Palm Sunday with Figs

Lectionary Text:  Mark 11:1-11 (and vv 12-14)

After reading the Scripture several times, I kept coming back to these images:

• Jesus' triumphant entry ( branches/clothing tossed down, crowd shouting hosanna!)
• The cursed fig tree in the verse after the entry (tree had leaves but no fruit)
  ...which is particularly interesting when paired with the Spring fig tree referenced in Mark 13

Reflection from the painted exegesis….
I was caught off-guard while painting the palm branches, because I had to paint the END of the branch.

(I was already thinking about the shape of the fig tree and realized, hey, these branches have no roots!)
no roots.…
no fruit...
 

And the act of painting fruit; starting with bright greens and slowly adding the figgy-purple (you can't really see the color transitions from this picture) kept bringing fullness-of-life thoughts to mind.

(thus the shout-out to the Holy Spirit and the Nicene creed)

Because of course the Holy Spirit is at work in Holy Week. And working in shriveled branches to bring us to the fullness of life. That's the hope of Easter, right? And the tension of Holy Week?

As a side note, I did a lot of googling for figs and really loved this fig farm on tumblr