The first part of this week’s focal text is a strange “miracle story” in that Jesus seems to blame a fig tree for not having fruit out of season (Mark 11:13-14). Some students of the Bible see these verses as an enactment of a point Jesus often made: There is no value to a life that does not bear fruit for others.
Later, Jesus and the disciples pass by where the fig tree had been and now it is withered and left with dead roots (Mark 11:21). Jesus was right! There is no value to a life that does not bear fruit; it might as well be dead.
Then, our Lord moves to talk about the power of faithful prayer (Mark 11:24). He uses hyperbole to express that there are no limits to the power of prayer. But, prayer is not a matter of trying to get God to change God’s mind; prayer is our effort to learn what is the mind of God. As Jesus prayed in the Garden, “Not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42).
One of the biggest mountains any of us has is the mountain of our sin. No wonder we want to throw it into the sea (Mark 11:23)! Jesus says the way to get rid of that mountain is to forgive those who have wronged us (Mark 11:25). This verse echoes the way Jesus taught us to pray (Matthew 6:12).
There is a danger that we might look at these verses (Mark 11:20-25) and decide that prayer is like filling out an order blank for God to fulfill. In this sense, God becomes a kind of Amazon delivery system. No! That is not what our Lord is describing. Jesus begins His point by saying that effective prayer begins with faith in God (verse 22). If my faith is in a false God or my faith is in a value that is not God’s or my faith is centered in my will, it is not a faith that leads to God’s “yes.”
We are called to pray to the God revealed in Jesus Christ. So be it.
