Fig Trees & Mountains

It's not about fig trees and mountains, is it...

Today is Ascension Day on the Christian calendar, observed 40 days after Easter Resurrection Sunday based on what Luke writes in Acts 1:3-9. We continue in our journey through Mark below picking up where we left off yesterday, but Mark is one of only two gospels that mention the ascension. Feel free to read that short verse as well.

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Maybe the fig tree is a living parable — a visual symbol of what’s happening in the temple, sandwiched as it is between Jesus’ arrival at the temple (v. 11) and his clearing of it (vv. 15–19). Both the tree and the temple appear outwardly vibrant — leaves on the tree, rituals in the temple — but neither bears the fruit they’re meant to.

It might be that Jesus is hangry, but seems more likely that Jesus’ curse is not actually vindictive. It’s diagnostic and it’s winnowing. This is what happens to things that fail to live out their purpose. The fig tree becomes a kind of preview, or commentary, on the temple — and more broadly, on any system that maintains appearance without justice, ritual without righteousness, leaves without fruit.

It’s easy to say such things about the temple. But is there a word here about today’s Church?

This would also explain why Jesus pivots to forgiveness and prayer. It’s not about throwing a literal mountain into the sea. It’s about removing the massive spiritual, relational, and systemic barriers that keep people from bearing fruit. The disciples aren’t being taught to curse trees — they’re being shown that powerful faith doesn’t just move mountains. It uproots systems, heals broken relationships, and creates space for fruitfulness.

Jesus’ surprise concerning the tree’s barrenness doesn’t diminish his divinity — it magnifies his humanity. A God who walks among us without omniscient detachment. A Savior who encounters disappointment and lets that disruption call forth a prophetic word. A Christ who expects fruit — not perfection, but honesty, mercy, and faith that forgives.

This is the holiness that doesn’t preserve appearances, but withers injustice and cultivates new life.

Mark 11:12-26

The next day, after leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. From far away, he noticed a fig tree in leaf, so he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing except leaves, since it wasn’t the season for figs. So he said to it, “No one will ever again eat your fruit!” His disciples heard this.

They came into Jerusalem. After entering the temple, he threw out those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves. He didn’t allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He taught them, “Hasn’t it been written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you’ve turned it into a hideout for crooks.” The chief priests and legal experts heard this and tried to find a way to destroy him. They regarded him as dangerous because the whole crowd was enthralled at his teaching. When it was evening, Jesus and his disciples went outside the city.

Early in the morning, as Jesus and his disciples were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered from the root up. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look how the fig tree you cursed has dried up.”

Jesus responded to them, “Have faith in God! I assure you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’—and doesn’t waver but believes that what is said will really happen—it will happen. Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you. And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have something against anyone, forgive so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your wrongdoings.”

Psalm 24:1-6

The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too. Because God is the one who established it on the seas; God set it firmly on the waters.

Who can ascend the Lord’s mountain? Who can stand in his holy sanctuary? Only the one with clean hands and a pure heart; the one who hasn’t made false promises, the one who hasn’t sworn dishonestly. That kind of person receives blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God who saves. And that’s how things are with the generation that seeks him—that seeks the face of Jacob’s God.

Prayer

God,

While I’d really like the ability to curse a tree to wither or throw an actual mountain into the sea, I know I’m fascinated by such things for the spectacle. So change my heart toward the real work of Christ, these days, seemingly just as difficult as tossing Katahdin into the Atlantic—to see injustice transformed.

Lord, give me faith for such things, indeed. And remind me that I’m not alone. I’ve got your Spirit and your faithful Church. Bind us together and get us going.

Holy Father of all creation, I see your loving justice in Jesus of Nazareth. By your Spirit & in Christ, make me more like him.

Amen.