The Word Made Fresh
1As they approached Jerusalem they came to Bethphage at the Mt. of Olives. Jesus sent two of his disciples to the village ahead of them. 2“Go there,” he said, “and you will immediately see a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone questions you, just say, ‘The Lord needs them, and he’ll send them back immediately.’”
4This happened in order to fulfill what the prophet had said:
5“Say to the daughter of Zion,
look, your king comes to you,
humble, and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
6They did as Jesus told them. 7They brought the donkey and its colt and laid their coats over them, and Jesus sat on them. 8A great crowd of people spread their coats on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and laid them on the road as well. 9Some of the crowd went ahead of him, and others followed, shouting,
“Hurrah for David’s son!
The one who comes in the LORD’s name is blessed!
Hurrah in heaven on high!”
10As he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred. “Who is this?” they asked. 11The crowd with him were telling everyone, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
12Jesus came to the temple and went inside. He drove out the people who were buying and selling, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. 13He told them, “It is written, ‘My house will be a house of prayer.’ But you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
14Those who were blind and those who were lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15But when the head priests and the record keepers saw what incredible things he was doing, and heard the children shouting in the temple, “Hurrah to the Son of David!” they were angry. 16They told Jesus, “Do you hear what they’re saying?”
Jesus answered, “Haven’t you read what the Psalm says: ‘Even little children and nursing babies will sing your praise’?”
17Then he left them and went to Bethany and spent the night there.
18The next morning when he was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19He saw a fig tree on the roadside and went to it, but it had nothing but leaves. He said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And the tree withered!
20When the disciples saw it, they were shocked. They asked him, “How did that tree wither all at once?”
21Jesus said, “I’ll tell you the truth; if you have faith and absolutely no doubts, you will be able to do what has been done to that fig tree. And not only that, even if you tell this mountain to be hoisted up and tossed into the sea it will happen. 22Anything you pray for in faith you will receive.”
23He entered the temple, and while he was teaching, the head priests and elders from the city came to him and asked, “What authority do you have to do this, and who gave you that authority?”
24Jesus said, “I’ll ask you a question, and if you can answer it, I’ll tell you by what authority I do this. 25Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or from men?”
They argued among themselves, “If we say, ‘from heaven,’ he’ll ask why we don’t believe him. 26But if we say, ‘from men,’ the crowds will be against us because they all think John was a prophet.” 27So they answered, “We don’t know.”
Jesus replied, “Then neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing this.
28“What do you think? A man had two sons. He told the first, ‘Go work in the vineyard today.’ 29He said, ‘No, I won’t.’ But later he changed his mind and went. 30Then the man told his second son to go work in the vineyard, and he said, ‘I’m on my way!’ But he didn’t go. 31Which son did his father’s will?”
They replied, “The first.”
Then Jesus told them, “The truth is that the tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32John came to you in righteousness and you didn’t believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after you saw it for yourselves you didn’t change your mind and believe him.
33“Here’s another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put up a fence around it, dug a wine press for it and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and left to go to another country. 34When it was time for the harvest, he sent servants to the tenants to collect his produce, 35but the tenants seized them. They beat one and killed another and stoned another. 36He sent more servants, but they were treated in the same way. 37He finally sent his son to them. He thought they would respect his son. 38But when they saw his son they said, ‘He is the heir. Let’s kill him and his inheritance will belong to us.’ 39So they grabbed him and drug him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40When the vineyard owner comes, what do you think he’ll do to those tenants?”
41They said, “He will put those wretched tenants to a painful death, and then lease the vineyard to others who will give him the harvest.”
42Jesus replied, “Have you never read in the scriptures, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the keystone; this was what the LORD has done, and it’s amazing!’ 43So, I’m telling you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to those who produce the fruits of God’s kingdom. 44Whoever falls on this stone will be broken, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
45When the head priests and the Pharisees heard these parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They wanted to arrest him, but were afraid of the crowds because they believed he was a prophet.
Commentary
1-11: Jesus has arranged for a donkey to be brought to him to ride into the city. Again, Matthew finds a prophetic precedent, this time in Zechariah (9:9). We can assume also that his welcome into the city is arranged ahead of time as well. The crowds’ acclamation of Jesus as “the prophet from Nazareth” is the first time Jesus himself is called a prophet.
12-13: The incident of the “cleansing of the temple” is attested by all the gospels (Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45, and John 2:16). Matthew has Jesus quoting the prophets, this time Jeremiah 7:11.
14-17: Once again the children play an important role in Jesus’ teachings. The chief priests and scribes take up the accusing questioning style used by the Pharisees earlier in the gospel. From their point of view Jesus is responsible for the unlawful behavior of all his followers and fans. Jesus again quotes scripture, this time a loose application of Psalm 8:2.
18-22: The incident of Jesus cursing the fig tree is a bit troubling (though not as troubling as the version of the story at Mark 11:12-14) because it appears that Jesus is taking out his frustration on an innocent tree. Commentators through the centuries, though, have derived many lessons from it; “always be fruitful” and the like. I see two things of note: First, Jesus is more and more impatient as he goes inexorably toward the cross — witness his reaction to the disciples’ inability to cure the epileptic boy when he returned from the Mount of Transfiguration (17:17), and his physical removal of the moneychangers from the temple (21:12). Second, the withered fig tree is a demonstration of the power of faith, though no one but Jesus has ever exhibited enough faith to wither a fig tree on the spot.
23-27: This is the first time Jesus’ opposition has been identified specifically as the chief priests and elders (note that at the end of the chapter it’s ‘chief priests and Pharisees’), although he had told the disciples earlier that the elders and chief priests and scribes would be responsible for his death (16:21). This is significant because the elders represent another layer of Jewish officialdom. He is really beginning to play with fire now.
28-32: The parable of the two sons is directed at those same chief priests and elders. Notice that he is now baiting them with leading questions in much the same way as they had attempted to bait him earlier. The bottom line of this parable is that prostitutes and tax collectors are a better class of people than chief priests and elders. You can bet they aren’t going to take this lying down.
33-44: Nevertheless, Jesus presses them further. The parable of the wicked tenants is a pointed accusation of the chief priests and elders, and again we see Jesus leading them into his lair. He asks them what should be done to the wicked tenants, and they reply with their typical legalistic fervor, and he turns the tables on them by identifying them with the wicked tenants! Psalm 118:22 is the source for the quote in verse 42.
45-46: Jesus’ opponents are becoming more organized.
Takeaway
Jesus was prepared to do what must be done. Are we?