The Judgment of Leafy Hypocrisy Text: Mark 11:12-14
Introduction: A Living Parable of Judgment
We come this morning to one of those curious moments in the ministry of Jesus that has caused no small amount of consternation for sentimentalists. Our Lord, on his way into Jerusalem during that final, fateful week, becomes hungry, sees a fig tree, and because it has no fruit on it, He curses it. To the modern, therapeutic mind, this can seem petulant, even bizarre. Why would the Lord of glory pronounce a death sentence on a simple tree? Was He just having a bad morning? Did He get up on the wrong side of the mat?
But to think this way is to fundamentally misunderstand what is happening. This is no mere fit of pique. Jesus is not simply hungry and disappointed. This is a deliberate, prophetic sign-act. It is a living parable, an acted-out sermon of immense theological weight. This fig tree is not just a fig tree. It is a symbol, a stand-in for the entire religious and national life of first-century Israel. The Lord is about to go into Jerusalem, to the Temple, and what He does to this tree is a preview, a trailer, of what He is about to announce over that whole corrupt system. He is demonstrating in miniature what is about to happen on a grand, historical scale.
The fig tree was a common biblical symbol for the nation of Israel. When the prophets wanted to speak of Israel's health or sickness, they often reached for the metaphor of a fig tree or a vineyard. A fruitful tree was a sign of covenant blessing; a barren tree was a sign of covenant curse. And here, in the final week before the cross, Jesus, the Lord of the covenant, comes to His people looking for fruit. He finds a great deal of religious activity, a great show of piety, but no actual fruit. He finds leaves, but no figs. And so He pronounces the curse that the covenant promised for just such a condition. This is not about a piece of botany; it is about the impending judgment of God on a faithless generation.
The Text
And on the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. And seeing at a distance a fig tree that had leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And He answered and said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.
(Mark 11:12-14 LSB)
The Lord's Hunger and Expectation (v. 12-13a)
We begin with the setting and the search:
"And on the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. And seeing at a distance a fig tree that had leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it..." (Mark 11:12-13a)
First, notice the simple humanity of our Lord. He became hungry. This is the Incarnation in its grit and grain. The eternal Son of God, through whom all things were made, condescended to feel the pangs of an empty stomach. This is not incidental. His hunger is what propels Him toward the tree, setting the stage for the sign-act. His genuine human needs are the platform for His divine pronouncements.
He sees a fig tree "at a distance" that is full of leaves. Now this is the key. In that part of the world, with that species of fig tree, the fruit normally appears before the leaves. If you see a fig tree that has leafed out, you have every right to expect to find figs on it. The leaves are an advertisement. They are a promise of fruit. This tree was making a great public show of its fecundity. It was broadcasting its vitality to every passerby. It was, in short, a hypocrite. It had the outward appearance of life and health, but it was a sham.
And so Jesus approaches it. He went "to see if perhaps He would find anything on it." Of course, as the omniscient Son of God, He knew perfectly well what He would find. This is an anthropomorphism, an accommodation to the disciples' perspective. He is playing this out for their benefit, and for ours. He is demonstrating the process of covenantal inspection. The Lord of the vineyard has come, as He said He would in His parables, looking for the fruit that was His due.
The Problem of Pretense (v. 13b)
The inspection yields a damning result.
"...and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs." (Mark 11:13b LSB)
Here we find the central indictment: "nothing but leaves." This is a perfect picture of the spiritual state of the Jerusalem establishment. They had the Temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the festivals, the Scriptures, the oral traditions. They had leaves in abundance. Their religious calendar was full. Their robes were ornate. Their prayers were long and public. But when the Lord Himself came looking for the fruit of righteousness, justice, mercy, and faith, He found none. He found a den of robbers where there should have been a house of prayer. He found extortion and greed where there should have been care for the widow and orphan. Nothing but leaves.
Now, what about the phrase, "for it was not the season for figs"? At first glance, this seems to exonerate the tree. How can you blame a tree for not having fruit out of season? But this misses the point entirely. As I said before, if it had leaves, it should have had fruit. The problem was not that it was the wrong season for figs in general, but that this particular tree was pretending it was the season for figs when it wasn't. It was precocious in its leaf-bearing, and therefore fraudulent. It was making a promise it could not keep. This is precisely what Israel was doing. They had all the outward signs of being God's chosen people, all the foliage of covenant life, but they had rejected the very Messiah their covenant pointed to. They were pretending to be in season with God while being utterly barren. Their leafy display made their fruitlessness all the more culpable.
The Covenantal Curse (v. 14)
The verdict is followed by the sentence.
"And He answered and said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again!' And His disciples were listening." (Mark 11:14 LSB)
Jesus "answered" the tree. He responded to its silent, leafy lie. His curse is not a wish, but a creative, powerful, divine decree. "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" This is the sentence of perpetual barrenness. The tree's very nature is being redefined by the Word of Christ. It will never again have the opportunity to deceive a hungry traveler.
This is a direct, prophetic judgment against the apostate Jewish system of that day. Jesus is saying, in effect, that the purpose for which God planted Israel, to be a blessing to the nations and to bear fruit for His glory, was now being revoked. That particular tree was being cut off. The kingdom of God would be taken from them and given to a people who would produce its fruits, the Church (Matt. 21:43). This curse on the fig tree is the overture to the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70. Within a generation, the Romans would come and utterly destroy that leafy, fruitless system, and not one stone would be left upon another. The disciples were listening, and they were meant to understand. This was a warning.
Conclusion: Leaves Are Not Enough
This event is bookended with the cleansing of the Temple. Jesus curses the tree, goes into Jerusalem and drives out the money-changers, and the next day they pass by and see the tree withered from the roots. The events are inextricably linked. The curse on the tree explains the cleansing of the Temple. Both are acts of divine judgment on fruitless religion.
The warning for us should be clear and sharp. It is possible to have a very impressive display of Christian leaves. We can have our doctrine just so, our church attendance perfect, our vocabulary salted with all the right theological terms. We can have the appearance of life, the foliage of faith. But the Lord is not interested in leaves. He is hungry for fruit. He is looking for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He is looking for repentance and a humble heart. He is looking for justice and mercy.
A faith that does not produce the fruit of obedience is a dead faith. It is nothing but leaves. And a church that is full of programs and activities but is empty of the genuine presence of God and the power of the Spirit is a barren fig tree, ripe for judgment. We must examine ourselves. Are we content with our leaves? Are we satisfied with the appearance of Christianity?
The good news is that for those who are in Christ, we are grafted into the true Vine, and He is the one who produces the fruit in us (John 15). Our job is to abide in Him. But we must not take this for granted. Let us be a people who are not just leafy, but fruitful, lest the Lord come to us hungry and find nothing to eat. For He is a good God, but He is not a sentimental one, and He will not be mocked.