without explanation, throwing over tables and driving the
dove
Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...
salesman and money changers from the courtyard of the Temple and stops people from bringing anything for sale through the Temple courts (). The doves were used for sacrifices and the standard
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
or
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of Roman civilization
*Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
money used by people had to be changed into special blessed Jewish or
Tyrian money suitable for use.
[Brown et al., p. 620] This is what Jesus told everyone there:
Verse 17
: '' And he taught, saying unto them,''
:: ''Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?''
:: ''but ye have made it a den of thieves.''
*Cross reference:
Matthew 21:13,
Luke 19:46
Jesus combines quotes from
Isaiah 56:7 and
Jeremiah 7:11 in
Matthew 21:13, which is a parallel verse to this verse and
Luke 19:46. Both are from expositions on the nature of the Temple. The quote from Isaiah comes from a section about how all who obey
God's will
The will of God or divine will is a concept found in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and a number of other texts and worldviews, according to which God's will is the cause of everything that exists.
Thomas Aquinas
According to Thomas Aquin ...
,
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish or not, are to be allowed into the Temple so they can
pray
File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)''
rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
and therefore converse with God. The passage in Jeremiah is from a chapter on the futility of
worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity or God. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, ...
on the part of those who do not obey God's will. People making money off of worshipping God right inside God's own Temple seems to Jesus to be a corruption of God's intention. "Den of thieves" might be a reference to extortionary pricing for the doves and money. The people are amazed by Jesus and his teaching, which drives the chief priests to plot to kill him. Jesus and his group however leave the city at the end of the day.
The incident with the money changers is recorded in all the Gospels. The
synoptics
SynOptics Communications, Inc., was a Santa Clara, California-based early computer network equipment vendor from 1985 until 1994. SynOptics popularized the concept of the modular Ethernet hub and high-speed Ethernet networking over copper twisted ...
have basically the same story as Mark. Joh
2:12–25has the incident occurring at the start of his book and therefore
Jesus' ministry. He expels the dove salesmen and money changers but does not quote from the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
, instead saying "How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!". The disciples remember "
Zeal
Zeal may refer to:
* Zealotry, fanaticism
** Zeal of the convert
* Diligence, the theological virtue opposite to acedia
* Zeal (horse), race horse
* Zeal (surname)
* Zeal (web), an internet directory
* Zeal Monachorum, a village in Devon
* S ...
for your house will consume me." Most scholars hold that this is the same incident and that it really occurred shortly before Jesus' death. A minority hold that there were two incidents with the money changers, once at the beginning and once at the end of Jesus' mission.
According to the
Jewish Encyclopedia
''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...
article o
Jesus: In the Temple:This would appear to have been on the first day of the week and on the 10th of Nisan, when, according to the Law, it was necessary that the paschal lamb should be purchased. It is therefore probable that the entry into Jerusalem was for this purpose. In making the purchase of the lamb a dispute appears to have arisen between Jesus' followers and the money-changers who arranged for such purchases; and the latter were, at any rate for that day, driven from the Temple precincts. It would appear from Talmudic references that this action had no lasting effect, if any, for Simon ben Gamaliel found much the same state of affairs much later (Ker. i. 7) and effected some reforms (see Derenbourg in "Histoire de la Palestine," p. 527). The act drew public attention to Jesus, who during the next few days was asked to define His position toward the conflicting parties in Jerusalem. It seemed especially to attack the emoluments of the priestly class, which accordingly asked Him to declare by what authority He had interfered with the sacrosanct arrangements of the Temple. In a somewhat enigmatic reply He placed his own claims on a level with those of John the Baptist — in other words, he based them on popular support.
The
Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar was a group of about 50 biblical criticism scholars and 100 laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk that originated under the auspices of the Westar Institute.''Making Sense of the New Testament'' by Craig Blomberg (Mar 1, 200 ...
concluded that this was a "pink" act, "a close approximation of what Jesus did", as recorded in , , and called the "Temple incident" and the primary cause of the
crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
.
The next morning they pass by the fig tree again and
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
notices that it is now "withered", and excitedly points it out to Jesus, who replies:
:''Have faith in God,...I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea', and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.''
22–23
Similar statements can be found, apart from the fig tree story, in
Matthewbr>
17:20and
Luke
Luke may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Luke (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Luke (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luk ...
br>
17:6as well as i
of the
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is a non-canonical Logia, sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate the works ...
.
Saint Paul
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...
also mentions faith that can move mountains in
1 Corinthians
The First Epistle to the Corinthians () is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in Anc ...
br>
13:2
Some have argued that Jesus' action in regard to the fig tree seems
illogical
As the study of argument is of clear importance to the reasons that we hold things to be true, logic is of essential importance to rationality. Arguments may be logical if they are "conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity ...
, since it was not the time of year for trees to bear fruit and one might assume that a
divine
Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...
Jesus would know that the tree would not have figs or could have simply produced the figs by a
miracle
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
as opposed to cursing the tree.
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...
, the
agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. (page 56 in 1967 edition) It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to ...
philosopher
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, even listed this story as one of his reasons for not being a Christian. The cursing of the tree displays Jesus' power and the power of prayer coupled with full belief in God. Mark, placing the fig tree before and after the incident in the Temple, may be using the fig tree as a
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
for what he sees as the barrenness of the priests and the withering of their teaching and authority due to their lack of true faith. Just like with the fig tree, Jesus had hoped to find "fruit", the fruit of true worship of God, at the Temple but it is not the right time for this, and so the Temple, like the fig tree, is cursed.
Exegetes often take this as one of Mark's references to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, and consequently their dating of Mark after this event.
The fig tree is again mentioned in Mar
13:28by Jesus as part of his
eschatological
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world ...
discourse, when its leaves will be full and it will be bearing fruit in the summer, as opposed to the current spring. Matthew has roughly the same story but not Luke or John, although Luk
13:6–9has Jesus relating a ''
parable
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whe ...
'',
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree, about a man not finding fruit on a fig tree. Thomas has Jesus talking about
thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp spikes on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. T ...
s not yielding figs i
saying 45 which is also found in the
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings spoken by Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is th ...
in Matthe
7:16
This section of Mark ends with verses which are paralleled in and , which some have seen as a portion or a follow-on of the
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also known by its incipit Our Father (, ), is a central Christian prayer attributed to Jesus. It contains petitions to God focused on God’s holiness, will, and kingdom, as well as human needs, with variations across manusc ...
(see also
Discourse on ostentation#Prayer): forgive others so that God may forgive you.
Argument over Jesus' authority
Jesus then goes back to the Temple a third time, and as he walks through the Temple courts the priests, teachers (or scribes), and elders come up to him and question his authority to do the things that he is doing. They are trying to force him to say that his authority comes from God and can therefore accuse him of
blasphemy
Blasphemy refers to an insult that shows contempt, disrespect or lack of Reverence (emotion), reverence concerning a deity, an object considered sacred, or something considered Sanctity of life, inviolable. Some religions, especially Abrahamic o ...
.
Jesus says that he will tell them if they answer him one question: "
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
's
baptism
Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
— was it from
heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
, or from men? Tell me!"
30 The priests are then trapped. Mark implies that they did not believe in John, so that if they answer from heaven people will ask why they did not believe John. If they answer from men, they would be in conflict with the people, who ''did'' believe in John. They therefore refuse to answer and accordingly so does Jesus. This allows him to make the priests look bad and incompetent and also allows him to imply to the people that his authority is from God without saying it.
This is the first time in Mark that the chief priests, members of the
Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin (Hebrew and Middle Aramaic , a loanword from , 'assembly,' 'sitting together,' hence ' assembly' or 'council') was a Jewish legislative and judicial assembly of either 23 or 70 elders, existing at both a local and central level i ...
, are presented among Jesus' opponents. His previous conflicts had been with the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; ) were a Jews, Jewish social movement and school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. Following the Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70), destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became ...
, allied with the
Herodians
The Herodians (; ) were a sect of Hellenistic Jews mentioned in the New Testament on two occasions – first in Galilee and later in Jerusalem – being hostile to Jesus (, ; ; cf. also , ). In each of these cases their name is coupled with that o ...
, and the scribes or teachers of the law. Jesus has several arguments with the Jewish authorities beginning here and lasting through
chapter 12
Chapter 12 of Title 11 of the United States Code, or simply chapter 12, is a chapter of the Bankruptcy Code. It is similar to Chapter 13 in structure, but it offers additional benefits to farmers and fishermen in certain circumstances, beyond th ...
, in which they try to trip him up but continually fail. The editors of the
New American Bible Revised Edition note that by
Mark 12:18, the "mounting hostility" of all these parties has been marshalled against Jesus.
[ Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc.]
Footnote 3
at in the New American Bible Revised Edition, accessed on 9 December 2024
Comparison with other canonical gospels
Matthew records these stories in chapte
21 with the differences that Jesus fights with the money changers the day He gets to Jerusalem and He heals several blind and lame people afterwards. Jesus curses the fig tree the next morning and it withers immediately.
Luke has all of this content i
19:28–20:8 except for the fig tree, and includes an explicit prediction by Jesus of Jerusalem's
destruction
Destruction may refer to:
Concepts
* Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger
* Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism
* Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kin ...
. He also states the Pharisees tried to silence His followers praise of Him during his entry into Jerusalem and, like Matthew, Luke says Jesus expelled the money changers on the day He arrived there.
Joh
12has Jesus arrive in Bethany and have dinner with Lazarus and his sisters
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religion
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
and
Martha
Martha (Aramaic language, Aramaic: מָרְתָא) is a Bible, biblical figure described in the Gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of John, John. Together with her siblings Lazarus of Bethany, Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is descr ...
after raising Him from the dead. The next day he finds the colt, John making no mention of the disciples, and rides it into Jerusalem with the same Psalm being sung. He then teaches the crowd in Jerusalem, John having the incident in the Temple before Jesus' final trip to Jerusalem.
See also
* Related
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
parts:
Isaiah 56
Isaiah 56 is the fifty-sixth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets.Theodore ...
,
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 7 is the seventh chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 7 to ...
,
Matthew 21
Matthew 21 is the twenty-first chapter in the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament section of the Christian Bible. Jesus triumphally or majestically arrives in Jerusalem and commences his final ministry before his Passion.
Structure
The nar ...
,
Luke 19
Luke 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. It records Jesus' arrival in Jericho and his meeting with Zacchaeus, the Parables of Jesus, parable Parable of the talents or minas, ...
References
Sources
*Brown, Raymond E., ''An Introduction to the New Testament'', Doubleday 1997
*Brown, Raymond E. et al., ''The New Jerome Biblical Commentary'', Prentice Hall 1990
*Kilgallen, John J., ''A Brief Commentary on the Gospel of Mark'', Paulist Press 1989
*Miller, Robert J., editor, ''The Complete Gospels'', Polebridge Press 1994
External links
* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.)
{{Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Mark chapters