A Serving Leadership Insight from the Life of Jesus Christ (Mark 11:12-21)

“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.” (See Mark 11:12-21 for full text)

In Mark 11:12–21 Jesus cursed a fig tree, entered the temple in Jerusalem to drive out the money changers, and then returned to the fig tree to complete an object lesson for his disciples. Seemingly disconnected, these incidents are actually a commentary on Jerusalem’s judgment. Jesus sought fruit from the fig tree but found none. Similarly, he had come to the center of Jewish religion—the temple—and found it wanting. Rather than blessing the nations with easy access to worship, the religious leaders defrauded them by sanctioning unfair exchange rates for the purchase of sacrificial animals. Jesus drove out the swindlers with these words: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations…But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” Appearing to have life like the leafy fig tree, the religious leaders lacked edifying fruit to bestow life. Returning to a withered tree, the disciples saw the necessity of fruitful leadership. 

KEY QUESTIONS: In which ways would I qualify my leadership as fruitful? In which areas could I increase in fruitfulness? How are some ways I have tried to appear life-giving to others but have only been “leafy?”