Mark 11:12 — Community Reflections

MARK 11:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:”

The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry — the humanity of Jesus is stated simply: leaving Bethany the next morning, he was hungry. The hunger grounds the fig tree encounter in the ordinary conditions of physical need. The detail serves the theological purpose of the cursing: Jesus approaches a tree seeking food because he is genuinely hungry — the fruitlessness he finds is a real disappointment.

Church Fathers on Mark 11:12

As the time of His Passion approached, the Lord wished to approach to the place of His Passion, in order to intimate that He underwent death of His own accord: wherefore it is said, 'And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple.' And by His going to the temple on first entering the city, He shews us beforehand a form of religion, which we are to follow, that if by chance we enter a place, where there is a house of prayer, we should first turn aside to it.
Bede · 8th century

Wishing to shew His disciples that if He chose He could in a moment exterminate those who were about to crucify Him. In a mystical sense, however, the Lord entered into the temple, but came out of it again, to shew that He left it desolate, and open to the spoiler.
Theophylact · 11th century

He went in the morning to the Jews, and visits us in the eventide of the world.
Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century

Read all 5 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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