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Matthew 21 (ESV)

The Triumphal Entry

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

“Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise’?”
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

23 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

The Parable of the Tenants

33 “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. 34 When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. 35 And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ 39 And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

10 Comments

Heard it and it was good.

I like Bruce's comment on verse 22. Jesus used the amazement of the disciples to remind them of the power of prayer. I can only imagine what our church could do if we became a church of prayer. As our world grows darker, we will need to become a people ever more dependent on prayer.

Jesus always receives a variety of initial responses; excitement, curiosity, anger, astonishment, etc... In Chapter 21 of Matthew many of these responses are on display, but at the end of the day only one response will do. God is looking for those who will respond to His Son with true repentance and true faith. God is looking for those who will recognize His Son as the rightful King; the one prophesied about long ago in the Old Testament. Let's proclaim to the World that He has come and that He is coming again!

Wow! I think of myself when answering, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." Especially with the way things are going on in the world today. I may be quick to "hate" the issues going on, but reminding myself that I once was an enemy of God. Therefore, my main focus should be and needs to be on proclaiming His gospel at every given opportunity. Praying the Holy Spirit gives me that boldness...as I am reminded of Paul's words: “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:18-20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Tonight we have a Men's meeting to study the subject of prayer so v.22 stands out to me. This is a scary verse to conservative, Bible-believing Christians because it has been so abused by the prosperity gospel advocates. Others interpret this verse in light of their own experience thinking that they have prayed for many things they did not receive so this verse can't mean what it appears to be saying. The sad result is that we leave this verse alone and do nothing with it. The faith that is being spoken here is not faith in myself or faith in my faith but it is a faith that is fixed on the God of Scripture. We have big promises in Scripture from a big God and the kind of faith Jesus is talking about is a faith that has an undoubting confidence in God and asks Him to do what He says He will in Scripture. This is a great reminder to us not to minimize God in our prayers and to not pray just in generalities.

These sections of scripture where Jesus is chastising the Pharisees and the Jewish people can seem like they don't apply to us, until we examine our own hearts. When we do, we see that we are just as guilty of turning God's temple into a place of "den of robbers", not producing fruit like we should, questioning the authority of God (maybe not out loud, but with the way that fail to trust Him with all things), and saying the right "Christian" thing but not doing it.

The fallen world is watching and if we are going to glorify God and be instruments in growing his Kingdom, we must repent of these heart attitudes and live like Christians every day.

21:9 “And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"”
Thinking about our confused generation and in particular the youth winter camp approaching. Praying that many would cry out "Hosanna" (save us) and that God would transform their hearts and minds and they would become new creations in Jesus Christ!
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Often it is too easy to say yes and then not follow through. This parable is most revealing of a heart that needs to be fully committed. We are enjoying reading together each morning as a family.

I find it interesting that Jesus doesn't include an example of a third person, the one who says, "yes, Lord" and follows through immediately. It is encouraging that the Lord sees our hearts and when we answer like the first son and say "No, Lord, it is too hard. I can't go there or love that person or forgive or...", but then we wrestle, fight, and pray and eventually obey, He considers us to be doing His will. When we glibly answer, "Oh, yes Lord" and proceed merrily along doing our own thing, we are sinning. What a caution to serve God wholly and not just with mere lip service!

The parable of the two sons is convicting, because when I too, who claim to believe, but know that I have not acted according to His will (in any certain circumstance)I'm prooving my disbelief... I'm acting just like the Pharisees. Lord help my disbelief!

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