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Day 2: The Need

Mark 11:12-25
12  On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.
13  And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
14  And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
15  And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.
16  And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.
17  And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
18  And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.
19  And when evening came they went out of the city.
20  As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.
21  And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
22  And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.
23  Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
24  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
25  And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

The incidents are all connected.  
What happened to the fig tree had happened to the religious Jews of the Temple. 
What was happening in the Temple was what happened to the fig tree. 

In both cases, what was meant to be full of life had instead deteriorated into something that more resembled death.  With the fig tree it was obvious.  All Jesus did was declare what had already occurred. With the Temple, he was declaring the same thing.

But Why did it die? 

With the fig tree we don’t know.  With the Temple we do know.  
The nature of religion is to superficially put on a faith that bears no fruit in everyday life.  
There is an outward show but no inner life.  No sap flowing in the tree and no Spirit flowing in the person.

Religion is not what Christ came to die for.  
Religion is not where we are called to follow.  
We’re called to be disciples of Jesus.  
In the way we live every day…in marriage…in being single…in our work…in our play…in our relationships…in our neighborhood and towns.
Let's ask Christ Jesus for his life in all parts of own life.


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