The sun had set and darkness hovered over the city.
Yet, the people of Jerusalem hardly noticed. The torch light was enough. The light of the sun, though useful, was not necessary. So, darkness settled lower, sinking deeper into the bones of the city and the souls of its citizens. Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples stood in the temple.
An incredible day of celebration behind them, the disciples now felt themselves caught up in the rapture of the temple’s beauty. Walls rose higher than trees and gold shimmered brighter than stars. Below, men busied themselves with closing up shop and counting the final sums. The disciples whispered in their amazement, excitedly discussing the sacrifices they might acquire for themselves. Jesus stood quietly. From time to time, his friends nudged him, asking him his opinion of the colossal monument and the holy activity within. Each time, however, Jesus seemed distant, lost in thought, and eventually someone suggested that they begin their journey to Bethany, to rest.
The sun rose a handful of hours later. The disciples were finishing breakfast when Jesus stepped back into the home after going out alone in the morning to pray, according to his habit. If any had sensed a tiredness, or a sadness about him last night, that had clearly passed with the darkness. He stood now before them decided. Several disciples even asked him, “Jesus, what do you have in mind to do?” He answered, as he often did, with a question and then walked out the door.
“Do you trust me?”
And then things moved quickly. The sun stood powerfully in the sky, illuminating their path, and they followed Jesus, excited and a little bit concerned. His steps were sure; he moved with a purpose in mind. Suddenly, he turned off the path, toward a fig tree in the distance. His disciples, glancing at each other, turned likewise and followed. As they reached the tree, they could see Jesus, who had hurried ahead of them, gazing into the branches. They gathered around him, under the leaves. For a brief moment, the Earth stood still and the wind ceased and the leaves hung in time suspended. The disciples awkwardly tried to decide who should tell Jesus that it wasn’t the season for figs, when he suddenly laughed aloud. He looked for a moment at John, then Peter, and the endearingly mischievous light in his eyes was so familiar. He had something planned – something beautifully strange. Then he cursed the tree for bearing no fruit.
The sun was burning bright in the sky when Jesus burst into the temple. The disciples came in several seconds later, two here, then three, and so forth. Jesus had sprinted from the fig tree all the way to Jerusalem, all the way up the steps of the House of God and it was all they could do to keep him in sight.
John, always the fastest runner, had burst into the temple and barely missed being run over by an escapee: a goat for the sacrifice had been let loose and John looked wonderingly to Jesus who held the keys to the cages of the animals who only hours earlier had been prepared as offerings. When the rest finally caught up to him inside, they tried to make sense of the scene in front of them as they gasped for breath: Jesus was literally throwing tables and chairs into the air and out the door. Incredibly, none of the merchants or scribes of the temple were opposing him. Indeed, in the chaos, it even seemed that some were kneeling before him.
Immediately, when the last of his friends came in through the door, Jesus stopped in the center of the room and Peter whispered to John, “Look at his eyes.”
It must have been awful and awesome to witness God the Son in his zeal for the House of his Father.
His eyes.
Piercing.
Thunderous.
Magnificent.
Victorious.
On their way back to Bethany, Matthew looked up and saw the fig tree in the distance had withered. He reached out and touched his rabbi to tell him what he could see just on the horizon. Suddenly, Peter shouted, “The fig tree has withered completely!”
Jesus stopped and in the twilight, as the sun set, his eyes were radiant.
“Don’t be afraid to think – and then act! – out of the box. Ask, believing you have already received.”
Radical? Yes. May we become more like him every day.
Mark 11:11-25