He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area. He looked around at everything…
as they were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots…
"Have faith in God…
Therefore I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions." (Mk 11:11-26)
Today’s reading speaks about the fig tree and the cleansing of the temple. These two are interlinked. We go to the temple to experience faith and to have access to God through prayers. But what we find in the temple is buying and selling. There is no faith experience and there is no chance for prayer
Similarly we go to the fig tree to find figs. But what we find is that the fig tree has plenty of leaves. It is very attractive to see. It is pleasant to the eyes. The fig tree is like the temple. There is a crowd in the temple; and the temple looks very busy like the fig tree which is attractive with green leaves. Tree is cursed because it has no fruits and the temple is cleansed because there is no faith experience. Fig tree stands as a parable for the temple.
Using this parable and the event, Jesus preaches about faith and prayer and forgiveness. Faith and prayer expresses the relationship between god and the people. This relationship should necessarily lead to the third element. That is forgiveness. This expresses the relationship among people.
