January
31st Matthew
21
Christ enters Jerusalem
1:
And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage,
unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2: Saying
unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye
shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring
them unto me. 3: And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The
Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4: All
this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophet, saying, 5: Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King
cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal
of an ass. 6: And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded
them, 7: And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their
clothes, and they set him thereon. 8: And a very great multitude
spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the
trees, and strawed them in the way. 9: And the multitudes that went
before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of
David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in
the highest. 10: And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city
was moved, saying, Who is this? 11: And the multitude said, This is
Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
Christ
cleanses the temple
12:
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that
sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the
moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13: And said
unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of
prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 14: And the blind and
the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them. 15: And when
the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did,
and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son
of David; they were sore displeased, 16: And said unto him, Hearest
thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never
read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected
praise? 17: And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany;
and he lodged there.
Christ
and the fig tree
18:
Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19: And
when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing
thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee
henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. 20:
And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is
the fig tree withered away! 21: Jesus answered and said unto them,
Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not
only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea;
it shall be done. 22: And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in
prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
Christ’s
authority
23:
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the
elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By
what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this
authority? 24: And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask
you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by
what authority I do these things. 25: The baptism of John, whence was
it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves,
saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye
not then believe him? 26: But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the
people; for all hold John as a prophet. 27: And they answered Jesus,
and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you
by what authority I do these things.
The
two sons
28:
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the
first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. 29: He answered
and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30: And he
came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I
go, sir: and went not. 31: Whether of them twain did the will of his
father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I
say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom
of God before you. 32: For John came unto you in the way of
righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the
harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not
afterward, that ye might believe him.
The
vineyard
33:
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted
a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it,
and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far
country: 34: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his
servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35: And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed
another, and stoned another. 36: Again, he sent other servants more
than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37: But last of all
he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38:
But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This
is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his
inheritance. 39: And they caught him, and cast him out of the
vineyard, and slew him. 40: When the lord therefore of the vineyard
cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41: They say unto him,
He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his
vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in
their seasons. 42: Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the
scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become
the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is
marvellous in our eyes? 43: Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of
God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the
fruits thereof. 44: And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
45: And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables,
they perceived that he spake of them. 46: But when they sought to lay
hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a
prophet.
We
come to the eventful day of Christ glorious entrance into Jerusalem.
The disciples are sent to fetch an ass and a colt upon which Christ
sat to ride into Jerusalem. As Christ descended the Mount of Olives
and entered the Great city the people came together to welcome him.
Who gathered the people? And why did they hail him as the Messiah. No
doubt they were led and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Christ entered
into the Temple to inspect it. Finding the Temple effectively turned
into a market with all the associated debris, filth and corruption.
Christ heals the sick and answers the complaint of the religious
leaders that peopling are calling him the Christ. At the end of the
Day Christ spent the night at Bethany. On his return he sees a fig
tree but finds no figs. Christ curses the tree and it withers. The
tree is symbolic of Israel Christ came looking for fruit but finding
none. When Christ is teaching in the Temple the Jewish leaders demand
to know by what authority he teaches the people. Christ simply asks
what authority John the Baptist had. This throws them into
consternation. How can they answer? They give no answer and so Christ
also gives no answer. Christ gives the Parable of the two sons. One
was full of talk but no follow through, but the other initially
refused but went after he had thought about it. The question was,
‘Who did the Will of the Father’? In other words who did what was
right? Who was righteous? Answer - The one who obeyed. How unlike the
NT believers are they righteous because they do what is right? No,
they are righteous because they put their faith in the one who did
right. Again Christ gives another parable regarding Israel in which
he uses the image of the vineyard. How pathetic are the words, Last
of all he sent his Son, saying, ‘They will reverence my Son’.
Christ asks, ‘What will the owner of the vineyard do? They respond
by stating the judgment of God that will fall on them. (Which came in
AD 70) the passage is full of the most terrible warnings to Israel.
The religious leaders want to take Christ but they are afraid of the
People.
- What was the significance of Christs entry into Jerusalem in this way?
- What is the significance of cleasing the temple?
- What is the Parable of the vineyard about?
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