Mark 11:12-17: a reflection

12The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. 13Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it. 15They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves. 16He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. 17He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers!”

On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus sees a fig tree in full leaf and comes to it looking for fruit, but finds nothing but leaves. He curses it. And then, entering the temple, he drives out the buyers and sellers who had turned God's house of prayer into a den of commerce. The two acts belong together: both confront the same thing, the appearance of life and worship without the reality, leaves without fruit, a temple full of religious activity but empty of true prayer.

Notice what the fig tree pictures. From a distance it looked healthy, full of leaves, promising fruit. But up close, there was nothing, only the show of life without the substance. That is what Jesus confronts, in the tree and in the temple: the outward appearance of flourishing, religious life without the fruit that should accompany it. He is not fooled by leaves; he looks for fruit, for the reality, not merely the appearance of it.

That searches us. It is possible to have plenty of leaves, the appearance of a flourishing faith, religious activity, the right words, the outward show, without the actual fruit: the love, the obedience, the changed life, the genuine prayer. Jesus is not impressed by leaves; he comes looking for fruit. Do not settle for the appearance of faith without its substance. Ask whether your leaves have fruit beneath them, whether your outward religion is matched by real, growing fruit in your life. Jesus looks past the leaves for what is actually there.

Lord Jesus, you came to the fig tree looking for fruit and found only leaves, and you are not fooled by the appearance of religious life without its substance. Search me for leaves without fruit, the outward show of faith without the love, obedience, and changed life that should accompany it. Keep me from settling for the appearance of flourishing. Grow real fruit in me, so that when you look, you find not just leaves but the reality beneath them.