Jesus' goal for temple and tree: A thematic revisit of Matt 21:12-22

MARK MOULTON*

Perhaps the most puzzling public action of Jesus was his curse of the fig tree. The accounts of it in Matthew 21 and Mark 11 have generated a diversity of interpretations. In the past few decades many scholars have sought to exegete these passages with an eye to understanding how the witheredtree account bears on what happened in the temple since these two dramatic actions are found side by side in both gospels. Some scholars interpret the tree story as an incident that actually happened and that is recounted in proximity to the temple event because the two occurred within a few days of each other. But even among scholars who deny an historical withering are many who approach the two dramatic actions of Jesus as mutually illuminating stories. Thus Paul Minear asserts that bringing the two episodes together helps Matthew's church deal courageously with hostility from Jewish religious authorities, since it assures them that the Master had already overcome such opponents.2

Therefore a good many scholars believe that the temple and tree episodes were set together in Matthew (and in Mark) because each was felt to shed interpretative light on the other. This is a worthy exegetical first move.3 Indeed, throughout the present study we will assume that this approach is valid.

Most commentators who consider the temple and fig-tree accounts to be complementary, however, insist on that correspondence only to a point. The great majority do not view Matt 21:18-22 as a coherent unit relating back to 21:12-17. They understand only vv. 18-19 to refer to the preceding section. Frequently these scholars explain that the transition from Jesus' miracle to his teaching on prayer-in the form of the disciples' question-reads awkwardly because it is artificial, since the miracle story and the teaching actually were brought together at a later date.4 Others argue that the evangelist dutifully preserves the event (along with the prayer instruction) in imitation of Mark, perhaps because he wants to give themes like faith (Matt 8:5-13; 14:22-32; 16:5-12) and believing prayer (6:5-13, 16-18; 7:1-12; 17:14-21) as much emphasis as possible.5

It seems, then, that the possibility that 21:18-22 as a whole brings forward the flow of thought that begins with v. 12 deserves further consideration. In order to explore such possibilities we will need to examine the theological motifs in 21:12-17 that may be preparing us as readers to appreciate what is said in the section that follows (vv. 18-22).

As a first step we will show that the eschatological-new-people theme, while relevant to what Matthew does later in chap. 21, fails to provide a reasonable thematic unity that also explains why we find the temple and tree incidents in juxtaposition. An alternative controlling theme will be proposed: the worship and prayer expected from God's people. This proposal will be the working hypothesis tested for its fit throughout the remainder of the present study. Second, we will make three observations about Jesus' quest (both in the temple and beside the road) for fruitfulness to God among his chosen people: (1) True fruitfulness is epitomized in proper worship and prayer, (2) recognition of Jesus' authority becomes crucial evidence of a person's ability to bear fruit in the new day that his public appearance (and private curse) shows is even now breaking through, and (3) Jesus remained alert not only to negative responses (especially of the religious rulers) but to positive ones that intimated that there were some who through Jesus would become renewed to fruitbearing. Third, we will summarize what has been said about the thematic unity of Matt 21:12-22 and then attempt to answer our primary question: Would Matthew's early audience have felt that the disciples' question in v. 20 diverted Jesus from the agenda that had preoccupied him in the temple into a quite unrelated train of thought (vv. 21-22)?

I. A NEW PEOPLE: THE LEADING THEME?

Our first candidate for a unifying theme is that of a new or renewed people of God who begin to be formed with the arrival of the new age in Jesus' (messianic) ministry and who require capable leadership.7 The question here is whether in 21:12-22 the redactor is presenting Jesus as scrutinizing the spiritual leadership of Israel in order to apply Jesus' teaching to the situation of the later ecclesiastical counterpart of that leadership.

If in 21:12-22 Jesus finds the leaders of Israel's religious practice to be blind and lame themselves (v. 14; cf. v. 16), and if only the Twelve are privy to the fig-tree miracle, perhaps Jesus is envisioning these select disciples as the future leaders of God's people. In that case Jesus would be preparing these men for carrying out their task (21:21-22). The "mountainous" obstacles or opposition they are destined to face as leaders would call for active and secure "faith in God" (Mark 11:22). On the other hand, perhaps the imminent outmoding of the temple cultus constitutes a call to more bold and profound prayer.9