It is one of the more puzzling acts in the Gospels: Jesus cursed a fig tree because it had no fruit, even though Mark notes 'the time of figs was not yet.' Once you see Mark's literary structure — the tree wraps around the Temple cleansing — the meaning comes into focus.
Jesus' cleansing of the Temple appears in all four Gospels. The scene is often pictured as a flash of anger, but the underlying issue was deeper: a system that had crowded prayer out of the only court where Gentiles could pray. A careful look at what He did and what He quoted.