Wednesday in The Word for August 14, 2024

Mark 11:12-24

The Fig Tree Withered

12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.

13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”

And His disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.

16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple.

17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.

19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.

Context

• How did Jesus’s entry in Mark 11:1-11 set the tone for these next actions? (Matthew 21:12-17, 20-22, Luke 19:41-48)

Reflection

1. Why a fig tree? Why did He curse it? (Numbers 13:23, Deuteronomy 8:8, Jeremiah 8:13, Mark 13:38, John 1:48, Luke 13:6-11)
2. What led Jesus to such a radical cleansing of the temple? (Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11, Luke 2:32, John 2:13-22)
3. How could the temple become so corrupted instead of being a ‘light to the gentiles’? (Luke 11:46, 16:13-17, Ephesians 2:11-13, 1 Timothy 6:3-5)

Testimony Time

1. What would happen if Jesus showed up at your church? (Luke 18:8, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17, 1 Peter 4:17, Revelation 1:13-20)
2. What areas of my life need cleansing by Jesus? (Hebrews 12:5-11, 1 John 1:9) Is He my everything? (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, Hebrews 13:5, Revelation 21:3, 22:3-5)