“May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
GOSPEL, Mark (11, 11-26)
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark
11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, “Is it not written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’?
But you have made it a den of robbers.”
18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples[a] went out of the city.
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have[b] faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours.
25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
The Gospel of the Lord
REFLECTION
Jesus cast a curse on the fig tree without fruit. Although it was with lush with many leaves, it was unduly taking up space. St. Peter testifies to this occurrence, “Look, Master. The fig tree you cursed has withered”.
This fruitless fig tree represents the cult of the temple, full of rituals, but empty of religiosity. The temple in Jerusalem was meant to be a house of prayer for all people and had become a den of iniquity ’.
Jesus, Son of God, came to teach the true worship of God. He, is the new temple for a new religion and covenant and invites us, as he once invited the Samaritan woman, (John 4:23) to worship His Father in spirit and truth.
With an “ardent” gesture, Jesus declared the temple and worship of the old covenant abolished, and enabled the discovery of the mystery of his person. He himself incarnates the new temple and the new covenant, the new cult and the new religion, the new path of access to the Father and the cultural centre of the new people of God, the Church and a house of prayer open to all peoples.
Following the resurrection of Christ, the apostles and the first Christians continued to attend the temple every day, we read in Acts. However, it was not long before the rupture already hinted at by the apology for spiritual worship that deacon Stephen made before the Sanhedrin. With the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by Titus (year 70) and with the declared enmity of the Jewish synagogue, which at that time excommunicated the disciples of Jesus, the total rupture of the young Church with the temple of Jerusalem was consummated.
PRAYER
Blessed be you Father, because in Christ, your Son, you established a new covenant with your people in which He, is the new religion we worship at temple.
Lord, we want to embrace our worship to include all aspects of our lives, work, family, friends and all others wherever they are in the world. May we worship you in spirit and truth, with an authentic devotion according to Your wishes.