Mark 11:14 — Community Reflections

MARK 11:14 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.”

Then he said to the tree, may no one ever eat fruit from you again. And his disciples heard him say it — the cursing of the fig tree is the only destructive miracle in the Gospels and the only miracle performed on a non-human subject. Its function is prophetic-symbolic: the fig tree in full leaf but without fruit is Israel in the temple with all the external forms of worship but without the kingdom's fruit. The disciples hear the curse — they are witnesses who will observe the next morning's withering.

Church Fathers on Mark 11:14

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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