Faith to Move Mountains (15)
Here is the answer, then. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the word of God. From this, the false teaching in question has inferred that faith always comes when a person hears the word of God. But the verse does not say any such thing. In context, the verse is talking about the preaching of the gospel. As Paul writes, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Romans 10:14). But nowhere is it suggested that everyone who hears the gospel will believe and thus be saved.
Salvation comes when a person believes the gospel, and a person can only believe the gospel when he finds out what the gospel is and what it says. Thus someone must go preach the gospel so that people might hear it. But the point is not that everyone who hears the gospel will become a Christian. Still less is Paul suggesting that the more a person hears, the more faith he is guaranteed to receive. The false teaching in question confuses how faith is usually facilitated or "delivered" (hearing) with what actually causes a person to believe what he hears.
So what causes a person to believe the word of God when he hears it? The Bible teaches that both faith and unbelief are controlled by God. It teaches in numerous places that a person refuses to believe because God actively works in his mind to harden his heart (John 12:39-40). So a person can hear the word of God everyday for half a century, but unless God sovereignly grants him faith to believe what he hears, he will remain in unbelief.
The kind of conviction that comes from nothing more than prolonged repetition could very well be the effect of brainwashing, for a lack of a better term. It is true that there can be a relationship between continuous exposure to the Bible and an increase of faith, but right now I am referring to mere repetition without the work of the Spirit. If the kind of faith that the Bible talks about can come this way, then the most effective form of evangelism would be to kidnap the unbelievers and lock them into a room where the Bible is played on loud speakers all day and all night. There would be no need for prayer, for persuasion, or for the Holy Spirit.
But again, the resulting conviction would be the result of mere brainwashing, and the profession of faith a mere parroting of what has been heard, similar to how an insane person might mindlessly mutter some of the phrases that he overhears or that are fed to him by others. There would be no genuine belief in the promises of God, but the conviction would serve only as the lifeless and thoughtless replacement to the person's previous beliefs that have now been forcibly short-circuited by the process. The person might feel convinced, but there can be no power and no salvation in this kind of "faith."
True faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). In 1 Corinthians 12:9, Paul refers to the kind of faith that is a special manifestation of the Spirit. From its mention in 1 Corinthians 13:2 – that is, in the context of spiritual manifestations – we understand that it is this kind of faith that moves mountains. Just as faith to believe the gospel for salvation is sovereignly granted by God to whomever he chooses, this special manifestation of faith is also granted "just as he determines" (1 Corinthians 12:11).
This biblical understanding of faith returns the fulfillment of Mark 11:23 to the sovereign hand of God. In the process, it destroys the false teaching in question without compromising the principle taught by Jesus – that if we have faith, we will have whatever we say. The difference is that whether we have faith, or whether we have this kind of faith, is entirely up to God. He might deliver it to us by means of his word, but hearing his word does not guarantee this kind or level of faith.
Our faith depends on the work of the Spirit, who applies the word of God to our hearts and convinces us of its truth, giving us confidence of its effect, power, and relevance. The above commentators would be relieved that I have provided a legitimate way to explain how what Jesus says would not happen. But I have also explained how it could happen – it will happen when God grants the faith. So it remains for the commentators, or those who think like them, to assert that God will never grant this kind of faith. However, there is no biblical evidence for this, and if God would never grant this kind of faith even in principle, then this would render Jesus' statement pointless. Thus it appears that the suggestion, that God would never grant this kind of faith even in principle, once again comes from nothing other than unbelief.
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (14)
The proper way to counter abuse is not to change the meaning of the verse, but to criticize the false teaching where it truly deviates from Scripture. To illustrate, I will raise two points about the teaching in question. The first has to do with the nature of faith, and the second has to do with the source of faith, or how faith is generated. These two points do not cover all the erroneous ideas espoused by the teaching, but our present purpose is to arrive at a correct positive understanding of verse 23, nothing more.
First, this false teaching conceives of faith as a force that is powerful in itself. Sometimes it is less esoteric and amounts to a christianized version of the self-centered doctrine of "positive thinking." Its proponents are not always consistent in this, but when they do speak from such a perspective, they do not refer to faith as a person's belief and reliance on a proper object – as in God, his promises, and so on – but that belief itself is the power that produces the desired effects. Attacking this misconception of faith will at the same time check the abuse of verse 23.
Second, the false teaching appeals to Romans 10:17 ("faith comes by hearing") and asserts that faith is produced by hearing the words of Scripture over and over again. One way to do this is for a person to repeatedly speak some selected biblical verses to himself. For example, a sick person can say, "By his stripes, I am healed" (see 1 Peter 2:24) several hundred times a day. He might doubt the statement at first, but he will eventually become convinced that it is true, and then by the principle taught in Mark 11:23, physical healing will follow.
When they attempt to oppose this teaching, many people end up attacking Scripture itself. They would criticize the principle that a Christian can command things to happen by faith. But this principle is exactly what Jesus teaches. Adherents of the false teaching are right to complain that it is sheer unbelief to suggest that Jesus does not literally mean what he says in verse 23. All Christians should affirm that if we have faith, then we can command a mountain to move, and it will happen. Jesus demonstrated it on the fig tree, and then he said that we can do the same and even more, if we have faith. So unless we are willing to sacrifice the inspiration of Scripture due to unbelief, this principle is not subject to debate.
What is wrong with the false teaching is not their understanding of the principle, but in their understanding of faith. First, they erroneously conceive of faith as a force – that the power resides in belief as such – instead of understanding faith as the belief in divinely revealed propositions that require God's conscious exercise of his power to make good. Second, they falsely conceive of faith as something that they can produce within themselves by repeatedly listening to biblical propositions.
The first misunderstanding makes their definition of faith altogether non-Christian. This point alone is sufficient to refute their doctrine concerning Mark 11:23. But the second point is even more relevant to our main purpose, which is to attain a correct positive understanding of the verse. To review, Jesus teaches the principle, "if we have faith, then we can move mountains." Commentators have focused on qualifying the "we can move mountains" portion of the principle. But I suggest that we should focus on the "if we have faith" portion instead.
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (13)
Then, there is the silly observation that there are greater miracles than moving a mountain, such as the conversions of human hearts. Of course conversion is greater. As the Chinese proverb, loosely translated, says, "A kingdom is easy to change, but a person's nature is hard to move." But this point works against their position, for if the greater miracles like spiritual conversions happen everyday, then what is there to prevent the much smaller miracles like moving mountains from occurring? It is absurd to say that because there are greater miracles, therefore the much smaller ones never happen and are never meant to happen.
Another way that some have challenged a literal interpretation of verse 23 is just to ask, "What good is it?" Why would someone ever need to move a mountain, and to do it by a verbal command? But the question is irrelevant to the discussion. We are considering whether it can happen, not whether we ever need something like this to happen. Many things that we never need to happen are nevertheless possible. Still, no commentator can show that a need for such a miracle would never come up in all of human history.
In Matthew 21, when the disciples ask, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" (v. 20), Jesus replies, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done" (v. 21). Note that he says, "not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain…."
Regarding Matthew 21, one commentator has the nerve to say that although the fig tree that Jesus curses is literal, when he says in verse 21 that the disciples can do the same, the fig tree has become symbolic, just as the mountain is symbolic. It would be easier to assert that the fig tree that Jesus curses is symbolic as well, and that somehow the disciples witness a symbolic fig tree that symbolically withers away. It is easier still just to throw the Bible away and become a non-Christian. There is really no allowance for a solely symbolic interpretation of either the tree or the mountain.
It seems that the most common reason for asserting a symbolic interpretation of Mark 11:23 is just plain unbelief. These commentators fail at the very thing that the verse promotes – the idea that great things are possible when a person believes in God and relies on his power. But their interpretation amounts to a veiled declaration that what Jesus says is false.
For some people, another reason to soften or spiritualize the verse is to prevent its abuse. In our time, there is a teaching that is popular in some charismatic sects. In fact, it is so prevalent that we can even call it a movement. Supposedly derived from Mark 11:23 and similar verses, it says that if a person believes, then whatever he says will happen, and the diligent application of this teaching could bring anyone health and wealth. Commentators are afraid to say anything that would encourage such a teaching. However, to illegitimately soften or spiritualize a biblical verse is a misguided way of solving the problem of abuse. Moreover, the verse does say that if a person believes, then whatever he says will happen. It is futile to counter abuse by denying what the verse clearly and literally means.
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (12)
There is the claim that the statement is a hyperbole, a deliberate exaggeration to get a point across. I do not object to the idea that Jesus sometimes uses hyperbole as a rhetorical or literary device to communicate a teaching; however, verse 23 cannot be thus interpreted. In fact, to understand it as solely hyperbolic would produce blasphemous implications.
Let me explain. To suggest that it is hyperbole to say that through faith we can command even a mountain to move implies that we can accomplish lesser things through faith. That is, if moving a mountain is an exaggerated picture of the power of faith, then it means that faith can still perform lesser things than moving a mountain.
However, notice that Jesus says, "Have faith in God," and not "Have faith in yourself." What is accomplished is done in utter trust and dependence on God, through the power and energy of God. When we have faith in God for something to be accomplished, such as to move a mountain, it is really God who performs the task.
Therefore, to say that this statement is mere hyperbole is to say that it is an exaggeration of what God can accomplish, so that even God cannot uproot a mountain and throw it into the sea. Otherwise, the interpretation implies that anything that is accomplished by faith is in fact our own doing, so that a faith that moves a mountain is an exaggeration because in ourselves we cannot move a mountain. The former denies God's omnipotence; the latter amounts to deism. I will leave it up to you to decide which one is worse, but suffice it to say that both implications are wrong. And because both implications are wrong, the position generating them must also be wrong. The statement cannot be mere hyperbole.
Then, more than a few commentators suggest that verse 23 refers to precisely the type of miracles that the Jews demanded from Jesus, and which he refused to perform. First, from reading the Gospels, I question whether the Jews ever required from Jesus a miracle of this magnitude. It might have never crossed their minds to demand something like this. Second, Jesus did perform tremendous signs and wonders – in fact, more than what was demanded of him. He walked on water, calmed the storm, and here he cursed the fig tree and caused it to wither. Not all the great miracles were performed only before his disciples, for he also raised Lazarus from the dead before many witnesses and multiplied the fish and the bread before thousands of people (John 11:19, 45; 6:10). Neither did he refuse to perform miracles before his critics. For example, he publicly healed a man with a shriveled hand before the Pharisees and the scribes (Luke 6:7-10).
What Jesus did refuse to do was to perform miracles – great or small – on demand, especially when the challenge came from hardened unbelievers, who already knew he could work miracles, and who were not looking for reasons to believe, but for reasons to convict him of some crime. So, since Jesus did perform very great miracles, and since he even did many of them in public and before hostile skeptics, we conclude that what the commentators say about Jesus refusing to perform great miracles is misleading, and in fact outright inaccurate.
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (11)
As for faith and prayer, although the context of verses 22-25 is the false piety of the Jews and the destruction of the temple, these verses make several points about faith and prayer that are true in themselves and in the larger context of biblical teaching.
In verse 21, Peter marvels that the fig tree that Jesus has cursed has withered, even from the roots. Jesus apparently wishes to push his disciples' thinking further and tells them that if a person has faith, he can even command a mountain to be uprooted and to be cast into the sea, and it will happen. From what we understand about the location of the group as this is spoken, "this mountain" is the Mount of Olives and "the sea" refers to the Dead Sea. For our purpose, it matters little which mountain or which sea Jesus is pointing to. However, that Jesus is referring to a particular mountain carries some significance, as we will see below.
Commentators of all varieties and persuasions immediately scramble to assert that Jesus' statement is not to be taken in the literal sense, but that the mountain is symbolic of some difficulty or obstacle (Zechariah 4:6-7). Although I agree that the mountain represents something more than just the physical mountain referred to in the statement, and indeed to "move mountains" is a common rabbinic expression, I would insist that we must first take the statement in its fullest literal sense, and then acknowledge those things that the literal mountain symbolizes.
It is sheer foolishness to think that if something is a symbol for something else, then the symbol itself has no literal status. The Passover lamb represents Jesus Christ, the true and final sacrifice, but there is indeed a physical lamb at the Passover Feast. Verse 23 itself is couched in the context of the cursing of the fig tree. For certain, the fig tree represents something else, but there really is a fig tree, which Jesus curses, and which then withers from the roots.
How, then, can we say that because the mountain is a symbol for difficulties and obstacles, therefore the mountain is not literal? The same commentators would say that Jesus is pointing to the Mount of Olives as he makes his statement. So, when he says "this mountain," does he mean this mountain or not? Or does he mean, "If you have faith, you can say to this mountain, but not really any mountain"? No, if X is a symbol for Y, then a statement using X to make a point about Y would apply to X and Y, not Y minus X.
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (10)
v. 22-25
Peter says to Jesus in verse 21, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" Then, in verses 22-25, it appears that instead of saying something relevant in response, Jesus suddenly changes the subject and begins to teach about faith, prayer, and forgiveness. However, although these verses indeed discuss faith and prayer, they can in fact make very good sense when interpreted within the context of the destruction of the temple. Since we have been involved with the temple theme all along, we will first examine these verses from this angle, and then we will discuss the specific applications that they have for faith and prayer.
When Solomon dedicates his temple back in 1 Kings 8, he prays, "May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive" (v. 29-30).
Notice the connection that he makes between the temple and prayer, and the temple and forgiveness. In the mind of a Jew, this is the house of prayer, and the place where he offers sacrifices for his sins. But some have so tied worship, prayer, and forgiveness to this place and its system that it has produced in their thinking not only a false conception of piety, but also a false sense of security. Recall the passage from Jeremiah, where the prophet rebukes the people for oppressing the foreigners, the poor, the orphans and the widows, and for following false gods, and yet they think that no evil would befall them because they have the temple of the Lord.
This returns us to a question that we brought up earlier: But what if God abandons his own temple? How then will the people's prayers be answered? And how then will they find forgiveness for their sins? Verses 12-21 tell us that theirs is a religion with only leaves but no fruit, and rather than tolerating it any longer, God has pronounced a final curse upon it. Within one generation, the temple and its system would be destroyed, and the Jews would be either killed or scattered. What would become of true worship? How will man find contact and favor with God?
Jesus answers, "Have faith in God." No one has ever been justified on the basis of obedience to the law, but the basis of a right relationship with God has always been faith and nothing else. As Hebrews 11:6 says, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." It does not say that you must please God or come to him through the temple system, but as Paul explains, "So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law" (Galatians 3:24-25).
The issue had always been faith, and that was the problem with the Jews. Even though they were going through the motions of prayer and sacrifice, they remained in unbelief. "Therefore," Jesus tells them, "I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit" (Matthew 21:43). Of course, the kingdom of God itself cannot be destroyed, but now the administration of grace is no longer tied to the Jewish temple, but to the Church of God, a temple made without hands, made up of those who are circumcised in the heart by the Spirit (see John 4:19-24).
In addition, the truth is that all the elements of temple worship remain, but now we have them in their full manifestation instead of in the form of types and shadows. There is Jesus our mediator, Jesus our sacrifice, and the heavenly Holy of Holies, to which we have ready access by faith in Christ through the Spirit of God.
The passage indicates that even though we no longer have a temple – that is, the building – our prayers are not weakened. Even without the temple, faith can still go so far as to move mountains (v. 23), and to receive "whatever" it asks for in prayer (v. 24). As for forgiveness, although the system of animal sacrifice has disappeared, the true sacrifice has come and remains, which is Jesus Christ the Lamb of God. Thus forgiveness belongs to anyone who has faith – not the mere appearance of piety, but a true faith rooted in a heart that has been transformed by God's grace, and that can now freely extend forgiveness to others (v. 25; also Matthew 18:21-35).
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (9)
As if the point is too subtle, Mark would pound on it again and again, and with increasing clarity. Take as an example the parable at the beginning of chapter 12, just a few verses after our passage. We cannot examine it in full, but the ending is sufficient to illustrate the point: "What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. Haven't you read this scripture: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?" (v. 9-11; also Matthew 21:43). The message is becoming very explicit: "Then they looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them" (v. 12).
By the time we reach chapter 13, figures of speech have been replaced by plain explanation. In the first two verses, we are told – directly and without symbolism – that the temple would be destroyed: "As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, 'Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!' 'Do you see all these great buildings?' replied Jesus. 'Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down'" (v. 1-2).
Jesus even specifies the time as to when this would happen, saying, "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened" (v. 30). The parable in chapter 12 has informed us that, because the people would kill the son of the vineyard's owner (v. 6-7), "He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others" (v. 9). Later, as the Jews were calling for Jesus to be crucified, they said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25). In this manner, they cursed their own generation and prophesied its doom.
History tells us that things happened exactly as Jesus predicted in the year AD 70. The Romans marched into Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple along with its system of worship. Multitudes of Jews were slaughtered, but the Christians were saved, since Jesus had said, "…let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (13:14). The believers obeyed, and they were preserved.
In any case, historical verification is infinitely inferior to divine inspiration. The word of God is infallible, so that even if we were to possess no extra-biblical references, on the basis of the Gospels alone, we could be just as certain that the temple was destroyed within one generation of Jesus' prediction. That historians agree with the Bible adds nothing to it, since it is already perfect and complete; rather, it is the Bible that lends credibility to any historian who agrees with it.
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (8)
With this in mind, let us review the story again. When Jesus approaches the fig tree on his way to Jerusalem (v. 12-14), he finds on it only leaves but no fruit, and so he curses it, saying, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." This immediately generates tension in the reader's mind: Why does Jesus do this?
Again, the question is not, or at least it should not be, "What is Jesus' moral justification for doing this?" since no moral justification is needed. A tension requiring moral justification for Jesus' action would only be a tension between the reader's unbiblical assumptions against the perfect righteousness that Jesus always exhibits as he performs his Father's will. Rather, the intended and legitimate tension is generated by the distance between question and answer – that is, it seems that Jesus does not have to curse the fig tree, so why does he do it? He must have a reason. The incident must have some meaning to it. But what is it?
Without relieving this tension that he has created, Mark rushes us forward to the temple at Jerusalem. There Jesus finds a center of religion that is buzzing with activities, but even a causal inspection reveals that they do not constitute or contribute to true worship. More than that, these activities in fact make true worship impossible, and would prevent any sincere seeker from using the temple for its intended purpose. In other words, like the fig tree with leaves but no fruit, there is much noise and movement at the temple, but no spiritual substance. There is an appearance of religious dedication, but there is no reality and no power to it.
At this point, the tension generated by the cursing of the fig tree remains fresh in the reader's mind, since he still does not know what has happened to it. But if he has been paying attention, by now he ought to understand why Jesus curses the tree earlier. Just as he responds with a curse – a pronouncement of final destruction – to the tree with only leaves but no fruit, so he will destroy a religious system that appears active on the outside, but that is lifeless and faithless on the inside.
The juxtaposition of the fig tree and the temple, while the tension created by the cursing of the fig tree is still fresh in mind, leads the reader to perceive the two incidents as one unit. Then, when he comes to verses 20 and 21, he finds out what has happened to the fig tree. The tension is resolved, and as he has identified the fig tree with the temple in his thinking, now he cannot shake the impression that what has happened to the fig tree is also what will happen to the temple. In addition, the fact that the fig tree is actually destroyed (withered from the roots) suggests that Jesus' action at the temple represents something that is greater than it appears, something more destructive and more final – that is, the destruction of the temple itself.
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (7)
v. 20-21
In Mark's account, Jesus' visit to the temple (v. 15-19) is placed between the cursing of the fig tree (v. 12-14) and the withering of the fig tree (v. 20-21), or more precisely, the disciples' realization that the fig tree has withered. The order is chronological, so it does not demand an explanation; nevertheless, it naturally produces an effect that we must not ignore.
Imagine that you are watching a movie. As a new scene begins, the camera closes in on a tiny yellow flower growing out of the cracks at the edge of the pavement. Suddenly, you hear loud tire screeches…the camera backs away from the flower…a car speeds into sight and breaks hard by the pavement. Several men rushes out of the car, and at the same time, the camera focuses on the face of a young man, perhaps the protagonist. His expression exhibits fear and resolve at the same time. Someone behind him pushes him out of the car and says, "Let's get to it."
What is happening? The young man has never known crime before, but through various circumstances and decisions, he has joined up with the wrong crowd. Now they burst into a grocery store by the road, pull out their weapons, and yell, "Give me all your money!" Seconds later, the leader emerges from the store and looks around, then runs toward the car, followed by the rest.
The camera closes in on the flower again. Have we forgotten all about it? How beautiful it is. Look at the bright color, and the shape of the leaves. You marvel that it manages to thrive on even such a rough terrain. Just then, one of the escaping robbers steps on the flower as he is running toward the car. When he picks up his foot, you notice that the flower has been crushed, and its stem ripped from the base.
The flower's significance is obvious, and the more context that you have been given, the more obvious it would be to you. It represents the young man, the protagonist of the story. It's life and beauty is like his hope and innocence. By sandwiching the robbery between the life and death of the flower, the man becomes identified with the flower, and what happens to the flower is what happens to the man. In fact, in this case the flower "acts out" something that is happening in the heart of the man, something that, despite the robbery, remains less obvious on the outside.
Likewise, by placing the temple episode between the cursing and the withering of the fig tree, Mark identifies the temple – or by implication, the temple system of worship and the Jews' unique privilege of having the temple of God in their midst – with the tree. What happens to the fig tree is what happens to the temple. That the fig tree has been repeatedly used to represent Israel in the Old Testament makes the symbolism even more obvious and unmistakable (Hosea 9:10; Joel 1:7; Zechariah 3:10).
(to be continued)
Faith to Move Mountains (6)
How this part of our passage speaks to the contemporary church! Is the commercialism that is connected with today's Christianity any less blatant and shameless? A book may be theologically weak or even heretical, but if it proves to be popular, then it is repackaged as a daily devotional. After that comes a prayer journal that is meant to reinforce its message. Then come the study guides, greeting cards, posters, calendars, bracelets, backpacks, T-shirts, music recordings, board games, computer games, picnics, dinners, seminars, retreats, cruises, and so on, all riding on the book's popular theme.
Non-Christians laugh at the stupidity and hypocrisy in all of this, and as there is no substance to the movement, some of the followers eventually become disillusioned. But not to worry, for here comes another one. This one will change everything. As in the temple, it is clear that the buyers are at least almost as guilty as the sellers. They enjoy the commercialism. They love to imitate the unbelievers as long as they can put a Christian label on what they sell, buy, and do.
Do professing Christians show any more respect for God and concern for worshipers than these Jews in the day of Christ? Some of them use the church to gather business contacts or to sell their products. Others are there hunting for greedy and gullible people that they can swindle, "Christians" who are just too eager to jump on another scheme to get rich, or to save money by questionable or even illegal means. Sometimes the church leadership knows what is happening, but they are unwilling to do anything about it. But this is one of those things that their spiritual authority is supposed to address. They are supposed to protect the sheep from the wolves, as well as to rebuke the sheep for being worldly, greedy, and gullible.
As for favoring convenience over worship, there are numerous signs of this in today's believers. We will not mention the outrageous and the extreme, but how about something seemingly less significant like answering a mobile phone during a church gathering? It is bad enough to forget to switch off the phone, but if the person actually answers it and carries a conversation on it, however brief, we can tell that he has no respect for God or for the rest of us who wish to concentrate on the things of God. If the person calling is so important, invite him to church! If it is a business call, then he must choose between God and Mammon.
The temple area could not have turned into a marketplace without permission from the priests, who are probably receiving a handsome portion of the profits from the merchants' transactions. Jesus' action and teaching greatly upset these priests, not only because he has briefly disrupted the commercial activities, but because he has exposed their apostasy and undermined their authority. Thus he poses a threat to their economic welfare as well as their social standing.
Instead of being driven to self-examination and repentance, now they conspire to murder Jesus. They think that they have spiritual standing with God because Abraham is their natural ancestor, but he tells them elsewhere, "If you were Abraham's children, then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things" (John 8:39-40).
Although they are Abraham's natural descendents, spiritually speaking, they are nothing like him, but they are like those of their ancestors who killed the prophets that were sent to them. Jesus perceives their hypocrisy, and says to them in Matthew 23, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets'" (v. 29-31). But they are exploiting the temple for financial profit and plotting murder against the one who opposes them. Contrary to their claim, they are exactly like the apostates in times past, whom God punished and exiled from the land.
With this mention of Israel's past sins and exiles, we are finally ready to consider the fig tree's significance, which I have already hinted at several times so far. And this ushers us into the next section of our study.
(to be continued)