8th Week in Ordinary Time : Friday 2nd June 2023

In Today’s Gospel reading, Mark combined two incidents: the cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple. Both are prophetic actions, serving as symbolic signs of God’s warning and judgment on Israel with regard to worship and religion.

In cleansing the Temple, Jesus showed anger by driving away the crowd of profiteers, for they had turned ‘the House of Prayer’ into a marketplace. Here the message was for the unfaithful people who had turned the ‘court’ into a ‘den of robbers’ (v.17). Obviously, this angered the chief priests and teachers of the Law who had profited from the trade carried out in the Temple.

In the fig tree episode, Jesus cursed a fruitless tree that had fully leaved before the season for figs. The prophets often compared Israel to an unfaithful people when she failed to live up to the demands of the covenant (Jeremiah 8:9-13). They had become stubborn, disobedient, and unfaithful.

But here Jesus stresses an essential aspect of faith, that is, fruitfulness, as in vs 23-24.

Faith is not rational or theological knowledge about God but a relationship with God. It enables us to remain faithful, ready to be challenged, to be renewed, so that forgiveness, compassion, and mercy are the hallmarks of Christian living.

“Lord, help us grow in our faith as expressed in our love, compassion, and mercy actions.”