Daily Devotional • August 18
A Reading from Mark 11:12-26
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.
15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves, 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, “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 when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him, for they were afraid of him because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
Meditation
Cursing a fig tree and cleaning the temple—it looks like Jesus has lost his mind. What happened to the Jesus, meek and mild, that we sang about at Christmas? Has he changed? In Rebekah Eklund’s book The Beatitudes Through the Ages, she explains that the meaning of meekness has changed. We tend to think of a meek person as someone passive or timid, not standing up for herself. This meaning only emerged in the eighteenth century.
Jesus, cursing the fig tree and cleansing the temple, is still a meek Savior.
“A meek person, ‘is angry at the right things and with the right people, and further, as he ought, when he ought, and as long as he ought.’ Meek or gentle-tempered people are the opposite of hot-tempered, quick-tempered, and sulky people (in other words, people who get angry too often, too much, and for too long); they are also the opposite of people who are thought ‘not to feel things nor to be pained by them’” (Eklund, 129).
With this in mind, yes, Jesus is meek. May you and I also be meek! What do we need to become angry at with the right amount and correct restraint? What about while you drive in traffic or with your family? Does meekness still apply? Let’s not forget the last verse for today —25 “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” Let’s try mixing meekness with forgiveness. It is only possible with God’s help.
The Rev. Sara Oxley is the rector of The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Maitland, Florida.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Morristown, New Jersey
The Diocese of Southern Nyanza – The Anglican Church of Kenya
