Huckabese

When considering the context of a passage, it’s usually a good idea to look at the entire chapter (or even several chapters), not just a few isolated verses. Here is the whole of Mark 11:

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’ ”

They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written:
” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.'”

The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.

When evening came, they went out of the city.

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”

Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men’….” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)

So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

So Jesus rides into Jerusalem, is hailed as the king, and goes straight to the temple. The next day he sees the fig tree and curses it for not bearing fruit. Knowing what we do about Jewish literature and rabbinical styles we ought to automatically have our antenna up for symbolism in a story like this. Fig trees, olive trees, vineyards and orchards are common symbols in the Hebrew Scriptures for the nation of Israel itself.

Then he goes back to the Temple and starts throwing over the tables, ranting about how this system was economically exploitative and exclusionary towards non-Jews. The Jewish leaders (symbolic representatives of the nation of Israel) are pretty threatened by this and want to kill Jesus.

On the way back into the city the next day the disciples note that the fig tree (which likely symbolized Israel and her leaders) has whithered. They seem pretty shocked by it – presumably because they would have picked up on the symbolism of warning and judgment against Israel – so Jesus tells them not to worry, to have faith, to pray, and to forgive others so that God will in turn forgive “them” – i.e. will forgive Israel for their failure to live up to their calling and avert the judgment against them (which is one of the primary themes running through the gospels).

The chapter is then rounded off with another confrontation between Jesus and the Temple leaders, where he asserts his authority to pass the judgments that he has been leveling against them.

University of Massachusetts religion professor, Richard Horsley has a good book, Jesus and Empire, that shows how the overarching theme throughout the gospels and Q is that of Jesus’ populist challenge to the corruption and oppression of the Temple system and Herodian power structure that upheld it. In this total context then, it makes sense, to me at least, that the fig tree vignette – bookended as it is by assertions of Jesus’ authority in contrast to the Jewish leaders, and by challenges to the Temple system itself – is itself intended to be read as a symbolic demonstration of this total critique against the nation of Israel, and especially her leaders. It would be very odd indeed, IMHO, to try to read the story in isolation from it’s surrounding context, as if it were just about private faith and praying and Jesus being hungry, and nothing more.

But, that’s just my take on it based on what I know about the overall themes and context of the gospels. YMMV.

So, you’re saying, if I understand you correctly, is that you have to have a master’s in textual criticism to be able to twist passages of the bible to mean whatever you want them to mean?

Well, yes, if a 21st century Westerner wants to properly understand the meaning of a 2000 year old Middle Eastern text, it generally is a good idea to have studied a little bit about both history and textual criticism, or to listen to those who have. Personally I don’t call that “twisting” the text. I call it good scholarship.