I read this passage again recently, and was bothered by it as I always am.
On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.
Mark 11:12-14, 20-21 (See also Matthew 21:18-20)
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As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”
So, I did some research. It turns out that figs should already have some fruit starting by the time the tree is covered with leaves. The main crop is not yet in season, but the early “breba” crop is well on its way.
The breba crop grows on last year’s wood, and comes out early in the growing season along with the new leaves (or even sooner, before the leaves). The main crop comes out later, growing on this year’s new wood. Having leaves without any breba indicates that the tree is barren and will not produce any fruit at all. More detail can be found in articles here, here, here, and here.
Now, it makes sense that Jesus would expect something from the tree since it was fully leafed out. His curse was not on an innocent tree minding its own business. It was on a tree that was guilty of false advertising!
But His cursing of the tree was not just a fit of pique or a temper tantrum. This happened during His final week, between Palm Sunday and Easter. During that week, He had several run-in’s with the Pharisees and told some very harsh parables rebuking them. The cursed fig tree was a visual parable that preceded and is a parallel to the others. Look at this sequence from a mix of Matthew and Mark’s gospels 1.
Cleansing of the Temple (Mark 11:15-18)
Jesus drove out the vendors who were using the temple courts as a marketplace. They had not only turned a sacred area into a place of business, disrupting the worshippers there. They were also cheating, exchanging travelers’ money into temple currency at unfair rates and over-charging for sacrificial animals to those who couldn’t bring in their own. Jesus said they had turned the “house of prayer” into a “robber’s den“.
Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32)
Jesus contrasted two sons: One promised to do as the father asked but did not do so; the other said “No” but then decided to obey his father after all. Jesus said the Pharisees were like the former, and that “the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.“
Parable of the Vineyard (Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12)
Jesus told of a landowner who left his vineyard in the care of tenants while he was away. When the landowner sent his servants to collect the rent, the tenants beat and killed them. After this happened twice, the landowner sent his own son, thinking that the tenants would respect that authority. Nope, they killed the son also.
When asked, the Pharisees said that the landowner’s reaction would be to “bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Jesus replied that they were correct: “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.“
Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:1-14)
Jesus described a king who invited all the elite to a wedding feast for his son. One by one, they made excuses and bailed on the invitation. So the king sent his servants to fill the party with everyone they could find, no matter how good or bad. The people of the streets got to unexpectedly dress in fine clothes and celebrate with the king and his son. Except, that is, for one man who came without bothering to dress up and respect the occasion; he got kicked out.
Debates with Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 22:15-45, Mark 12:13-37)
Jesus had to fend off several attempts to trap Him in His words.
Render to Caesar
He was asked whether it was right for the people to pay taxes. If He said Yes, the people would be unhappy; if He said No, the Roman government would see it as seditious. He said “Whose picture is on the coin?” … “Caesar’s” … “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.“
Marriage in Heaven
The Sadducees, who didn’t believe in any form of resurrection, asked “What if a man dies, and his brother takes on his wife to raise up sons in his name. But the brother dies, and the next one takes the wife…through all seven brothers. Whose wife will she be in Heaven?”
Jesus answered that it was a moot point: There is no such thing as marriage in Heaven. He then addressed their true issue, resurrection, by pointing out that God was known as the God of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.“
Greatest Commandment
A lawyer asked Him which was the greatest of all the commandments. His famous answer: Love God, and love your neighbor. “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.“
David’s Son and Lord
Jesus turned the tables and asked them a question: Whose son was the Messiah supposed to be? The easy answer was “He’s the son of David”. Then Jesus reminded them that David referred to the Messiah as “Lord”, and asked “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?“
That stumped them, and they shut up with the entrapment questions.
Woes to the Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-36)
Finally, Jesus went on a long critique of the Pharisees. He called them hypocrites, blind guides, sons of hell, dirty dishes, and whitewashed tombs. He pointed out that they claimed they would never have persecuted the prophets as their ancestors did … thus testifying against themselves that they were sons of murderers. I think maybe He was displeased with them!
In all of these parables, Jesus was warning the Jewish establishment that their days were numbered. They were not producing the fruit that was expected of them. They were about to be cursed, withered, cast out, and replaced.
But Still He Loved Them
That makes the following passage even more sad than it already was. It was at the end of that entire chapter condemning the Pharisees that Jesus said:
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
Matthew 23:37-38
Isn’t that heartbreaking?
The same is still true today. The cursed fig tree continues to represent the fate of those who try to look good without producing real results. Jesus and His Christian followers tell the harsh truth that judgment is coming. Their purpose is not to condemn, but to plead with people to repent and not to condemn themselves by refusing the salvation that Jesus died to offer. Having that offer rejected is not simply hurtful or maddening; it’s still just as heartbreaking as it was 2000 years ago!
Footnotes and Scripture References
- Luke’s gospel also includes several of the same events in chapter 20, but does not include the incident with the fig tree.
