Jesus Murders A Tree

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

This edict identifies Jesus of Nazareth as a heretic and a blasphemer.

SPEAKER_2 (0:05)

This season, on The Chosen.

SPEAKER_1 (0:07)

There are those for whom this was set off a series of events.

SPEAKER_3 (0:10)

My followers won't understand.

SPEAKER_4 (0:12)

Lazarus, come out! I guess you're not holding back anymore.

SPEAKER_1 (0:19)

I can't.

Dan McClellan (0:20)

I'm out of time.

SPEAKER_2 (0:21)

See season four of The Chosen in theaters on February 1st, starting with episodes one, two and three. Get your tickets now at thechosenriseup.com.

Dan McClellan (0:31)

Out of methodological necessity, Critical Scholarship cannot accept real prophecy, at least in my opinion. Which means that, no, if the text says, there's this dude named Cyrus, that text was written after that dude named Cyrus was on the scene.

Hey, everybody, I'm Dan McClellan.

Dan Beecher (0:51)

And I'm Dan Beecher.

Dan McClellan (0:53)

And you are listening to the Data Over Dogma podcast, where we increase public access to the academic study of the Bible and religion and combat the spread of that pernicious misinformation about the same. How go things, Dan?

Dan Beecher (1:08)

Things go well. We're gonna kill some foliage today. We're gonna murder a tree, among other things.

So that's exciting. That's always fun.

And I have high hopes that you'll help me to understand what the heck's going on with that story. So that's where we're gonna start out. We're gonna start out with a chapter and verse on that. And then you're gonna tell us, you're gonna help us out with a what does that mean? Because I have heard you use the phrase deutero Isaiah before, and I have no idea what we're talking about. So that'll be fun to get that all covered.

Dan McClellan (1:50)

Yeah, that'll be a lot of fun. It's something that has been controversial for a long time, so we'll clear the air a little bit and explain what's going on with that.

Dan Beecher (1:59)

Excellent, excellent. Well, let's start with chapter and verse.

And we're picking up, I guess, in Mark 11 Is that where we want to pick up?

Dan McClellan (2:12)

Yeah, Mark's the earliest gospel, so scholars are in widespread agreement that this is the earliest iteration of this story. Now, it's likely that there is some tradition that preexisted the gospel of Mark. There might even be some sayings in an earlier sayings gospel that Mark might have used as a source, but the first access we have to this story is in Mark 11

Dan Beecher (2:38)

I gotta say, I feel like whatever the precursor things that Mark was drawing on, they must have made more sense than this, because I am wildly confused by this story. Should we just dive in? Okay, so here's what happens.

Jesus has just made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and there's a whole thing about him writing in on a colt and people throwing down leaves in front of him and all this sort of stuff. And then, the next day, Jesus is out for a walk and sees a fig tree in the distance. It's got leaves on it. He meanders over there. It is not the season for figs. This fig tree is not fruiting currently.

And Jesus talks to it, which I think is weird, and says, May no one ever eat fruit from you again. And then they take off, which I feel like vindictiveness against a tree is odd.

Okay, so that's part one. Then there's this whole thing where Jesus, and we remember that Jesus cleanses the temple, right? So there's several verses where Jesus goes in and turns over the table of the money changers and scolds the people who are buying and selling things.

Makes some people very angry, and they want to kill him, and then that's that little thing. And then we're back to the tree. So picking up in verse 20, the next morning the disciples go back to the tree, and it has withered away to its roots. And Peter said to him, hey, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered. And Jesus says, have faith in God. Now, okay, he says, have faith in God. I'll just read it. Truly I tell you that if you say to this mountain, be taken up and thrown into the sea, and you do not doubt in your heart, but you believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Now, I can see saying, you know, if they're amazed by what he did to the fig tree, yes, I can see how it follows to say, you know, you can move mountains.