Early in Jesus’ ministry, He told those He healed to go back home and not tell anyone. He was trying to avoid attracting large crowds. He wanted to travel from town to town and teach God’s Word to as many people as He could; and a crowd of admirers would have gotten in the way. But there was another reason to avoid such crowds: in the eyes of the world, a crowd of followers represents power.

To the religious leaders that was power that was slipping away from them. To Rome, that was power that could be raised against them.

So, when His ministry reached the point that crowds could not be avoided, He on purpose stayed away from the vicinity of Jerusalem: the seat of religious and political power. He only went to the city during the feasts, when crowds would have already been there anyway (and many times He went in secret.) He stayed away publicly… until the appointed time.

This is the appointed time.

By this point in the gospel of Mark, Jesus has told His disciples several times what is going to happen when He goes to Jerusalem: The leaders of the people will capture Him and turn Him over to the Gentiles to destroy Him. It is not going to be a surprise to Him. He doesn’t want it to be a surprise to them. Even so, Mark tells us several times that they couldn’t really grasp how this awful fate could overtake Him. Imagine then, what their reaction would have been if they had realized that Jesus Himself was going to precipitate it all.

The easiest way to precipitate that fate is to publicly head toward the city with the largest, loudest crowd ever, in his wake.

From the way this is described in the gospels, my conclusion is that Jesus got to Jericho with a crowd, then stayed in the city overnight to start up again the next day; with an even bigger crowd.

Mark 10:46-52 And they come to Jericho, and as he was going out from Jericho, and his disciples and a large crowd, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, the blind [man], sat by the wayside begging. And having heard that it was Jesus the Nazaraean, he began to cry out and to say, O Son of David, Jesus, have mercy on me. And many rebuked him, that he might be silent; but he cried so much the more, Son of David, have mercy on me.

And Jesus, standing still, desired him to be called. And they call the blind [man], saying to him, Be of good courage, rise up, he calls thee. And, throwing away his garment, he started up and came to Jesus. And Jesus answering says to him, What wilt thou that I shall do to thee? And the blind [man] said to him, Rabboni, that I may see.

And Jesus said to him, Go, thy faith has healed thee. And he saw immediately, and followed him in the way.

Bartimaeus appeals to Jesus using the messianic title “Son of David”. Other blind men, and even the Canaanite woman, had cried out to Him that same way in their desperation. And likewise, at other times, when people marvelled at Jesus’ miracles, and His power over demons, they asked each other if He might be the Son of David. Jesus confirms it here by simply stopping and calling for the blind man.

The initial reaction of the crowd is impossible to miss.

They wanted the blind man to be quiet… Why? How could his crying out hurt them? Was it embarrassing? Or was it that the people walking with Jesus – feeling important by association, feeling excited about what they thought Jesus was going to do in Jerusalem – did not want that momentous event slowed down or derailed? 

We can imagine the worst or the best. We don ‘t have enough information. But one thing we know for sure: that crowd was made up of people like us. And you and I know that when we have a plan, a goal to accomplish, we don’t like being interrupted by less important things… less important people.

But to Jesus there is no such thing as a less important person.

Of course, He asks Bartimaeus what he wants… Which seems kind of silly. “Well, Duh! Isn’t it obvious?” And yet, Jesus wants him to say it out loud. He wants Bartimaeus to prove to himself that he really believes this prophet from Nazareth has the power to change His life.

I wonder how you and I would have responded that day in Jericho, to hearing that Jesus was coming by.

I wonder, because our lives today are no less damaged by this world than Bartimaeus’ life. He was blind… maybe from a sickness, maybe by an accident. Whatever it was, in that condition, he was helpless to do anything for his family or anyone he cared for. He could have easily felt useless, less than a man, maybe even abandoned by God.

Have you ever felt that way?

Would you, then, dare cry out?

I know the immediate answer that comes to our mind: “Sure!” Why not? “If Jesus came walking past my house today… I mean, if I knew He was coming, sure I would run out there and cry out for His help at the top of my voice.”

Really?

So, why don’t we?

Just a couple of chapters back, Jesus told His disciples that He was passing on to them the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, that whatever they bound on Earth would already have been bound in Heaven and whatever they loosed on earth will already have been loosed in Heaven. Yes, Jesus is not physically present down here with us now, but His Church is; His Spirit is.

His power is still here.

Can’t we reach out to another believer and ask for prayer? What holds us back?

I think that what holds us back is that we are afraid that that healing that we need, be it physical, spiritual, emotional – whatever – will not be granted us.

Ok. I understand that. I know exactly how that feels. But the question is: Didn’t Bartimaeus feel the same way? How did he know that Jesus would be willing to heal him? How did he not fret over whether or not he was worthy of that healing?

How did he have enough faith to receive that healing?

(And Jesus said to him, Go, thy faith has healed thee.)

I don’t have the answer.

I just face the same challenge that you do; that we all do. And it is a challenge we cannot ignore… Because, if the Kingdom of God has arrived, is here right now, then Bartimaeus has nothing on us. The disciples have nothing on us. We are all the same, in the presence of Jesus.

The Kingdom is here… Or is it?

Mark 11:1-11   And when they draw near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sends two of his disciples, and says to them, Go into the village which is over against you, and immediately on entering into it ye will find a colt tied, upon which no [child] of man has ever sat: loose it and lead it [here]. And if any one say to you, Why do ye this? say, The Lord has need of it; and straightway he sends it hither.

And they departed, and found a colt bound to the door without at the crossway, and they loose him. And some of those who stood there said to them, What are ye doing, loosing the colt? And they said to them as Jesus had commanded. And they let them [do it].

And they led the colt to Jesus, and cast their clothes upon it, and he sat on it; and many strewed their clothes on the way, and others cut down branches from the trees [and went on strewing them on the way]. And those going on before and those following cried out, Hosanna! blessed [be] he that comes in [the] Lord`s name. Blessed [be] the coming kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest!

The disciples had already witnessed Jesus’ power over Nature: His first miracle was the turning of water into wine. At His word, fish would jump in and fill a net beyond bursting; and yet the net would not burst. At His word, a storm would suddenly quiet down. At His footsteps, water became as solid as a road. At His word, a fish picked up a coin from the bottom of the lake and then swam up to the surface to be caught by Peter to pay the Temple tax for both Peter and Jesus. But all that is power over impersonal Nature.

Here Jesus tells them exactly what is going to happen, what will be where, including what people will be doing, and the fact that they will agree to His request. This degree of detail and control of the future is only matched in the Old Testament by the Lord Himself. (As when God told Elijah to go and find the Sidonian widow in Zarephath whom God had prepared to take care of Elijah during the famine. Or, as when Samuel told Saul that he would encounter and join a crowd of prophets on his way home.)

Then Jesus mounts on that donkey and enters Jerusalem in explicit fulfilment of prophecy:

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh to thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly and rIding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass.

It is no wonder that the crowd goes wild and cries Hosanna (Save now!); that was the Psalmists’s reaction:

Psalm 118:24-26 This is the day that Jehovah hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Oh save, Jehovah, I beseech thee; Jehovah, I beseech thee, oh send prosperity! Blessed be he that cometh in the name of Jehovah. We have blessed you out of the house of Jehovah.

Now: we know from the other gospels how that exuberant crowd unsettled the religious leaders

John 12:17-19 The crowd therefore that was with him bore witness because he had called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from among [the] dead. Therefore also the crowd met him because they had heard that he had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said to one another, Ye see that ye profit nothing: behold, the world is gone after him.

Luke 19:39-40 And some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to him, Teacher, rebuke thy disciples.  And he answering said to them, I say unto you, If these shall be silent, the stones will cry out.

Jesus is starting to force the hand of the Pharisees.

But He isn’t here to declare Himself King:

Mark 11:12 And he entered into Jerusalem and into the temple; and having looked round on all things, the hour being already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

I wonder what that crowd’s reaction was. I mean here they have been rolling toward Jerusalem, gathering momentum; more and more people. No one can stop this now… Jesus even easily dismisses the Pharisees. And then they come to the Temple… Now’s the time… Proclaim him King! Have the priests anoint him! And let’s go deal with those Romans…

But all of a sudden, He stops, looks around, and leaves.

What did they think?

All of a sudden that crowd has to start dispersing. Without Jesus, it has no power. If the Romans (in the garrison at the Antonia Fortress, located at the northwest corner of the Temple Mount) realized how big that assembly had gotten, even during the Passover, they would have had to intervene pre-emptively. What would we have thought, faced with such actions that seem contradictory?

Jesus responds to being called Son of David, accepts the crowd’s adulation, brings that crowd all the way to the Temple and shows the Pharisees He is not afraid of them, and then, at that “peak of power”, He does nothing. What gives? This is not how a leader acts, is it? This is not how we expect our Messiah to act… Is he confused? Is he suddenly “chickening out”?

Just as bringing that crowd face to face with the Pharisees was the beginning of his forcing their hand, stopping that same crowd dead in its tracks and not meeting their (zealous) expectations is the beginning of his forcing the hand of the crowds.

Fruit bearing is not optional

Mark 11:13-14 And on the morrow, when they were gone out of Bethany, he hungered. And seeing from afar off a fig-tree which had leaves, he came, if perhaps he might find something on it. And having come up to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the time of figs. And answering he said to it, Let no one eat fruit of thee any more for ever. And his disciples heard [it].

Sometimes people read this passage and get tripped up by Jesus’ apparent fit of anger… as if anger were a sin. But anger is not a sin. Anger is an emotion that rises up in human beings when they are suddenly faced with something that is wrong. So, what is wrong here?

Even though “it was not the time for figs”, Jesus saw a tree filled with leaves. Those fig trees bear two “crops” of figs. The first “crop” are called breba figs (the early fig of Isaiah 28:4), small figs which come from the previous year’s wood. And they come out early, before, or just as the leaves start appearing. The second “crop” are the figs coming from the new growth and they are ready when the tree is in full leaf, usually in the summer.

So, here is a tree in full leaf, pretending to the world that it is bearing fruit, but when examined closely, it is barren, there is no fruit there. And that is not only wrong, it is a perfect picture of the state of the hearts of the people of God.

The Lord Himself compared Israel to a fruitless plant in the Old Testament:

Isaiah 5:1-7 I will sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard: My well-beloved had a vineyard upon a fruitful hill. And he dug it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine; and he built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What was there yet to do to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?—

And now, let me tell you what I am about to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be eaten up; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trodden under foot; and I will make it a waste—it shall not be pruned nor cultivated, but there shall come up briars and thorns; and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah the plant of his delight: and he looked for justice, and behold, blood-shedding; for righteousness, and behold, a cry…

And Jesus repeated the simile in a parable, explicitly using a fig tree as the example:

Luke 14: 6-9 And he spoke this parable: A certain [man] had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit upon it and did not find [any]. And he said to the vinedresser, Behold, [these] three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none: cut it down; why does it also render the ground useless?

But he answering says to him, Sir, let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung, and if it shall bear fruit—but if not, after that thou shalt cut it down.

A tree that had been tended with care, given all it needed (through hard work), not only the food and water it needed, but also the instructions of how to live, including what was required of it. And yet that tree refused.

We don’t often stop to think about the level of disappointment, the pain, that fills God’s heart when we, His children, choose to just live and put out of our minds the whole purpose for which we have been given this life.

Jesus felt that pain. And He reacted by painting a picture that none could not ignore: We have been given life for a purpose. And without the Spirit of the Lord giving us that life enabling us to fulfil that purpose, we are nothing.

Bearing fruit is not optional

There is no reason for a fruit tree to exist except to bear fruit.

Jesus has made this clear since the beginning. In the Sermon on the mount, He taught:

Matthew 7:16-21 By their fruits ye shall know them. Do [men] gather a bunch of grapes from thorns, or from thistles figs? So every good tree produces good fruits, but the worthless tree produces bad fruits. A good tree cannot produce bad fruits, nor a worthless tree produce good fruits.

Every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

By their fruits then surely ye shall know them.  Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens.

Did you notice that? The only option a tree has is to either give good fruit or to give bad fruit. Just living, just coasting through life, is not good enough:

Every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

It is the will of the Father that we bear fruit. And If my life produces no good fruit, I am wasting my life.

So, what fruit is required of us?

The people in the Temple are about to find out.

Mark 11:15-19 And they come to Jerusalem, and entering into the temple, he began to cast out those who sold and who bought in the temple, and he overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of the dove-sellers, and suffered not that any one should carry any package through the temple. And he taught saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? but *ye* have made it a den of robbers.

And the chief priests and the scribes heard [it], and they sought how they might destroy him; for they feared him, because all the crowd were astonished at his doctrine. And when it was evening he went forth without the city.

Why was Jesus’ reaction so severe? You see, those people selling animals for the sacrifices and trading “unclean” money for money worthy of the Temple weren’t just making a profit at the expense of the pilgrims coming to the feast, they were blocking the way. Out there in the courts outside the Temple was the only place where Gentiles could come to worship God because they were not allowed inside the Temple. But that is precisely where these people had set up shop…

Not only were they blocking the way, they were debasing the holiness of the Temple service, its purpose, its power, in  the eyes of those Gentiles.

Why did this make Jesus so angry?

Deuteronomy 4:5-6 See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, that ye may do so in the land into which ye enter to possess it. And ye shall keep and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples that shall hear all these statutes, and say, Verily this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

Israel was chosen, not because they were so good or so holy but because they were meant to be an example to the rest of the world.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you, for ye are the fewest of all the peoples; but because Jehovah loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a powerful hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 9:5-6 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, dost thou enter in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations doth Jehovah thy God dispossess them from before thee, and that he may perform the word which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know therefore that Jehovah thy God doth not give thee this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people.

Israel was chosen so that God could fulfil the promise He made to Abraham that through his seed all nations would be blessed.

Israel was chosen, not because they were so good or so holy but because they were meant to be an example to the rest of the world. That was the fruit they were called to bear.

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? but *ye* have made it a den of robbers

What fruit have I been called to bear?

Mark 11:20-22 And passing by early in the morning they saw the fig-tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering [what Jesus had said], says to him, Rabbi, see, the fig-tree which thou cursedst is dried up. And Jesus answering says to them, Have faith in God.

The disciples see the fig tree suddenly, supernaturally, withered and they marvel at Jesus’ power. And Jesus’ reaction, unexpected as usual, is essentially: “What are you gawking at? Have faith in God your Father (the One who made you.)”

I bet the disciples (and us) would like to stop at this point.

We could make sense of it: “So, Jesus, it is all about bearing fruit. Our lives are meant to bear fruit. And that withered tree is there to remind us of the awful consequence of rejecting that life purpose. And I suppose we do come up with all kinds of excuses why bearing that good fruit (which you have defined as the good works the Father prepared for us to do) is hard to do. But you are telling us, that we can do it, if we have faith in the Father.”

We could stop there and go on because it seems reasonable, doable…

But Jesus follows up with this:

Mark 11:23 Verily I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe that what he says takes place, whatever he shall say shall come to pass for him.

And this really has to give us pause. It is like He is saying: “The fig tree withering is nothing extraordinary. I already told you, you have the Keys of the Kingdom! You are able to believe as I believe… you are able to do as I have done. And therefore, God’s divine purpose can and will take place on Earth if you but ask.”

Wow.

Do you see the difference? Had we left it off at verse 22 we could have gone on, partly pleased with ourselves, because we could look at the requirement as an internal thing: “It is Jesus requiring me to live my life the way He called me to be. And I can do that (I think) with His help. And if I stumble? No problem, He will forgive me, He will help me… and there will be none the wiser. It is all about my life… between me and Him.”

But in that interpretation, there is no role for the awe-inspiring power that withered that useless fig tree, is there? And therefore, what was the point of cursing that tree?

Jesus never wastes a breath or an action. There was a purpose. And it means this purely internal, comfortable Christianity is not what He is talking about.

Verse 23 cannot be ignored. And it is shocking…

How did the disciples react? Did they believe Him? Would I have? Would I have suddenly accepted for a fact that I have the power to literally move mountains… like Jesus literally had the power to wither that tree?

Surely that shock would have left them hoping for more of an explanation. And here it is:

Mark 11:24 For this reason I say to you, All things whatsoever ye pray for and ask, believe that ye receive it, and it shall come to pass for you.

All of a sudden we realize that our fruit, our purpose…

…is inseparably connected to our prayer life.

And, OK, I can see that ought to be true…  but, Jesus, why did you have to say All things whatsoever ye pray for? (No caveat, no limitation.) And why did you have to say that they will come to pass (categorically; no caveat, no limitation;) provided I believe? That is a lot of responsibility… on my shoulders.

Oh man! That’s a tall order, Jesus.

You keep saying things like that… That I must believe in my heart and not doubt. How can I do that? I am just human… I am full of doubts. But what you are talking about is supernatural… And yes, I know we had supernatural power to heal the sick and cast demons out when you sent us out two-by-two. But, but… wasn’t that really you acting remotely through us? We knew you were back here; and no matter how far we were, we knew you knew where we were and somehow you were with us.

This is not the same thing… especially not the same thing when you keep telling us you are not going to be with us here on Earth forever.

What do you mean when you say we need to have faith and not doubt? How do we make that faith appear? How do we make it grow until it has that kind of power? I don’t understand!

And then Jesus adds:

Mark 11: 25-26 And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have anything against any one, that your Father also who is in the heavens may forgive you your offences. But if *ye* do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in the heavens forgive your offences.

Oh.

Wait, are you telling me that moving mountains is just as hard (or just as easy) as forgiving someone that has wronged me? But these are different things! One is humanly, physically impossible… it requires breaking the laws of Physics. The other is just a matter of the heart.

I know, I know… forgiving requires breaking some laws too: laws of behavior ingrained into our hearts by this world; even accepting the hurt, bearing the injustice, when the broken relationship was through no fault of mine. Are you saying that that is just as humanly impossible?

Are you saying that they are both instances of me bearing fruit?

But listen, Jesus, one of those, moving that mountain, is out there for all to see. The proof of my success or failure will be there for all to see… for all to be amazed at me or for all to laugh at me. (And what about You? If I fail, if that miracle doesn’t come about, what will they think of You?)

The other one, the one about forgivenss, will be hidden, inside my heart… No one will see that. There is no risk there. No one’s going to laugh at me. (Or You).

And I can just hear Jesus saying… “Really? Here I am talking about what your Heavenly Father has called you to do, the purpose for which He made you, and you are worrying about what people will say or not say?

“Yes, I am calling you to do the humanly impossible… like when I spoke about how hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. What did you say then? Wasn’t your reaction, ‘that’s impossible’? And what did I reply:”

With God all things are possible.

Oh.

Each one of us has been created as a very particular kind of tree.

Each one of us has been assigned fruit to bear, in this world.

But bearing that fruit, in this world, is not humanly possible.

I can only do it if I am, at every moment, seeking the will of my Father.

That is what faith is. That is what prayer is for.

I think this is the bottom line.

Jesus is not telling the disciples that they can do arbitrary miraculous deeds if they can but exert the full force of their willpower. On the contrary, He is saying that if we choose to do the Father’s will, if we seek that will in every situation and ask Him to show us what He is asking us to do in that situation, our prayer will be answered, and it will require no exertion, no power of our own. Because the power is not from us but from God.

Will the result be a miracle visibly defying the laws of Nature? If need be, yes. People have been raised from the dead, tumors have vanished, blind people have recovered their sight.

Will the result be a miracle visibly defying the laws of human psychology? If need be, yes. Drug addiction can be erased, smoking addiction can be erased, a violent temper can be tamed, uncontrollable fear can be conquered. It has happened.

But what happens if no visible miracle occurs? Does that mean that my prayer failed?

First, no one said the miracle has to be visible. There are bigger, more important miracles that happen inside the human heart, where no one but God can see them.

Second, how can our prayer fail if its power is from God?

You see, I think that sometimes we misunderstand that verse from James: that is translated:

James 5:16  [The] fervent supplication of the righteous [man] has much power.

If instead we translate it literally, it is:

Much prevails [the] prayer of a righteous [man] being made effective

In the usual translation we focus on the “fervency” of the prayer and assume that that is what leads to its power. But what if the focus is to be placed on the petitioner being “righteous”, in other words, willingly aligned with and acting according to the will of God. Then the verse is saying that such a person’s prayer will be made effective – that is, energized – (by God) and therefore it should be no surprise that it prevails much.  

Third, as I have said before in other contexts, we need to stop measuring our success in the Kingdom of God by the standards of the kingdom of this world. If we prayed for a physical healing to happen and it did not, then that is God’s business. It is His will we are after.

Should we stop, then? Should we give up that prayer?

Answer #1: Not until God says so: (Paul’s example)

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 And that I might not be exalted by the exceeding greatness of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn for the flesh, a messenger of Satan that he might buffet me, that I might not be exalted. For this I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from me. And he said to me, My grace suffices thee; for [my] power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me.

Answer #2: Not until God says so: (Isaiah’s admonition)

Isaiah 62:6-7 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, Jerusalem; all the day and all the night they shall never hold their peace: ye that put Jehovah in remembrance, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Answer #3: Not until God says so: (Jesus’ instruction)

Luke 18:1- And he spoke also a parable to them to the purport that they should always pray and not faint, saying, There was a judge in a city, not fearing God and not respecting man: and there was a widow in that city, and she came to him, saying, Avenge me of mine adverse party. And he would not for a time; but afterwards he said within himself, If even I fear not God and respect not man, at any rate because this widow annoys me I will avenge her, that she may not by perpetually coming completely harass me.

And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge says. And shall not God at all avenge his elect, who cry to him day and night, and he bears long as to them? I say unto you that he will avenge them speedily. But when the Son of man comes, shall he indeed find faith on the earth?

Living in God’s will requires perseverance in prayer. If we do not believe, if we do not trust Him, then we will not persevere. But if we persevere then we must believe… why else would we keep doing something that we don’t believe in? And so, that perseverance, required – by definition – when God’s response is delayed, turns out to be the exercise that keep our faith alive and growing.