Did you ever puzzle over Jesus' cursing of the fig tree? Mark 11:12-14

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Jesus’ cursing the fig tree puzzled me for a long time – kept wondering “Why, Jesus?” And then a several weeks ago a few paragraphs in an article by Fr. Dwight Longenecker really gave the event meaning and color. Thought others might appreciate it also.
…But there is more to it than that. Pitre asks why, on Monday of Holy Week the gospels record the odd story about Jesus cursing the fig tree. (Mk. 11:12-14 & 20-25) The gospels portray it as a lesson in faith, but there is a deeper meaning which is revealed by learning about Jewish traditions of the time.
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In ancient Jewish tradition, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was the fig tree.

You remember that Adam and Eve made loincloths out of fig leaves. In an ancient non-Biblical Jewish text- The Life of Adam and Eve we learn that they made their skirts from the same tree from which they had eaten.

When Jesus curses the fig tree during Holy Week, therefore, he is giving a sign that echoes more deeply than just a lesson in having faith. When he says, “may no one will ever eat of you again” he is indicating that he will defeat the old curse of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good Evil. He will curse that curse as he curses the fig tree. …
The Mystery of the Three Trees | Fr. Dwight Longenecker
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Nita said:
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Also the lesson of the power of faith is explained in Matthew 21:
20 *And the disciples seeing it, wondered, saying: How is it presently withered away?

21 And Jesus answering, said to them: Amen, I say to you, if you shall have faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig-tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, Take up and cast thyself into the sea, it shall be done.
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I’ve seen internet atheists get their knickers in a twist over this passage.

But I really like the reflection on it you posted.
 
The fig tree also represents the nation of Israel in those verses. The messiah comes to see what fruits it has produced, and finding none…Jesus prefigures the destruction of the Temple. Look at the context of the fig tree story in Mark.

Pitre’s observations seem to open up the possibility that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis represents the nation of Israel, just as the fig tree represents the nation of Israel in so much of ancient Jewish writing.
 
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Thanks Vico. Similar to the explanation Mark gives starting at 11:20.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
The fig tree also represents the nation of Israel in those verses. The messiah comes to see what fruits it has produced, and finding none…Jesus prefigures the destruction of the Temple. Look at the context of the fig tree story in Mark.
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I went back and read the paragraphs before and after these verses in Mark. The cursing occurs between 2 trips Jesus made to the temple. In verse 11 there was a phrase I’d never noticed before - Jesus enters the temple, "and when He had looked round at everything" … The phrase keeps lingering in my mind. I picture Him doing it. Why? What was He looking for? What were His thoughts?
Then He leaves and curses the fig tree.
1Lord1Faith said:
Pitre’s observations seem to open up the possibility that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis represents the nation of Israel, just as the fig tree represents the nation of Israel in so much of ancient Jewish writing.
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Didn’t know the fig tree was thought to represent Israel in Jewish writings. Very interesting. Do you have links to any those writings?
 
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Nita said:
Didn’t know the fig tree was thought to represent Israel in Jewish writings. Very interesting. Do you have links to any those writings?
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Jeremiah 8

THREATS OF PUNISHMENT
I will gather them all in—oracle of the LORD:
no grapes on the vine,
No figs on the fig trees,
foliage withered!
Whatever I have given them is gone.
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Hosea 9

FROM FORMER GLORY TO A HISTORY OF CORRUPTION
Like grapes in the desert,
I found Israel;
Like the first fruits of the fig tree, its first to ripen,e
I looked on your ancestors.
But when they came to Baal-peor
and consecrated themselves to the Shameful One,
they became as abhorrent as the thing they loved.

…

Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up;
they will bear no fruit.
Were they to bear children,
I would slay the beloved of their womb.
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Nahum 3

But all your [Nineveh] fortresses are fig trees,
bearing early figs;
When shaken, they fall
into the devourer’s mouth.
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Micah 7

Woe is me! I am like the one who gathers summer fruit,
when the vines have been gleaned;
There is no cluster to eat,
no early fig that I crave.
The faithful have vanished from the earth,
no mortal is just!
They all lie in wait to shed blood,
each one ensnares the other.
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To me - Jesus was cursing - deception !

Ever come across someone spiritual who possessed no fruit ?
Oh yes, plenty of leaves and camouflage.
Then you look a little more closer.
😦

Jesus couldn’t stand such people of pretense.
Bad tree. Bad fruit. White washed containers -
but filled within by “ dead man bones “
 
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I agree Seagull; that is the most obvious of the several applications. One question that arises however, is that it wasn’t the season for there to be any edible ripe figs on the tree. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, if there were new figs on the tree, they wouldn’t be ripe until June. (Passover takes place in March or April.)

I remember Mother Angelica saying the lesson from the fig tree event is that we must be ready to produce fruit “in season and out of season”.
 
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I remember Mother Angelica saying the lesson from the fig tree event is that
we must be ready to produce fruit “in season and out of season”.

I have never heard that phrase used so perfectly ! Perfect fit !
 
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