Jesus heads back to the temple. En route, he sees a fig tree and goes up to it because he is hungry. The tree is devoid of figs because it is not the season for figs. Despite this, Jesus curses the fig tree, saying that no one should eat from it.
Jesus goes up to the temple and clears the temple of the money changers. The account is similar to the one in John, which may have been much earlier during Jesus' ministry. This time around Jesus calls them "thieves".
This is famous anecdote, but it raises the question why did Jesus not do this the day before? This made Jesus very angry so did Jesus not do it the day before as well? Jesus did go to the temple, but it stated that by the time he arrived, it was already late, so perhaps the money changers had already left.
The rulers are angered by Jesus' action, however the crowd is amazed by Jesus' teaching.
Jesus returns to the fig tree and it is now withered and dead. I think the fig tree incident was symbolic about the temple mount overall. Jesus had referred to a fig tree in one of his parables which seemed to symbolize religious fruit. Here, the fig tree straddles a discussion of going to the temple, which is devoid of good fruit.
Jesus also uses the occasion to discuss using prayer and faith to throw "this mountain" into the sea. This likely refers to the temple mount. Again, Jesus is ready to replace the temple with his own sacrifice.
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