It is now the second day after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and much has happened, though John does not tell of it, for it doesn’t meet his needs and it is told in the other gospels. Upon entering Jerusalem that Palm Sunday of two days ago, Jesus had gone up to the temple and entered, but only to look around, “as if to view the field on which He was to suffer and die.” (Edersheim) He then returned to Bethany with the disciples for the night. What thoughts must have run through His mind that night! He must have spent a considerable portion of it in solitary prayer.

It was very early the next morning when He and His disciples left Bethany for Jerusalem. The crisp spring air, combined with the exhausting night and the early walk, produced a great hunger in Jesus and there, in the distance, was a solitary fig tree, full of leaves. Though it was not the season for figs, it was also not the season for fig leaves, and in Palestine the leaves commonly appeared after the figs, so it was not unreasonable to assume that there might be figs hanging from the tree, and, whether old or not yet ripe, they would have been edible. However, upon closer inspection, the tree was barren, much as the tree in the parable He had spoken not too long before this (Luke 13:6-9). How could Jesus not give a visible reminder of that lesson to His disciples? But even more so, “Israel was that barren fig tree; and the leaves only covered their nakedness, as erst they had that of our first parents after their fall.” (Edersheim) He, Who had cried over Jerusalem just the day before, must now symbolically pronounce that judgment under which they would so shortly come. The disciples would be struck by the suddenness of the miracle when they again passed this way the next morning.

Luke 13:6-9  Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig-tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.  So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’  “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilise it.  If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

This same symbolism of judgment was soon to be seen in the Temple itself as Jesus, upon entering the Court of the Gentiles, and finding the corruption with which the people were being taken advantage, overturned the money-changers’ tables and loosed the potential sacrifices, driving them and their owners from the Temple (Mark 11:15-17). This cleansing was different from the one recorded earlier in John (#2:13-17) in that the first was executed upon the beginning of His ministry (and was in fact His very first public action) and it had as its purpose teaching with hope of repentance. Its focus was upon the practice itself and the fact that it deprived the Gentiles of a quite place to pray. The second was His last public act. It had as its focus the exploitive manner in which the selling was done and its purpose was judgment. He remained in the Temple that day, teaching and healing, and His enemies could do nothing for fear of the large crowds following Him.

Mark 11:15-17  On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves,  and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.  And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: “‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’.”

The next day, Tuesday, is the day of these verses in John, and is also the last day of Jesus’ public ministry. It is as full as it could be, with the recognition of the withered tree on the way to Jerusalem from Bethany, His last day in the Temple, the last day of His teaching the crowds, His last day of warning the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the last call to the nation for repentance. It is difficult to determine in exactly which order those recorded events came, but in addition to those recorded in John, were His teaching in the Temple, His authority challenged by the religious leaders of the nation (Mark 11:27-33), the parable of the tenants, whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar, marriage and the resurrection, the greatest commandment, and the signs of the end of the age, among other things. Jesus also observed the giving of the two coins by the poor widow as recorded in (Mark 12:41-44), which brings us up to date with our verse in John.

Mark 11:27-33  They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him.  “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?”  Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.  John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!”  They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven’, he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’  But if we say, ‘From men’….” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)  So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

Mark 12:41-44  Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.  But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.  Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

“Greeks” = Hellen = gentiles by nationality. These were not the Hellenists (a different word) who were Jews living in gentile lands and speaking gentile languages. Pliny says that these were either mere Gentiles, and yet devout and religious men, who were allowed to offer sacrifice, and to worship, in the court of the Gentiles; or they were proselytes, either of righteousness, and so were circumcised, and had a right to eat of the passover, as well as to worship at it; or of the gate, much as the Ethiopian eunuch who could not possibly have been a proselyte of righteousness (Acts 8:27), and so being uncircumcised, might not eat of the passover, yet might worship at it; which latter seems to be the case. Josephus speaks of many Greeks being attracted to Judaism. At any rate, they could not have gone past the Court of the Gentiles in their visit to the Temple.

Acts 8:27  So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship,

“Now” (NIV) = “And” (KJV) = can also mean “but” and is usually translated this way. If that is the meaning here, then the opposition of the Pharisees in the preceding verse is contrasted by John with the acceptance by the Greeks.

It is interesting to note that the beginning of Christ’s stay on earth is now being replicated in part by the coming of the representatives of the Gentile race to pay Him homage, not this time by the “wise men” (Matt 2:1-11) but by some Greeks. It is a circle of completion that God has brought about, much like the 2 acts of Jesus to drive the money-changers from the Temple were His first and last public actions.

Matthew 2:1-11  After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem  and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”  When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.  “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:  “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”  Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”  After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.0  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.