...from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest
everyone deals falsely.
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace’,
when there is no peace.
They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
yet they were not at all ashamed,
they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
at the time when I punish them, they shall be overthrown, says the Lord.
When I wanted to gather them, says the Lord,
there are no grapes on the vine,
nor figs on the fig tree;
even the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.
In Jeremiah 8 God is speaking to the "wise" of Israel. The wise, however, are not very wise. There are four things that God explicitly tells them about their sin:
1. They are greedy for unjust gain.
2. They deal falsely.
3. They treat the wounds of the people carelessly, saying "Peace, peace when there is no peace."
4. They are unashamed of their abomination.
Although this list may seem to be combining unrelated acts, I don't think it does. I believe that all of these actions relate to the first, the greed for unjust gain.
The "wise" in Israel are the ones who are profiting from economic injustice. (I know that I am not providing evidence for this claim. To do so would require more space and time that I have now. A reading of the Old Testament prophets, I think, substantiates my claim as well as historical scholarship). They are greedy for unjust gain, gain that they get through "dealing falsely." They make matters worse when they tell the ones who are being robbed, "It's ok. Everything is good," when, in fact, nothing is good about the injustice that is being committed or the situation that the poor, who are victims of others' greed, find themselves in. To make matters worse, the ones who are committing these economic crimes are completely unashamed of their "abomination." They worship the god of mammon without a blush.
The religious system had become corrupted by its power to profit. Its victims were the poor. When God comes looking for the fruit of righteousness, the evidence that the leaders of his people were taking care of the flock with care and concern, he finds instead this horrible state of affairs. There is no fruit, only the madness and unrelenting cruelty of the idolatry of mammon.
When Jesus comes to "the wise" of Israel, he finds exactly the same thing. The temple has become a den of thieves. The high priests have formed an unholy alliance with the powers that be, and the Jewish people are languishing in the land. The leaders who should be looking with care and concern for even the least of these, instead, are building their own barns, feasting on what they have not sown and gathering what they have not reaped.
Jesus' action with the fig tree is a prophetic device, an object lesson, a parable for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. Judgment has come. He has looked for the fruit, and it is not there. Jesus is doing the work of God, looking for evidence that the leaders he has left in charge are caring for the Master's possessions and not for their own pleasure. But there is no fruit. The fig tree withers and dies as will the religious power structure of the temple. The leaders are not doing what they have been called to do. Soon, they will find their place destroyed and their destruction will be complete. 70 A.D. is coming, and the already withered temple powers will be uprooted and burned without mercy.
What is Christ finding now when he looks to us for his fruit? Is our wealth as a nation based on an economic exploitation of the poor? Do we dress in fine clothes and live in luxurious housing by the sweat of others' labor? Are we looking to how we can enrich the lives of others or are we relentlessly driven to make money from money while the poor starve for lack of bread to eat and clean water to drink?
It appears to me that Jesus does not give a fig for our excuses.
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