Hungry for our Love – Reflection on Mark 11:11-26
The inner story of cleaning the temple with the split bookend parable to the fig tree is curious. The outer fig tree parable could have been told sequentially, followed by the temple story. One possibility for the split is that Jesus wants to dramatically show us he is hungry for our love and desires that love to produce fruit after He has nurtured it. Imagine spending a long time with someone, giving that person all of your attention and love for many years. One day when you need support from that person there is nothing. Wouldn’t you be disappointed? Accepting God’s love and building faith even in tough times is a great mystery, sometimes causing tears of inward joy or powerful enough to move mountains. What of the temple? We have all seen evil penetrating our sacred places, often wholly obscuring God’s love. Like many extraordinary souls before, our task is to show Jesus is victorious. We can and should do so regardless of setbacks by reciprocally participating with God in prayer and other ways despite great difficulties.
The Accursed Fig Tree by James Tissot painting at full resolution.
More details are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Mark 11:11-26 – Scripture*
11 Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying,
“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 when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Mark 11:11-26 Reflection – Hungry for our Love.
Mark 11in the above passage is used with written permission from New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE).
Would you like to contribute related thoughts to these Lectio reflections on the Gospel readings? Since Lectio is not the only contemplative prayer style, others might appreciate these types of expressions in this ministry. Do you see God’s grandeur everywhere and unconditionally enjoy sharing the love of Christ that you have inside? Are you willing to be anonymous in what you would share? If so, email me.
Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities get to know your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite worldly distractions.
Attributions
*This site has permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible Mark 11 passage.
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