MARK- - My Words (14)

 

Jesus and his friends rested in the hills just outside Jerusalem.  Jesus asked two of them to go ahead into a village and find a young horse that had never been ridden.  If anyone was to challenge them, they were to say that the ‘Master’ needed it.  They did this, and permission was granted.

Jesus’ friend prepared the young horse for Jesus to ride, and they set off into the city. 

As Jesus approached, the people spontaneously began to acknowledge him, and cheered.  They cut palm tree branches and laid thy in the way before him.  Crowds gathered and called out in worship of the creator, “Hosanna, Praise the Creator!  Bless you, ancestor of King David, bless you, the one sent to save us from oblivion.”

Jesus proceeded to the Temple where he took part in the Passover worship.  Then they returned to the villages. 

In the morning, the friends went to gather figs for breakfast.  They saw a healthy tree, but it had no fruit.  Jesus’ friends heard him say “you’re of no use to anyone.”  This was confusing because it was not the season for the fruit.

Here are two stories about timing.  Both are full of symbolism; both quite strange.

A cynic would say that the writer of Mar, who knew their Jewish bible well, could pulled the treads of the past to weaving into and strengthen the authority of this stroy.  But some of these pictures are very subtle, and even confusing.  Just as after viewing a film for the first time, on the second occasion you become a wise soothsayer of the plot to come, so Jesus is able to predict all the twists and turns of his current situation.  The events lead up to the exclamation of the Creators authority over all things, so that 'even the very stones' would have to rise up and declare it.  

What about the poor old fig tree?  What did it do wrong?  We live with the one who knows exactly what is happening, and what the next twist will be.  The fig tree was just plodding along, oblivious to these momentous events, and therefore was not ready to play it's part.  I want to be living close to Jesus so that I will see, and am ready.