From Mark 11:12-25 / Cursing the Fig Tree – If Bishop Lightfoot is correct, this particular type of fig tree bears its leaves every season, but its fruit takes 3 years to ripen. It is easy to see then that Jesus’ pronouncement has more to do with the wicked generation which stripped this tree bare of its fruit. They could not and would not wait for it to serve its design, and robbed it bare. It is not a pronouncement against the tree, as much as it is against Israel’s leadership who in their greed and lust, took Israel’s glory to themselves, and left nothing for the Messiah. Perhaps it can be seen as a precursor to the Temple cleansing. After His cursing the Temple, within 40 years, no one will partake of its ritual “fruits” again. It has been cursed, and cast into the sea. We can never, no one can ever – even Jews – go back to the old way. It is cursed now. Once it has served its purpose, and the real has come of which the old system was but a type and shadow, going back is actually an abomination. Our friends caught up in Messianic Judaism need to take note. Back to Mark 7:9 – “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.”