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Podcast Introduction Today our reading is  Mark 11-12.  I’m calling the episode “The Fig Tree." Comments on Mark 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem a day earlier to the cries of "Hosanna!" This was his last week on Earth. Near the end of the day, he went to Bethany with his disciples (the twelve). During his return trip from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry and saw a fig tree in the distance with leaves on it. Because fig trees usually have fruit before the leaves appear, Jesus expected there to be fruit on the tree. But when he approached the tree and saw none, he cursed it. It is interesting that fig trees often bear two or three crops of figs in a growing season, and depending on climate and growing conditions, fig trees can bear fruit ten months out of the year. So it was certainly reasonable to expect fruit on a tree that had leaves on it. Symbolically, fig trees are often used in Scripture to represent Israel. Note that after Jesus cursed the tree, he went directly to the Temple, where he t