Matthew 21
21
The Royal Welcome
1-3When they neared Jerusalem, having arrived at Bethphage on Mount Olives, Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you.”
4-5This is the full story of what was sketched earlier by the prophet:
Tell Zion’s daughter,
“Look, your king’s on his way,
poised and ready, mounted
On a donkey, on a colt,
foal of a pack animal.”
6-9The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!” “Hosanna in highest heaven!”
10As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?”
11The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”
He Kicked Over the Tables
12-14Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer;
You have made it a hangout for thieves.
Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.
15-16When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”
Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?”
17Fed up, Jesus spun around and left the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.
The Withered Fig Tree
18-20Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree alongside the road, he approached it anticipating a breakfast of figs. When he got to the tree, there was nothing but fig leaves. He said, “No more figs from this tree—ever!” The fig tree withered on the spot, a dry stick. The disciples saw it happen. They rubbed their eyes, saying, “Did we really see this? A leafy tree one minute, a dry stick the next?”
21-22But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”
True Authority
23Then he was back in the Temple, teaching. The high priests and leaders of the people came up and demanded, “Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to teach here?”
24-25a Jesus responded, “First let me ask you a question. You answer my question and I’ll answer yours. About the baptism of John—who authorized it: heaven or humans?”
25b-27 They were on the spot and knew it. They pulled back into a huddle and whispered, “If we say ‘heaven,’ he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe him; if we say ‘humans,’ we’re up against it with the people because they all hold John up as a prophet.” They decided to concede that round to Jesus. “We don’t know,” they answered.
Jesus said, “Then neither will I answer your question.
The Story of Two Sons
28“Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’
29“The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went.
30“The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went.
31-32“Which of the two sons did what the father asked?”
They said, “The first.”
Jesus said, “Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are going to precede you into God’s kingdom. John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.
The Story of the Greedy Farmhands
33-34“Here’s another story. Listen closely. There was once a man, a wealthy farmer, who planted a vineyard. He fenced it, dug a winepress, put up a watchtower, then turned it over to the farmhands and went off on a trip. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servants back to collect his profits.
35-37“The farmhands grabbed the first servant and beat him up. The next one they murdered. They threw stones at the third but he got away. The owner tried again, sending more servants. They got the same treatment. The owner was at the end of his rope. He decided to send his son. ‘Surely,’ he thought, ‘they will respect my son.’
38-39“But when the farmhands saw the son arrive, they rubbed their hands in greed. ‘This is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all for ourselves.’ They grabbed him, threw him out, and killed him.
40“Now, when the owner of the vineyard arrives home from his trip, what do you think he will do to the farmhands?”
41“He’ll kill them—a rotten bunch, and good riddance,” they answered. “Then he’ll assign the vineyard to farmhands who will hand over the profits when it’s time.”
42-44Jesus said, “Right—and you can read it for yourselves in your Bibles:
The stone the masons threw out
is now the cornerstone.
This is God’s work;
we rub our eyes, we can hardly believe it!
“This is the way it is with you. God’s kingdom will be taken back from you and handed over to a people who will live out a kingdom life. Whoever stumbles on this Stone gets shattered; whoever the Stone falls on gets smashed.”
45-46When the religious leaders heard this story, they knew it was aimed at them. They wanted to arrest Jesus and put him in jail, but, intimidated by public opinion, they held back. Most people held him to be a prophet of God.
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Matthew 21: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Matthew 21
21
1And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, Go into the village over against you, and immediately ye will find an ass tied, and a colt with it; loose them and lead them to me. 3And if any one say anything to you, ye shall say, The Lord has need of them, and straightway he will send them. 4But all this came to pass, that that might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, 5Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy King cometh to thee, meek, and mounted upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 6But the disciples, having gone and done as Jesus had ordered them, 7brought the ass and the colt and put their garments upon them, and he sat on them. 8But a very great crowd strewed their own garments on the way, and others kept cutting down branches from the trees and strewing them on the way. 9And the crowds who went before him and who followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest. 10And as he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11And the crowds said, This is Jesus the prophet who is from Nazareth of Galilee.
12And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those that sold the doves. 13And he says to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of robbers. 14And blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15And when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders which he wrought, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they were indignant, 16and said to him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus says to them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? 17And leaving them he went forth out of the city to Bethany, and there he passed the night.
18But early in the morning, as he came back into the city, he hungered. 19And seeing one fig-tree in the way, he came to it and found on it nothing but leaves only. And he says to it, Let there be never more fruit of thee for ever. And the fig-tree was immediately dried up. 20And when the disciples saw it, they wondered, saying, How immediately is the fig-tree dried up! 21And Jesus answering said to them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and do not doubt, not only shall ye do what is done to the fig-tree, but even if ye should say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and be thou cast into the sea, it shall come to pass. 22And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
23And when he came into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, saying, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? 24And Jesus answering said to them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25The baptism of John, whence was it? of heaven or of men? And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we should say, Of heaven, he will say to us, Why then have ye not believed him? 26but if we should say, Of men, we fear the crowd, for all hold John for a prophet. 27And answering Jesus they said, We do not know. He also said to them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.
28But what think ye? A man had two children, and coming to the first he said, Child, go to-day, work in my vineyard. 29And he answering said, I will not; but afterwards repenting himself he went. 30And coming to the second he said likewise; and he answering said, I go, sir, and went not. 31Which of the two did the will of the father? They say to him, The first. Jesus says to them, Verily I say unto you that the tax-gatherers and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the tax-gatherers and the harlots believed him; but ye when ye saw it repented not yourselves afterwards to believe him.
33Hear another parable: There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and made a fence round it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and left the country. 34But when the time of fruit drew near, he sent his bondmen to the husbandmen to receive his fruits. 35And the husbandmen took his bondmen, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other bondmen more than the first, and they did to them in like manner. 37And at last he sent to them his son, saying, They will have respect for my son. 38But the husbandmen, seeing the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and possess his inheritance. 39And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what shall he do to those husbandmen? 41They say to him, He will miserably destroy those evil men, and let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42Jesus says to them, Have ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which they that builded rejected, this has become the corner-stone: this is of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes? 43Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. 44And he that falls on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. 45And the chief priests and the Pharisees, having heard his parables, knew that he spoke about them. 46And seeking to lay hold of him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they held him for a prophet.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.