12 As they left Bethany the next day, he was hungry. 13 Off in the distance he saw a fig tree in full leaf. He came up to it expecting to find something for breakfast, but found nothing but fig leaves. (It wasn't yet the season for figs.) 14 He addressed the tree: "No one is going to eat fruit from you again - ever!" And his disciples overheard him.
15 They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. 16 He didn't let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. 17 And then he taught them, quoting this text: My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations; You've turned it into a hangout for thieves. 18 The high priests and religion scholars heard what was going on and plotted how they might get rid of him. They panicked, for the entire crowd was carried away by his teaching.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Mark 11:12-18
Commentary on Mark 11:12-18
(Read Mark 11:12-18)
Christ looked to find some fruit, for the time of gathering figs, though it was near, was not yet come; but he found none. He made this fig-tree an example, not to the trees, but to the men of that generation. It was a figure of the doom upon the Jewish church, to which he came seeking fruit, but found none. Christ went to the temple, and began to reform the abuses in its courts, to show that when the Redeemer came to Zion, it was to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The scribes and the chief priests sought, not how they might make their peace with him, but how they might destroy him. A desperate attempt, which they could not but fear was fighting against God.