The
next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it.
Mark 11:12-14
Mark 11 [11.] Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Mark 11 [12.] The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. Jesus told it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it.
Mark 11 [15.] They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves. He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’[d] But you have made it a den of robbers!”[e]
Meaning:
The evening before, Jesus had looked around the temple and returned to Bethany (Mark 11:11). On the way back into the city the next morning he cursed a fig tree that had leaves but no fruit. Many readers find this one of the hardest stories in the Gospels. The key is the way Mark tells it. He places the cursing of the fig tree before the cleansing of the temple and its withering after it (Mark 11:19-21), so that each story explains the other. Like the prophets before him, Jesus performed an acted parable, a sign that spoke of judgment on fruitless religion.
- “He was hungry”
Mark does not hide Jesus’ real humanity. He had walked out early from Bethany and was hungry, like any other man. The letter to the Hebrews says that “we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus knew hunger, weariness and grief from the inside. His hunger also prepares us for the lesson: he came looking for fruit and found none.
- “Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves”
Fig trees were common around Jerusalem. In spring, as the leaves come out, a fig tree normally also puts out small early knobs of fruit, which local people would pick and eat while waiting for the main crop. A tree in full leaf gave the promise of something to eat. This tree made a fine show from a distance, but it had nothing to offer.
The prophets used the fig tree and the vine as pictures of Israel. Through Jeremiah God said of his unfaithful people: “no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade” (Jeremiah 8:13). Isaiah sang of God’s vineyard, which was the house of Israel: “he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression” (Isaiah 5:7). Any Jewish listener would recognise the image of a fruitless tree as a picture of a nation that had failed to give God the fruit he looked for.
- “For it was not the season for figs”
Mark adds this note on purpose. The main fig harvest came in late summer, months after Passover. Jesus was not surprised or angry that he could not find a ripe meal. His words to the tree were not a fit of temper but a sign. Like the prophets who broke pots or wore yokes to make a point, Jesus used the tree to show something about the people of God.
The temple he had inspected the evening before was full of activity: sacrifices, crowds, trade and prayer. It had plenty of leaves. But the fruit that God wanted, justice, mercy and true prayer from all nations, was missing. Jesus had told a parable about a fig tree that bore no fruit for three years, and the owner said, “Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?” (Luke 13:6-9). John the Baptist had warned the religious leaders, “Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!” (Matthew 3:8).
- “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” and his disciples heard it
This is the only miracle of Jesus given purely as a sign of judgment, and it falls on a tree, not on a person. It is a warning, given while there was still time. Jesus had already applied Isaiah’s words to the religious leaders: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6). Leaves without fruit are a picture of words without deeds and worship without obedience.
Mark notes that the disciples heard what Jesus said. They would remember it the next morning when they saw the tree withered from the roots, and Jesus would use the moment to teach them about faith and prayer (Mark 11:22-24).
The Significance of Mark 11:12-14
- Leaves are not enough
An outward show of religion cannot replace a life that bears fruit. Paul warned of people who “profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him” (Titus 1:16).
- Fruit comes from Christ
Jesus does not demand fruit we cannot produce. He gives life to those who remain in him, and the Spirit produces “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).
- A warning given in mercy
The fig tree was a sign for the disciples, and it remains a warning for us. God is patient, but he looks for fruit, and the time to repent is now.
Cross-References:
Jeremiah 8:13: "I will utterly consume them, says Yahweh: no grapes shall be on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade" The prophets’ picture of a fruitless people.
Luke 13:6: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none." Jesus’ parable of the barren fig tree.
Isaiah 5:7: "For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress." God looks for fruit from his people.
John 15:5: "I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." The source of real fruit.
Conclusion: On the way into Jerusalem Jesus was hungry and went to a fig tree in full leaf, but found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. His word, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!”, was an acted parable. Placed beside the cleansing of the temple, it pictured God’s judgment on a religion that looked impressive but did not bear the fruit of justice, mercy and true prayer. It calls every believer to a life of real fruit that comes from remaining in Christ.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible