Commentary on the Gospel of
These are the last days of Jesus on earth. Jesus feels hungry, as when he was in the desert and the Devil tempted him. He is a fully human being, with hs needs, fatigue and fragility. He approached the fig tree, symbol of the Temple, looking for fruits but only found leaf litter. The prophetic gesture of expelling the merchants shows that the time to bear fruit for the Temple has passed. Because of hardness of heart, because he was locked in a foreign and empty religion he let the time of God's visit pass. The people have become sterile and will no longer have new opportunities because the Kingdom is being universally offered to all the peoples of the world to bear fruits of justice, of brotherhood, of freedom. This applies to any person or institution that remains in empty rites, willful fires that do not produce true fruits. If the mountain can be thrown into the sea by firm faith and without hesitation, any unjust structure can be uprooted if we have firm confidence in the efficacy of the Kingdom of God to transform society.
