Posted: Jan 05, 2012 9:42 pm
John P. M. wrote:Fine, but why did he choose to tell them right after, that not only could they themselves make fig trees whither, but they could even move mountains with their faith (instead of explaining what the metaphor was about)?
It reads like a magician doing a card trick, and then telling his spectators "If you truly believe in magic, not only will you be able to move all the Kings of diamond to the center of the deck while randomly shuffling it like I just did, but you will be able to saw women in half as well." - - - - when the actual reason he did the card trick was as a parable about the centralization of power.
The passages in Mark 11 read:
- 19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples[e] went out of the city.
20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly[f] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
This site here looks at the chiasmic structure of Mark and comments:
- Seeley (2000) observes:
"Thus, as Jesus and his disciples return to Jerusalem (apparently) from Bethany, he tells them that, if they have faith, they can successfully command "this mountain" to be taken up and cast into the sea (Mark 11:23). What is "this mountain"? Bethany is to the southeast of Jerusalem, and so as one approached the city, the temple mount would stand out prominently."
This observation is also echoed by Duff (1992), who sees the mountain saying as further condemnation of the Temple.
Just earlier in Mark 11, the Temple elders plot to kill Jesus. It may that Jesus is referring to that when he talks about if you truly believe what you pray for (i.e. the coming of the Messiah) and if you forgive those that you hold anything against (i.e. Jesus) then all will be well. I'm not sure how valid that is, though. The problem is that it is possible to over-analyze these passages, to the point that any interpretation is possible. I'm not sure that this shouldn't stop us from doing any analysis though. And to me, the "fig-tree == Israel/Temple Judaism" symbolism seems firmly established.