Jesus Examines His Father’s House
Jesus rode in triumph amid praise and adoration into
Jerusalem that Sunday before Passover. As
the Son of David rides in according to the royal coronation tradition, His
first stop was the Temple—His Father’s House—and found that the court of the
Gentiles—the only place non-Jews could pray—had been given over to businessmen
of the bazaar who sold sacrificial animals to those who came from a great
distance and were unable to handle a live animal for that distance. Others exchanged the “tainted” Roman coinage which
were inscribed with forbidden graven images for Jewish shekels (and their
exchange fees of course). Others walking
through the Temple precincts as either a shortcut to the marketplace or to set
up shop in the same court of the Gentiles were very distracting to the Gentiles
who may have attempted to pray here.
Jesus’ Clears His Father’s House
Jesus went into action immediately and “drove” them all out
and “overturned their tables.” He had
done this sort of thing at the opening of His ministry also (John 2:13-17) but
now He does it again at what is to be the end.
To the religious leaders, the court of the Gentiles was not holy ground
anyway because Gentiles were allowed in there.
But Jesus quoted from Isaiah 56:7, “It is written, ‘My House shall be
called a house of prayer’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Other gospels give a more complete quote, ‘a
house of prayer for all nations (I.e. for all Gentiles).’ But Matthew’s point is not that the Gentiles
were being blocked from worshipping God—although that is the point of other
gospel writers. Matthew, the converted
tax collector, wants us to see that Jesus was objecting to the misuse of the
House of God and talking advantage of religious duty to make money. There was a lot of busyness (and sleazy commercialism)
during this very important religious pilgrimage—Passover—but it was not
centered on God.
Jesus Ministers in His Father’s House
But, just as Isaiah’s dual image of the Messiah as both a
judge and a deliverer showed, so now Jesus put down His belt and turned to
another concern. As a result of the fleeing merchants, there was now room for
Jesus to use the cleared-out area to minister to those Jews who were considered
disqualified to enter the Temple due to a physical imperfection or
disease. They were allowed to enter the
court of the Gentiles, however, and there Jesus healed them all—even the blind
and the lame. As Jesus ministered, the
children continually cried out the words from Psalm 118 that they had sung as
He triumphantly rode into Jerusalem with the palm branches waving: “Hosanna to
the Son of David.”
The Pharisees Whine
Meanwhile the scribes and the chief priests who had
benefited from the bazaar seemingly could do nothing but whine and complain to
Jesus while the crowds were pressing in on all sides. They hated seeing Him doing ministry in
“their” temple and they hated His taste in music. These young children may have been there with
family and parents but they likely remembered Jesus kindness in giving time to them
and praying with them a few days before as they journeyed to Jerusalem for the
festival. Now the words of the Psalm
were like a ‘song that never ends’ and they repeated it endlessly further
annoying the religious leaders.
“Please make them stop.”
To the leaders it bordered on blasphemy to imply that Jesus might
actually be the Messiah when ‘everyone’ knew the Messiah would be a Pharisee
and would be born of a wealthy and influential family and would rise from among
them. He would come and justify their
teaching, so they thought. But Jesus
quoted Psalm 8 and said, “Haven’t you read?”
(“Out of the mouth of babes . . .”)
Matthew doesn’t record their answer—presumably they had
nothing they could have said. They
should have said, “Oh, You must be the Messiah!
Let me show You to your rooms!”
But they had already rejected Him as Messiah and were already plotting
His death. Only the presence of the
crowds prevented them from taking action in the daytime so at the end of the
day, Jesus also left town with the crowds and stayed overnight in Bethany—two
miles away.
Jesus Lodges at Bethany
Bethany, we know from the other gospels, as the home of Mary
and Martha and Lazarus. He had healed
Lazarus there not so long ago—an incident that Matthew does not record—but
other gospel writers do and they also tell us that Lazarus’ resurrection caused
many to believe in Him—and so he was also put on the hit list because so many
were turning to Jesus because of Him. So,
Jesus would always be welcome there at this convenient getaway in Bethany just
over the Mount of Olives within walking distance of Jerusalem which was also
very crowded during the festival. Matthew briefly notes that “He lodged at
Bethany.”
Jesus Examines the Fig Tree
And the next morning He arose and headed back to town. As He walked Matthew noted that He was hungry. Jesus was 100% human as well as 100%
God. Here He experienced hunger
pangs. Spying a fig tree along the road,
He went to see if there was any fruit on it.
Now fig trees had been planted along the road both for shade and because
it was believed dust was good for them and also to provide food for
travelers. It is a peculiarity of the
fig tree that it always has some fruit hanging on it about 10 months of the
year. The new crop usually ripens before
the tree puts out leaves so this was past the normal season for new fruit
because it was covered with leaves but Jesus found no fruit—not even left over
figs still hanging there. The tree
looked healthy but there was no fruit.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
Matthew uses this occasion to record Jesus’ reaction when He
found no fruit. He said to the tree,
“May no fruit ever come from you again.”
This is the only recorded miracle of Jesus that is a judgment. According to the other gospels, the tree was
entirely withered but was not noticed until the disciples pointed it out the
next day with utter amazement.
It is
instructive to notice that Jesus told a parable of this same situation in Lk
13:6-9. In that one, a farmer kept
returning over a period of three years and never found fruit on his fig tree
and decided to dig it up but the gardener pleaded for one more year. Jesus has been ministering for three years
and has not found much fruit in Israel.
As it turns out they have about 37 more years and then Titus will burn
the temple and drive the Jews out—many into slavery. By the way, in verse 43 in
this same chapter, Jesus says all of this most clearly—just in case the reader
misses Matthew’s point. God is looking
for fruit—people who are living according to His precepts.
Matthew
doesn’t tell us that this explanatory conversation with the disciples in vv.
20-22 was the next day but the teaching recorded by the other gospels agree. This sort of miracle—the withering of the fig
tree—requires prayer and faith in God. Jesus
had said this same thing when they tried to heal the demon possessed boy at the
foot of Mt Hermon. In fact, Jesus said
back then, faith as a mustard seed was all that was necessary to move mountains
(Matthew 17:20ff). He says nearly the
same thing again here. So, what is Jesus
looking for?
Of Figs and Pharisees
The fig tree
pericope is deliberately recorded adjacent to the temple cleansing pericope in
order to underscore the Messiah’s search for fruit. Just as the tree is judged for bearing no expected
fruit, so is Israel is judged. From those who claimed to be His people He was
looking for fruitful behavior that would show they were His children. From the disciples, who were actually following
Him and behaving like God’s children, He was looking for faith and dependence
on God.
The Eyes of the Lord are in Every Place
While that
generation of the nation of Israel eventually experienced the judgment of God,
still individuals within that nation have borne much fruit. As individuals we,
too, are responsible before God to say and do what He expects of us. Even though our society or nation or generation
may go its own way, we can still obey and be blessed as we trust in Him to “move
mountains.” And some day the King will
come looking for fruit.
© 2018 Eric
Thimell
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