Did Jesus Error in Cursing the Fig Tree in Mark 11:12-14; 20-25?
An argument raised by Muslims to support their belief that Jesus was a prophet of God, yet not divine, is the incident of the cursing of the fig tree in Mark 11. The Muslim reasons that the fact that “it was not the season for figs” (v. 13b) indicates that Jesus demonstrated ignorance in trying to find fruit on a tree when every one else understood it was the wrong time of year to go fig picking. (Of course, the an atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, or any other belief system that denies the deity of Jesus Christ could raise the very same argument and this is not exclusive to Islam.)
Did Jesus make a mistake? Not! Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree demonstrates the very opposite! It presents Jesus having a sophisticated intellect, which revealed a person deeply rooted in the Old Testament, who possessed a prerequisite knowledge of facts only available through divine revelation.
The fig trees in Palestine bear leaves in March and are accompanied by small edible knobs called taksh (c.f. Stephen Short, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979], 1172). The lack of taksh in the tree Jesus picked indicated that there would be no fruit during the fig-picking season. Jesus singles out the fruitless tree and pronounces the curse, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” (v. 14), and the tree subsequently withered (v. 21).
The first century Jew, having a mind deeply rooted in the Old Testament, would have immediately recognized the subtle message imbued within the Lord’s action. They would have remembered the story of Jeremiah, and how the prophet was commanded by God to make a yoke and wear it around his neck as a symbolic reminder that Zedekiah, the ruler of Judah, and his people would be defeated by Nebuchadnezzar and sent into a Babylonian captivity (Jer. 27:1ff). Ezekiel also acted in bizarre ways to communicate impending doom (Ezek. 4:1ff). This connection with the ancient prophets is often missed because of an ignorance of the Old Testament (I admit, even a seminary grad guy like me, who has only read through the Old Testament maybe three to at most five times is shamefully shy of the depth of biblical knowledge shared by first century Palestinian peasants.)
The cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple, mentioned in Mark 11, symbolized another great calamity to come, which in Mark 13 Jesus plainly states, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down” (v. 2). Thus, he predicted the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, which occurred a generation later in AD 70. Craig Blomberg notes, “The two events are meant to be interpreted together. Just as the land producing no fig trees often stood for judgment against Israel in Jewish literature (esp. Micah 7:1; Jer. 8:13), and just as Jesus had earlier told a parable of a fig tree threatened with destruction (Luke 13:6-9), so now he uses an enacted parable or object lesson to demonstrate the immanent doom of the current Jewish nation if it does not repent” (Craig Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels [Nashvill, TN: Broadman Holman, 1997], 317).
Jesus’ curse of the fig tree demonstrates a very deep knowledge of biblical literature, and a highly sophisticated way of prophesying an impending divine judgment in the ancient way. It also vindicates Jesus as a prophet of God, in that He clearly possessed information about things, which at the time only God could have known, namely the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
The Muslim must also come to grips with the fact that Jesus did make self-disclosures of his own divinity. Jesus’ “I am” statement, wherein he identifies himself with the eternally existent Yahweh, coupled with the fact that the religious leaders wanted to stone him for blasphemy demonstrates a clear divine self-disclosure (John 8:58). The fact of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension vindicates his claim to divinity.
Did Jesus make a mistake? Not! Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree demonstrates the very opposite! It presents Jesus having a sophisticated intellect, which revealed a person deeply rooted in the Old Testament, who possessed a prerequisite knowledge of facts only available through divine revelation.
The fig trees in Palestine bear leaves in March and are accompanied by small edible knobs called taksh (c.f. Stephen Short, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979], 1172). The lack of taksh in the tree Jesus picked indicated that there would be no fruit during the fig-picking season. Jesus singles out the fruitless tree and pronounces the curse, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” (v. 14), and the tree subsequently withered (v. 21).
The first century Jew, having a mind deeply rooted in the Old Testament, would have immediately recognized the subtle message imbued within the Lord’s action. They would have remembered the story of Jeremiah, and how the prophet was commanded by God to make a yoke and wear it around his neck as a symbolic reminder that Zedekiah, the ruler of Judah, and his people would be defeated by Nebuchadnezzar and sent into a Babylonian captivity (Jer. 27:1ff). Ezekiel also acted in bizarre ways to communicate impending doom (Ezek. 4:1ff). This connection with the ancient prophets is often missed because of an ignorance of the Old Testament (I admit, even a seminary grad guy like me, who has only read through the Old Testament maybe three to at most five times is shamefully shy of the depth of biblical knowledge shared by first century Palestinian peasants.)
The cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple, mentioned in Mark 11, symbolized another great calamity to come, which in Mark 13 Jesus plainly states, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down” (v. 2). Thus, he predicted the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, which occurred a generation later in AD 70. Craig Blomberg notes, “The two events are meant to be interpreted together. Just as the land producing no fig trees often stood for judgment against Israel in Jewish literature (esp. Micah 7:1; Jer. 8:13), and just as Jesus had earlier told a parable of a fig tree threatened with destruction (Luke 13:6-9), so now he uses an enacted parable or object lesson to demonstrate the immanent doom of the current Jewish nation if it does not repent” (Craig Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels [Nashvill, TN: Broadman Holman, 1997], 317).
Jesus’ curse of the fig tree demonstrates a very deep knowledge of biblical literature, and a highly sophisticated way of prophesying an impending divine judgment in the ancient way. It also vindicates Jesus as a prophet of God, in that He clearly possessed information about things, which at the time only God could have known, namely the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
The Muslim must also come to grips with the fact that Jesus did make self-disclosures of his own divinity. Jesus’ “I am” statement, wherein he identifies himself with the eternally existent Yahweh, coupled with the fact that the religious leaders wanted to stone him for blasphemy demonstrates a clear divine self-disclosure (John 8:58). The fact of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension vindicates his claim to divinity.
Comments
Post a Comment