Please note – this page only covers our audio recordings up to August 2020. For more recent services, please check our recent events listing or our Facebook page.
Faith and Fruitfulness (Mark 11:12-25)
Dave Sunman, 8 January 2017
Part of the The Week The World Changed series, Sunday Morning service
Following his entry into Jerusalem, we are given two strange stories of Jesus. We have him curse a tree for not having figs even though it was out of season and we have gentle Jesus, meek and mild, causing havoc in the Temple. These stories don’t fit our preconceptions of Jesus. What is going on? What does it have to say for us today? And what does it all have to do with sandwiches?
| Earlier: | Same day: | Later: |
|---|---|---|
| « The Triumphal Entry | Anointed for Burial | The authority of Jesus » |
Mark 11:12–25 (Listen)
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
(ESV)