This is the only miracle of Jesus we know with no blessing but only a curse. At first sight the act of Jesus is alienating: why does he curse the tree? Just because there was nothing to eat for him? Jesus inspects the tree, just like he inspected the temple the day before. Mark tells us more about the fig tree in Mark 11:20–21, after the cleansing of the temple. The story of the fig tree is the frame of the cleansing—an indication that the message is the same.
14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.