Jesus enters Jerusalem on a young donkey amid cries of “Hosanna!” He looks around the temple and withdraws. The next day he curses a barren fig tree. He cleanses the temple, quoting Isaiah and Jeremiah. The withered fig tree becomes a lesson in faith. The chief priests, scribes, and elders challenge his authority; he refuses to answer their question.
1–11 When they came near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him, and bring him. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.” They went away, and found a young donkey tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him. Some of those who stood there asked them, “What are you doing, untying the young donkey?” They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go. They brought the young donkey to Jesus, and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road. Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 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.
12–14 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.
15–19 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?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!” The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, he went out of the city.
20–26 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots. Peter, remembering, said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away.” Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says. Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
27–33 They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came to him, and they began saying to him, “By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?” Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John—was it from heaven, or from men? Answer me.” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we should say, ‘From heaven;’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ Or should we say, ‘From men?’”—they feared the people, for all held John to really be a prophet. They answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Source: ebible.org
Jesus approaches Jerusalem by the Mount of Olives. He sends for a young donkey on which no one has sat. He sits on it. Garments and branches are spread on the road. Those who go before and those who follow cry, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming!” The entry fulfills the prophetic image of the King coming humble and riding on a donkey. He enters the temple, looks around at everything, and withdraws to Bethany. The public claim is made. The King has come to the city and to the house that bears his Father’s name. What follows is not the establishment of a political throne in the old sense, but the confrontation that will end in the cross and the vindication that will leave not one stone of that house upon another.
Hungry, he finds a fig tree with leaves but no fruit. It is not the season for figs, yet the leaves advertise what is not there. He says, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” The next morning the tree is withered from the roots. The acted parable is clear. The people of the old order had the appearance of life — the leaves of religious activity, the temple, the feasts, the traditions — without the fruit of repentance and faith. The judgment is not a random curse on a plant. It is a sign of what is coming upon the fruitless system. From the roots the tree dies. From the foundations the temple will fall. The generation that sees the leaves without fruit is the generation that will see the withering completed in AD 70.
He enters the temple and drives out the sellers and money changers. He will not allow anyone to carry a container through. He teaches: is it not written, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations”? But you have made it a den of robbers. Isaiah’s vision of the house open to the nations and Jeremiah’s charge against the temple that had become a den of robbers meet in one sentence. The chief priests and scribes seek how to destroy him. They fear him because the multitude is astonished at his teaching. The cleansing is not a reform of a system that will continue. It is a prophetic act that exposes the corruption of the house that is about to be left desolate. The house that should have been for all nations has become a market of exploitation. The King who entered on the donkey has claimed the house and declared its failure.
When the disciples see the withered tree, Jesus says, “Have faith in God.” Whoever may tell this mountain, “Be taken up and cast into the sea,” and does not doubt but believes, will have what he says. The mountain in view is the one opposite them — the temple mount. The faith that moves mountains is not generic optimism. It is confidence in what God has determined concerning the end of the old order. Prayer that believes it has received, and forgiveness that releases others, belong to those who live in that confidence. The mountain of the old sanctuary will not stand. The words of Jesus will.
The chief priests, scribes, and elders ask by what authority he does these things. He asks them about John’s baptism: from heaven or from men? They will not answer. Neither will he tell them. Those who refused the forerunner have no standing to demand credentials from the One the forerunner announced. The authority is from heaven. The refusal to acknowledge it is the same refusal that will deliver him to death and will bring the stones of the temple down. The King has entered. The barren tree has withered. The house has been exposed. The mountain is under sentence. We live in the age after that sentence was carried out — the age of the house of prayer for all nations that the old temple could not be.
The King has entered. The barren tree has withered. The house that was a den of robbers has been judged. We live as those who pray in faith, forgive, and belong to the house of prayer for all nations that the old temple could not be. The mountain has been cast into the sea. His words remain.
Where does the image of the leafy but barren fig tree still confront the appearance of fruit without the reality of repentance and faith?