Asking in Prayer

Scripture:

Mark 11:20   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.”

Observation:

A new day and Jesus is again heading into Jerusalem. He and his disciples pass by the fig tree again, and now it has changed entirely, withering all the way down to its roots. The tree will never again bear fruit for it is rotten to the core. This represents Jewish religious leaders who should have been faithfully doing their job in the Temple. 

The Temple was to be a House of Prayer for the Nations, but Jesus had declared it a den of thieves. Now, he expands the area where prayer can occur, which is anywhere within the kingdom of God. The spiritual realm will no longer be bound by the confines of the Temple, but available to all who have faith in God. 

Next, Jesus uses language that was often used by the rabbis, with ‘moving mountains’ to describe overcoming seemingly impossible difficulties. This is not to be taken in the literal sense, and nor is it to be seen as magic. Instead, the disciples are to see that their community of faith is the ‘House of Prayer’ and through prayer, they will be able to overcome, what may seem to be insurmountable obstacles. 

The locus of all prayer and activity is within the Jesus-infused community of faith. The prayers come as a result of deep fellowship with God who directs the life and activity of the disciples toward the mountains. 

Verse 25 should not be lost on us, for intimacy in prayer comes only from a repentant heart, one that is willing to forgive the brother or sister who has sinned against the individual. The result is that this understanding of faith and prayer fit right into the Lord’s Prayer. 

Application:

I have to be honest that this is one of the passages I’ve struggled with from time to time. In other gospels it talks about faith the size of a mustard seed that will be able to make mountains move. In some ways, the passage has taken on “magical” qualities, where we measure the faith of the individual with types of “miracle” activities that can be associated with them. It leaves us wondering why we can’t just pray and have God respond to our bidding or command. 

But that’s what’s at the very heart of the problem, it’s thinking that our faith somehow controls the acts of God. When we take the passage out of context we fail to see what God is really saying about bringing our requests before him in prayer. This passage is about an entire picture and understanding of prayer. It’s about the loss of the place of prayer by the religious officials. The House of Prayer was being moved from a building to the people of God. Here, the disciples were to learn about prayer within the context of Jesus’ presence in the kingdom of God. It’s participation in the life of Christ that builds our faith, and that allows us to face the mountains of opposition which will naturally arise as we follow Jesus. 

The very act of moving the center of worship from Jerusalem to God’s people meant that the disciples would face persecution. Jesus was going to face his own death and yet, in doing so, he would be able to move a mountain. Jesus was teaching us, and the disciples, how we are to abide in prayer. Interestingly, Jesus knew that he was going to be put to death by the religious leaders and yet, here, he’s talking about forgiveness. Was Jesus already forgiving those who would kill him, and did he know that in his death that he would be throwing a mountain into the sea? I think that he did and he knew this because he spent time in prayer with the Father. Jesus is teaching all of us that this is how we ask in prayer. 

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your patience with me. Sometimes it seems as if it takes years for me to catch a glimpse of the depth of your teaching. Please, help me to seek to participate with you in your mission and to face the mountains with faith. Amen.