This week’s readings are all from Mark chapter 11. Click here to see a full listing of each day’s reading and the full chapter of Mark 11. Full readings of day’s smaller segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week.
Today’s Reading
Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. And after looking around at everything, he went out to Bethany with the twelve since it was already late.
Now the next day, as they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. 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 heard it. (Mark 11.11–14 NET)
Gospel Parallels
Here is a CGI video reproduction of Herod the Great's Temple complex as it may have been during Jesus' day:
Man... reading through this (and peeking into tomorrows portion) again, I'm getting a new picture that is much darker and sort of chilling. This is my interpretation, anyway:
Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. And after looking around at everything, he went out to Bethany with the twelve since it was already late.
They finally make it there after sundown... I don't know, but I'm assuming by this point most of the people have gone and what's left is like the mall after a late movie. All the kiosks and "trading tables" are covered up and vacant, showing Jesus the commerce taking over communion in the temple... looking around, all sorts of emotions welling up inside him at this point, they leave to spend the night in Bethany. Nobody says a word, like when you see something awful and don't know what to say and don't want to make it worse...
Now the next day, as they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. 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 heard it.
In the morning, probably after a tough night and not feeling rested (and being hungry), they make their way back towards the temple. Jesus couldn't even find a snack from a fig tree (whether it was the right season matters not to a "hangry" stomach). "Darn fig tree! I could use something...anything right about now... but there is nothing."
(The video fly-through @jimmy shared helps set the background and layout, thank you!)
Looking at the start of tomorrows portion, it reads the same, but under the moody shadow of the previous night and entry into the space... Where there was only evidence and remnants of the "den of robbers" in the darkness the night before, there is now the weighty and depressing reality of the misuse of this sacred space. Ugh, I can feel the pain and despair! I can understand his aggressive response for sure.
@travisbruno3 So good!
If you need to add to your imaginative element of 'seeing' this scene, imagine the moon being full at night (Passover is always during a full moon). It would rise behind the Mount of Olives toward the Jordan Valley and descend (from the perspective of the Mount of Olives) behind the city of Jerusalem. The city and the surrounding villages and areas are full of people for Passover, staying in houses with family and friends, camping on the Mount of Olives. During the day the city and the Temple would be packed, full of noise from interaction and all the smells of fires, food cooking, etc. People are washing to be ritually pure. Families are gathering their lambs and organizing themselves for the Passover rituals in the Temple and in homes that would take take place within the week. Josephus estimated that during one particular passover over 2 million people were in the city. This is probably greatly exaggerated (maybe even by 2 or 3 times), but there is no doubt the city was full as pilgrims arrived.
The Romans would send troops during the three pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Weeks, and Booths+Day of Atonement) to patrol and stand guard over the Temple complex from the higher Antonia Fortress attached to the Temple area on the northwestern corner. This was because several uprisings and killings had occurred during the Festivals in the past, and there were growing tension from Zealots and, later, Sicarii, 'dagger men,' who wanted to create chaos in the crowds. Often the Roman Governor would also stay in the city instead of his primary residence in Caesarea Maritima, on the Mediterranean coast. This was the case this particular year, as we will find out that Pontius Pilate was in the city.
It is late March or early April, and the weather would be warm, but not likely hot, during the day and could be chilly at night. There could also be some rain on any given day. Every day when Jesus comes from Bethany or from one of the gardens and olive groves on the west side of the Mount of Olives, he would be looking down or across at the old city. Going west from the Mount of Olives, he would descend to the Kidron Valley and make his way up to the city, likely entering the Temple complex from the southern gate (the fly-through video may help to picture this).
The best thing is to go on a trip to see it firsthand. 😉
This flyover of modern Jerusalem, starting at 4:09 (starting looking north) shows the modern Temple Mount or, as it is known today, the Haram esh-Sharif , then shifts to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (across the Old City to the west of the Temple Mount), and then comes back ends of the Dome of the Rock looking east toward the Mount of Olives The platform on which the gold Dome of the Rock sits is the area where Herod built his temple complex. It covers about 37 acres. Much of it has changed in terms of structure, with significant additions from the Islamic and Ottoman periods, but certain elements (like the steps on the platform's southern end at the 4:09-10 mark) are first-century. The Western Wall (or 'Wailing Wall') to the southwest of the Dome of the Rock is not actually a part of the first-century temple itself or its walls, but is part of the retaining structure used to build the platform for the temple area. The Kidron is the deep valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives where the cars are passing at the beginning of the video. The Garden of Gethsemene is to the west (the right) of that valley.