Jesus enters Jerusalem riding a donkey amidst the praises of the people, but things quickly change as Jesus challenges current religious practices. He angrily removes people from the Temple who are taking financial advantage of those who are coming to worship God. Jesus recognizes that most Jews have decided to reject him, so he begins to illustrate the fact that God will reject the Jews for their unbelief. The fig tree had leaves on it, but should have also had fruit on it. The Jews were like the tree: they appeared to be healthy, but on closer inspection they were not. The story of the servants who kill the master’s son predicts that Jesus will be killed by those who should have served him. Jesus is making it clear that those who have rejected him will be rejected. The Jewish rejection of Jesus is demonstrated by the Jewish leaders’ challenge of Jesus. They ask from where his authority is coming. Jesus’ authority had been affirmed by John the Baptist, and the leaders wanted to appear to be in support of John, but they had actually rejected his message. These people wanted the appearance of being loyal followers of God but were rejecting him.
The seriousness of rejecting Jesus cannot be overestimated. Like the Jews at that time, if we reject him, we cannot bear fruit by accomplishing things for him and cannot enjoy the joy of being with him for eternity.