Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the
temple area. He looked around at everything and, since it was already late,
went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
The next day as they were leaving Bethany
he was hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see
if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but
leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, “May no one
ever eat of your fruit again! And his disciples heard it.
They came to Jerusalem and on entering the
temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned
the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.
He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. Then he
taught them saying, “Is it not written: My house shall be called a house of
prayer for all peoples. But you have made it a den of thieves.”
The chief priests and the scribes came to
hear of it and were seeking a way to put him to death, yet they feared him
because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching. When evening came, they
went out of the city.
Early in the morning, as they were walking
along, they saw the fig tree withered to its roots. Peter remembered and said
to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered. Jesus said to
them in reply, “Have faith in God. Amen, I say to you, whoever says to this
mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his
heart but believes that what he says will happen, it shall be done for him.
Therefore I tell you, all that you
ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours. When
you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that
your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Do you always see Jesus as someone who is
always, merciful, gentle and compassionate? Some parts of this gospel somewhat
show us the other side of Jesus. A Jesus who gets angry with those who choose
not to bear fruit. A Jesus who gets angry with those who do not give the
respect and reverence that the temple of God truly deserves.
Is this anger of Jesus justified? Of
course it’s justified! His anger toward the fig tree was not for the fig tree
per se. It was for those people who know that they could do something for His
mission. But for reasons of selfishness and not daring to go out of their own
comfort zones they chose not to do anything.
Many of us are like them we don’t do
something to advance the mission of Jesus in this world. We don’t want to labor
for Jesus, we don’t want to sacrifice our time for Jesus. We rather choose to
spend time for our own self-interest and gratification.
Why is it that many of us do not want to
labor and sacrifice for Christ? Is it because there’s no money that could
motivate us to do it? However, money is just a miniscule part of life, we will
not find the true meaning of life with money, with power or anything that
emanates from this world.
We can only find the true essence and
meaning of life with Jesus only with Jesus. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
