Friday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Mark 11:11-26

“May no one ever eat of your fruit again!”

Saint Mark the Evangelist, in composing the Gospel passage that we hear today, uses a literary technique.  It demonstrates the meaning of faith.  St. Mark takes two very different scenes and combines them.  These two scenes—Jesus cursing the fig tree, and Jesus confronting those who profane the Temple—end up illuminating each other.

The Good News of Jesus stands in contrast to the messages of self-fulfillment that the world tries to preach.  The withered fig tree is an image of those who have no faith, such as those who profane the Temple.  That kind of withering is the ultimate fate of those who live by the standards of the world.

You and I, however, are called to make an act of faith in Christ Jesus.  Today’s Gospel passage calls us to do this in a specific way.  The first step is explained by Our Lord Jesus in the last sentence of today’s gospel passage:  “When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your faults.”  Jesus’ words here echo what you and I pray each time we say the Our Father:  “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”