Jesus Curses the Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14; 11:20-25) REVISITED

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I was searching through one of the threads on this topic, & I got some good insight on how to respond to a Muslim questioning the Trinity, but it doesn’t answer for me the question of the omniscience of God the Son, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity. Wouldn’t Jesus have already known that the tree wouldn’t have any fruit?

From the NABRE (USCCB) - “Jesus Curses a Fig Tree.”
12
The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry.d
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Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs.
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And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!” And his disciples heard it.

And…:

The Withered Fig Tree.
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h Early in the morning, as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots.
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Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
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Jesus said to them in reply, “Have faith in God.
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Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.i
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Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours.j
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When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions.”k

Thank you in advance for your replies on the matter.
 
Three simple suggestions:

Jesus knew he would pass by the fig tree again soon, so perhaps behaved as he did for the sake of his disciples, to more firmly teach them about prayer.

Perhaps the fig tree represents Israel.

Perhaps compare Mark to the account in Matthew 21:18–22. See what is emphasized there.
 
I was searching through one of the threads on this topic, & I got some good insight on how to respond to a Muslim questioning the Trinity, but it doesn’t answer for me the question of the omniscience of God the Son, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity. Wouldn’t Jesus have already known that the tree wouldn’t have any fruit?
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It seems your Muslim friend does not know the full Christian belief, for Jesus had not only a divine nature but a human nature, too. There are many other scriptural texts that are much more blunt about Jesus learning in a purely human way:

“And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men” -Luke 2:52

It’s not like Christians aren’t aware of these texts. They’ve been at the forefront of intense debate since the beginning.
Jesus Christ had, no doubt, also an experimental knowledge acquired by the natural use of His faculties, through His senses and imagination, just as happens in the case of common human knowledge. To say that his human faculties were wholly inactive would resemble a profession of either Monothelitism or of Docetism. This knowledge naturally grew in Jesus in the process of time, according to the words of Luke 2:52: “And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men”. Understood in this way, the Evangelist speaks not merely of a successively greater manifestation of Christ’s Divine and infused knowledge, nor merely of an increase in His knowledge as far as outward effects were concerned, but of a real advance in His acquired knowledge. Not that this kind of knowledge implies an enlarged object of His science; but it signified that He gradually came to know, after a merely human way, some of the things which he had known from the beginning by His Divine and infused knowledge. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08675a.htm
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This passage follows the entry into Jerusalem. So Jesus was teaching something here, probably that Israel, and specifically Jerusalem, was not bearing the fruits of repentance.
Your Muslim friend will probably never accept the Trinity, for they look up to Mohammed who was fully human, and so could never accept someone who is above humanity.
 
The fig tree is in reference to those under the Old Covenant, not Muslims. Why would Our Lord do such a thing referencing a doctrine not yet in existence?
 
Yes, but to this person’s view, it is fodder for fire to insult Christ as Christians view Him because it demonstrates to him that He was apparently “ignorant”… 😮 Also demonstrates to him that Jesus cannot be God because He didn’t know about the tree (if He is supposed to be omniscient).
 
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Argh. It is a manner of speaking, used by teachers who already know the answers. You ask a question to make the student speak up.

Look. What does God ask Adam? “Where are you?”

Of course God knows what Adam has done and where he is hiding. But God gets Adam to say it out loud, for Adam to hear himself say it. God opens the teaching topic with a question.

A lot of parents do this with their kids, too.
 
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The prophets acts are prophetic ss well as their words. For Jesus everything He did revealed truth. He was hungry, and He didn’t will to foreknow, about the tree. He knew the salvific symbolic value of his act as He acted, that the fig tree is the Chosen bloodline when He saw there was no fruit. He followed through with the full truth and cursed it. He was.not faking a sentiment for a lesson His sentiment and act were real and a Divine Revelation.
 
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kainosktisis said:
I was searching through one of the threads on this topic, & I got some good insight on how to respond to a Muslim questioning the Trinity, but it doesn’t answer for me the question of the omniscience of God the Son, the 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity. Wouldn’t Jesus have already known that the tree wouldn’t have any fruit?
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I believe Jesus cursed the fig tree so it could be used for the crosses of the two theives on either side of Jesus. The fig tree being the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Also it was a sycamore fig tree which were common in Israel.
Grace and peace,
Bruce
 
A tree that bear no fruit is of no use to the farmer. It will wither and die and be thrown into the fire.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:5-6)
 
Thank you for your reply, but I was more focused on the omniscience of God in light of the part of Scripture stating that Jesus went over to the tree & found that there was nothing but leaves & that it was not time for figs. The point I was trying to make was that the person who was questioning me on this verse noted that Jesus didn’t know this, thereby questioning his understanding of the Christian belief of Jesus being God & not acting omniscient, but I think some here have commented that Jesus was using this as a teachable moment…? How do we know this though? Is it Tradition?
 
From the Haydock commentary (on the parallel passage in Matthew):

Ver. 18. In the morning, returning into the city, he was hungry. This hunger, though real and pressing, was mysterious, and affords an opportunity of giving instruction both to the Jews and to all his disciples. By the fig-tree, was represented the Jewish synagogue; the hunger of Christ was a figure of his extreme desire of finding it productive of good works, (and there is no time nor season when the servants of God can be excused from bringing forth good works) answerable to the pains of cultivation he had taken for more than three years. The leaves were their pompous shew of exterior service, the barren foliage of legal rites, void of the internal spirit and good works, the only valuable produce of the tree. By the withering of the tree subsequent to Christ’s imprecation, the reprobation and utter barrenness of the synagogue are represented. S. Mark observes, (xi. 13,) that it was not the season for figs; nor are we to suppose that our Saviour went up to the tree expecting to find fruit; but if some of the evangelists mention this circumstance, they only relate the surmises of the disciples. Though he had before shewn his power by innumerable miracles, Christ still thought this necessary to excite the hearts of his disciples to greater confidence. He had often exercised his power to do good, but now for the first time shews himself able to punish. Thus he testifies to the apostles and to the Jews themselves, that he could with a word have made his crucifiers wither away, and therefore that he willingly bore the extremity of the sufferings he should in a few days have to undergo. S. Chry. hom. lxviii.
 
Hello @kainosktisis,

If we are to look at this passage in both Matthew (21:18-22) and Mark (11:12-25) in its fullest. We can clearly see this is indeed a teaching about prayer, being faithful and not having doubt in the heart when praying. There is indeed an underlining teaching here as this was done when he came to Jerusalem and entered the temple to drive out those who treated the temple in way to make it “a den of robbers”.

Jesus was not happy in this instance for he said “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” Followed by the chief priests and scribes plotting to destroy him etc. It was only after this that Peter saw the fig tree and saw it withered.

This, when both passages are taken into full context, shows Jesus’s that his ‘Hunger’ while it may be a real human hunger, he too had a hunger of the divine to teach his sheep more than to feed himself. Many parables involve Jesus’s hunger and in each it lead to spiritual revelation and not one of earthly wants. Also, see Matthew 24:32-35.

32 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 34 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

There so much more i can write but do not wish to overload you with information 🙂

God Bless.
 
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Jesus is both God and man, so if he is not acting omniscient that can explain it. He was just human.

However, Jesus’ action can be symbolic, and when it does, it usually alludes to some statement he made before to bring about its context or demonstration of it.

I am puzzled too by this particular passage (fig tree), which does not make sense at all for it to be cursed. But perhaps, it is not about being rationale but rather about something else. Thus is has to be something about what Jesus had said. He was a person who talked in parables and perhaps even his action demonstrates them.

Anybody would, in his right mind, not blame the fig tree for not bearing fruit, it’s not in season. So trying to figure why Jesus did, is not a way to go about this verse.

But if we recall what Jesus said about a tree that does not bear fruit that wilt and die, then perhaps there’s a connection.

The purpose of the fig tree is to bear fruit for the eating. It does not, so it dies. Jesus demonstrates that even in a moment that he is not giving a teaching, he does by his action.

God bless.
 
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New Advent recently had an article about this passage. The author explained how Adam had eaten the fruit of the tree (fruit = apple=fig) and caused the downfall of man, but Jesus was close to restoring reunion with God’s Kingdom and so cursed the tree, so no one would eat of its fruit again. Death would soon be defeated. As Bruce wrote above, the wood would be used to crucify our Lord and the two criminals.
 
Unless Jesus was just a really quick thinker in His human nature, He did what He did to make it a teaching moment. He had a speech “planned”, so to speak, for the realization that He made with the fig tree. That should lead us to believe that He knew that the tree wouldn’t be bearing any fruit.

Besides, unless I’m mis-remembering the commentary I read, figs weren’t even in season at the time Jesus made this proclamation. He would have known that He wouldn’t find any fruit. This only adds to the symbolism Jesus invoked.
 
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Hi @kainosktisis , the question you ask is very interesting and applies at other times of the Gospel beyond the Fig Tree passage. I don’t know the exact formal answer (it is a well studied subject within theology), but I have read that while Jesus walked the Earth his omniscience was limited by God the Father in perfect harmony and accord between the persons of the Trinity. So, while during that time Jesus was omniscient for the most part, there were moments when perfect omniscience was forfeited by Him in accordance with the Father.

[But I’m no expert to comment on this, and I hope I haven’t made any mistake in what I wrote. There are subtle reasons to analyze this delicate detail from scripture.]
 
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