Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Miracle of the Barren Fig Tree/ Cleansing of the Temple - Lesson 4 - Christ's Week of Awe


Lesson 4

Miracle of The Barren Fig Tree
               Mark 11:12-26, Matthew 21: 17-22

                Cleansing of The Temple
                Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19
                Luke 19: 45-48, 21:37


             Now it is the Monday morning of the second day of Christ's Week of Awe, the Passion week.  Jesus has spent the evening in Bethany. It is not stated how his evening was spent, but he was with the twelve disciples there.  He is now on the road back to Jerusalem; we are traveling behind him,  and afar off is a fig tree covered in leaves. The scripture tell us He was hungry.  There are many fig trees in the early spring, but they are not usually covered in leaves, the buds show first before the leaves. The buds show first before the leaves; eaves appear on the fig tree.  So by the time the leaves are big, as on the fig tree the Savior saw, there should be fruit on the tree.  Even fruit left from the season before could be on the tree. It would not be uncommon to expect fruit on the tree at this time. (Talmage, p. 487) 
             But as Jesus and the twelve reached the tree, they found nothing but leaves.  James Talmage says,”It was a showy, fruitless, barren tree.”  Jesus says as he has found the tree barren, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever.” (Mark 11:14) Mathew records “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for forever” (Mathew 21:19)  Matthew also records that,  “Presently the fig tree withered away.”  Mark, however, records that the observation of the fig tree withering was on the next morning when Jesus and the apostles were traveling again from Bethany to Jerusalems
and saw that the tree had withered from the roots up. (Talmage, p. 487)   
             This is such an incredible story. How many times did Jesus bring life back to someone, or something, not take life away as he did in the case of the fig tree.  Everything was created for man, he having the divine inspiration to give or to take away.  In this case, he took away. “If created things do not serve him and his purposes, should they not be replaced with others that will?  That is also a manifestation of the power of faith resident in him who creates and destroys as seemeth good to him is also apparent.  And who are we to question divine wisdom when destructions come?” (McConkie, B3, p. 346)
             Right after this, Jesus teaches again, “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22)   He repeats Himself again about the power of faith, even the moving of mountains. (Mark 11:23) 
             I often think,  “how much faith do I really have?”  Could I reach my hand forth to a tree and pronounce it to be barren, or could I move a mountain?  How often are we given the opportunity to show our faith, and belief.  Oh, yes, there have been times when I wondered how the end of a situation would come. Could we make it through the hardest of challenges and still love God?  YES!  Innumerable times in this life can I say, YES!  Each of us can say yes.  We have all been blessed by great things if we just think about the times when we have felt His presence in our lives, even in hard times. 
             He then says, “Therefore I say unto you, Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive, and ye shall have them.” (Mark 11:24)  Ye shall have them! 
             He then teaches about forgiveness, and how important forgiveness is to receiving the things we desire.
             I love the analogy also that Jesus' taking life from a living thing was also proof that he could take up his own life. It was one of the ways that He showed that His sacrifice for us on the
cross was voluntary.  He had command of the elements --  Even for Himself. 
             Bruce R, McConkie explains, the fig tree is a “fit emblem of a hypocrite, whose external semblance is a delusion and sham.”  (McConkie, B3, p. 346)  Jesus made this miracle the eternal warning against a life of hypocrisy, which was prevalent in the world he was currently living in.  (Remember the Jewish leaders and the laws they were living and enforcing at the time.)
             James Talmage also describes this, “The incident is as much parable as miracle.  That leafy tree was distinguished among fig trees;  the others offered no invitation, gave no promise; 'the time of figs was not yet;' they, in due season would bring fourth fruit and leaves; but this precocious and leafy pretender waved its umbrageous limbs as in boastful assertion of superiority.  For those who responded to its ostentatious invitation, for the hungering Christ who came seeking fruit, it had naught but leaves. Even for the purposes of the lesson involved, we cannot  conceive of the tree being blighted primarily because it was fruitless, for at that season the other fig trees were bare of fruit also; it was made the object of the curse and subject of the Lord's instructive discourse, because, having leaves, it was deceptively barren... we would have to pronounce it a hypocrite; its utter barrenness coupled with its abundance of foliage made of it a type of human hypocrisy.” (Talmage, p. 489-490)
             Then Jesus went to the temple. We are walking with the group of followers with Him into the temple. He returned to the temple daily during the Pascal week. 
             What did He find in the temple?  Did He find faithful disciples worshiping God?  No, He found moneychangers, merchants, those who were selling on the temple grounds.  Just like at the beginning of His ministry when He cleansed the temple, He again on this day  arrived at the temple with the stench of animals and birds everywhere, moneychangers sitting at their tables working their evil. “And when they come to Jerusalem:  and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.  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.” (Mark 11:15-17)
             What is the primary difference between the first time He cleansed the temple and this cleansing of the temple?  At the beginning of His Messiahship, He called the temple “My Father's House.”  This time at the end of His ministry He calls the temple “My house.”  He is now telling all who can hear that He is the Christ. 
             I love what happens next.  He has shown His anger, He has cleansed the temple, He now is ready to teach and minister in the temple – His house.   
             “As peace and serenity fell over the sacred courts, Jesus resumed his teachings.  The Gospel Voice was heard again; disciples crowded around him to drink deeply from the Everlasting Fountain; faith welled up in the hearts of men; 'And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.'  The same spirit of worship and adoration that fell mightily upon the multitudes the day before, in the triumphal entry into the city, came again.  Shouts of hosanna rent the air; from the children of the kingdom came the cries, “Hosanna to the son of David,” and believing souls knew in their hearts that this prophet of Galilee was the Promised Messiah.” (McConkie, B3 p. 349)
             Again shouts of praise to his name He is respected, He is loved, He is proclaimed as the Son of David, the Savior of the world. 
             The temple officials now say to Him, “Hearest thou what these say?” And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected
praise? And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.”(Matthew 21: 14-17, JST v. 15)

 The Cleansing of the Temple

Prepare
Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19
Luke 19: 45-48, 21:37
What can we learn from the Cleansing of the Temple?

Tell the story of the cleansing of the temple. Also prepare and understand the first cleansing of the temple.  Explain the filthiness of how the temple may have looked and smelled on these occasions.  What is a money changer?  What are they selling and why? Why would this be so offensive to Jesus?  Could there be prayer, teaching, and ministry there while all these things were going on?  What did He declare of Himself in the temple that day?  After the people sing Hosanna, what happens?  Who sought to destroy the Savior?  Why?

Remembering

Remembering the Cleansing of the Temple

Find something that needs to be cleaned, that is really dirty,
or that has a horrible smell.  Think of how the temple would
look, or smell if this were in the temple courts.

 Act of Service

What act of service can you do to represent the cleansing of the temple?



         Miracle of the Barren Fig Tree

What do we learn from this miracle?
What is hypocrisy?

Prepare
Mark 11:12-26, Matthew 21: 17-22

How can we relate the Barren Fig Tree to our own lives? Tell the parable of the Barren Fig Tree.  What happened?  How can we relate this story to us today.  What is a hypocrite?  How can we ensure that we are doing what the Lord has asked us to do in our lives? 


   Remembering
Representation of the Barren Fig Tree

Find a branch with lots of leaves to share with everyone
what the tree looked like before it was cursed.
Find a branch with no leaves and put in a vase to represent
the barren tree and how it looked after the Savior cursed it.

Act of Service

What act of service can you do to represent the change of the fig tree?



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