Dear Family at Christ Community,

       As Mark’s Third Act begins, he artfully tells the story of Jesus cursing a fig tree and cleansing the temple. It’s not linear storytelling that lays it out neatly for us as audience; it’s the type of storytelling that demands our attention by calling us to lean in with our questions. Mark begins with the cursing of the fig tree in Mark 11:12-14 which serves as an enacted parable for the judgment coming for the temple and its hypocritical religious practices. He transitions to the cleansing of the temple in 11:15-19 which offers both a declaration of Jesus’s Messianic authority and a foreshadowing of the judgment to come. In response to Peter’s marveling at the withered fig tree in 11:20-25, Jesus makes clear what fruit He expects to find among God’s people: faith, prayer, and forgiveness. Faith believes that the Triune God is Who He says He is in Scripture, that He will do what He said He would, and that His people are who He declares them to be as His Beloved. Prayer evidences a dependence on this God. Forgiveness serves as the gift and heart of the Gospel. J.C. Ryle captures the gravity of these truths in his Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Vol. 1: Matthew—Mark:

Let us take care that we each individually learn the lesson that the fig tree conveys. Let us always remember, that baptism, and church-membership, and reception of the Lord’s Supper, and a diligent use of the outward forms of Christianity, are not sufficient to save our souls. They are leaves, nothing but leaves, and without fruit will add to our condemnation. Like the fig leaves  of which Adam and Eve made themselves garments, they will not hide the nakedness of our souls from the eye of an all-seeing God, or give us boldness when we stand before Him at the last day. No! we must bear fruit, or be lost for ever. There must be fruit in our hearts and fruit in our lives, the fruit of repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and true holiness in our conversation. Without such fruits as these a profession of Christianity will only sink us lower into hell.

       May the Holy Spirit use the broken bread and overflowing cup to nourish us to grow in faith, prayer, and forgiveness as we abide in Christ!

In Christ,
Cameron