As they leave Bethany next day, Jesus, who is hungry, sees a fig tree at (or from) a distance and goes over to see if it has figs.
George Maclear suggests he may have
fasted overnight. adjacent to the Shrine of the Book exhibit at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem as it appears today. The West Wall is in the foreground with the Dome of the Rock rising over the Mount. They reach Jerusalem and Jesus goes straight to the Temple,
Herod's Temple, and starts, without explanation, throwing over tables and driving the
dove salesman and money changers from the courtyard of the Temple and stops people from bringing anything for sale through the Temple courts (). The doves were used for sacrifices and the standard
Greek or
Roman money used by people had to be changed into special blessed Jewish or
Tyrian money suitable for use. This is what Jesus told everyone there:
Verse 17 :
And he taught, saying unto them, ::
Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? ::
but ye have made it a den of thieves. • Cross reference:
Matthew 21:13,
Luke 19:46 Jesus combines quotes from
Isaiah 56:7 and
Jeremiah 7:11 in
Matthew 21:13, which is a parallel verse to this verse and
Luke 19:46. Both are from expositions on the nature of the Temple. The quote from Isaiah comes from a section about how all who obey
God's will,
Jewish or not, are to be allowed into the Temple so they can
pray and therefore converse with God. The passage in Jeremiah is from a chapter on the futility of
worship on the part of those who do not obey God's will. People making money off of worshipping God right inside God's own Temple seems to Jesus to be a corruption of God's intention. "Den of thieves" might be a reference to extortionary pricing for the doves and money. The people are amazed by Jesus and his teaching, which drives the chief priests to plot to kill him. Jesus and his group however leave the city at the end of the day. The incident with the money changers is recorded in all the Gospels. The
synoptics have basically the same story as Mark. John 2:12–25 has the incident occurring at the start of his book and therefore
Jesus's ministry. He expels the dove salesmen and money changers but does not quote from the
Old Testament, instead saying "How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!". The disciples remember "
Zeal for your house will consume me." Most scholars hold that this is the same incident and that it really occurred shortly before Jesus's death. A minority hold that there were two incidents with the money changers, once at the beginning and once at the end of Jesus's mission. According to the
Jewish Encyclopedia article on Jesus: In the Temple :This would appear to have been on the first day of the week and on the 10th of Nisan, when, according to the Law, it was necessary that the paschal lamb should be purchased. It is therefore probable that the entry into Jerusalem was for this purpose. In making the purchase of the lamb a dispute appears to have arisen between Jesus's followers and the money-changers who arranged for such purchases; and the latter were, at any rate for that day, driven from the Temple precincts. It would appear from Talmudic references that this action had no lasting effect, if any, for Simon ben Gamaliel found much the same state of affairs much later (Ker. i. 7) and effected some reforms (see Derenbourg in "Histoire de la Palestine," p. 527). The act drew public attention to Jesus, who during the next few days was asked to define His position toward the conflicting parties in Jerusalem. It seemed especially to attack the emoluments of the priestly class, which accordingly asked Him to declare by what authority He had interfered with the sacrosanct arrangements of the Temple. In a somewhat enigmatic reply He placed his own claims on a level with those of John the Baptist — in other words, he based them on popular support. The
Jesus Seminar concluded that this was a "pink" act, "a close approximation of what Jesus did", as recorded in , , and called the "Temple incident" and the primary cause of the
crucifixion. The next morning they pass by the fig tree again and
Peter notices that it is now "withered", and excitedly points it out to Jesus, who replies: :''Have faith in God,...I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea', and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.'' (22–23) Similar statements can be found, apart from the fig tree story, in
Matthew 17:20 and
Luke 17:6 as well as in saying 48 of the
Gospel of Thomas.
Saint Paul also mentions faith that can move mountains in
1 Corinthians 13:2. Some have argued that Jesus's action in regard to the fig tree seems
illogical, since it was not the time of year for trees to bear fruit and one might assume that a
divine Jesus would know that the tree would not have figs or could have simply produced the figs by a
miracle as opposed to cursing the tree.
Bertrand Russell, the
agnostic philosopher, even listed this story as one of his reasons for not being a Christian. The cursing of the tree displays Jesus's power and the power of prayer coupled with full belief in God. Mark, placing the fig tree before and after the incident in the Temple, may be using the fig tree as a
metaphor for what he sees as the barrenness of the priests and the withering of their teaching and authority due to their lack of true faith. Just like with the fig tree, Jesus had hoped to find "fruit", the fruit of true worship of God, at the Temple but it is not the right time for this, and so the Temple, like the fig tree, is cursed.
Exegetes often take this as one of Mark's references to the destruction of the Temple by the Romans, and consequently their dating of Mark after this event. The fig tree is again mentioned in Mark 13:28 by Jesus as part of his
eschatological discourse, when its leaves will be full and it will be bearing fruit in the summer, as opposed to the current spring. Matthew has roughly the same story but not Luke or John, although Luke 13:6–9 has Jesus relating a
parable,
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree, about a man not finding fruit on a fig tree. Thomas has Jesus talking about
thistles not yielding figs in saying 45, which is also found in the
Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:16. This section of Mark ends with verses which are paralleled in and , which some have seen as a portion or a follow-on of the
Lord's Prayer (see also Discourse on ostentation#Prayer): forgive others so that God may forgive you. == Argument over Jesus's authority ==