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NARRATIVE 5-3
JESUS MOVES TOWARD JERUSALEM:
 The Messiah's Final Week
Matt 19:1-22:46

 For Matt 19:1-30 click here.
For Matt 20:1-34 click here.
For Matt 21:1-46 click here.
For Matt 22:1-46 click here.

Matt 21:41-46
1. The Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem (21:1-11)
 This fascinating event and narrative is one of the few that is shared by all four evangelists and Gospels.  (See Mk 11:1-11; Lk 19:29-44; John 12:12-19)
Drawing near to Jerusalem Jesus and the disciples came to Bethphage.  Bethphage was a small village, possibly on the Mount of Olives near Bethany, but we do not know its exact location.  The word means "house of unripe figs".  We read of Bethphage only in this text and its Synoptic parallels.

 Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is a turning point in the Gospel narrative.  It closes out his Galilean ministry and journey to Jerusalem, and begins the tragic passion narrative.

The event is marked by the capriciousness of the Jews and manifests a mixture of both truth and irony.  The truth is that Jesus really is the Messiah.  The irony is that it is for this very reason that he is rejected by the Jews!  When he enters Jerusalem he is welcomed as the Son of David, the Messiah, but almost immediately is rejected as the Messiah and mocked by the people.  When Jesus shows that he is a different kind of Messiah than the Messiah of popular expectation, he is rejected.

The interesting episode of Jesus riding into Jerusalem is deliberately staged by Jesus to fulfill a Messianic prophecy with a clear Rabbinic background.  Matthew's use of Zech 9:9 is one of the ten formulae passages unique to his Gospel and Midrashic theological style.  Matthew combines Zech 9:9 with Isa 62:11 in a style that is neither Masoretic nor Septuagintal.  Matthew's style as in the other 9 formulae passages is "Targumic" paraphrase intended by Matthew to make a significant statement of Jesus fulfilling, or falling into, God's heilsgeschichte.  (Click here to go to the discussion of this in the Matthew 1, Narrative 1.)

A question that challenges scholars is whether there were one or two asses in this event!  Mark, Luke, and John record one ass, Matthew records and ass and a colt with her.   The narrative of Mark, Luke, and John most likely are in agreement with the fact that Jesus could have ridden only on one ass.  Matthew is in agreement with Zech 9:9 and most likely with the historical fact that the ass had a colt present.  Jesus riding in terms of Zech 9:9 "on an ass, the colt of an ass" is to be understood as Hebrew synonymous parallelism.  Mark records that Jesus was riding on the colt on which no one had previously sat.  If this is the historical case, then the mother ass would have been present to calm the colt as Jesus rode on it.  Hagner, Matthew 14-28, p. 592 discusses this well.

The crowd welcomed Jesus jubilantly, spreading their garments on the road for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem in kingly style, and crying "Hosanna to the Son of David..." followed by a blessing from Psalm 118:26.  The term 'Hosanna" in Aramaic literally means "O save" in an hortatory expression, or "God save," but came to be a simple term of praise.  The crowd praises Jesus as the king, the Son of David, the Messiah!  However, they also recognized him as "the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee, indicating some uncertainty, or possibly using the term as one of praise.

 2. Cleansing the Temple (21:12-17)
The cleansing of the temple narrative is  found chronologically here in all three of the synoptic Gospels, but in John's Gospel at the beginning of his ministry.  However, there is a difference in the order of the event in Matthew and Mark.  Matthew has the cleansing of the Temple immediately, or on the same day, Jesus enters Jerusalem.  mark has it on the following day and inserts the narrative of the barren fig tree between the entry and the cleansing.  The fact that John places this cleansing at the beginning of the cleansing, and that mark places it on the second day after Jesus enters the city indicates that chronological exactness was not of prime importance to the evangelists, and took a secondary role to theological interests.  Matthew has the cleansing on the same day as Jesus is acknowledged as king, indicating that the cleansing was a Messianic duty, and John places this at the beginning of Jesus ministry indicating that Jesus truly is the Son of God.  Theological interests are primary to Matthew and John rather than historical or chronological concerns.  It is a stretch of imagination to suggest two cleansings of the Temple since such an action as the dramatic cleansing of the Temple would have been of too remarkable and striking importance for either the Synoptics or John not to mention the second one.

 The authority Jesus uses for cleansing the temple is to cite scripture, "It is written" which was a well recognized Rabbinic expression.  He then quotes Isa 56:7 as his authority for overturning the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the pigeon sellers.   Consideration of the context of Isa 56:1-7 adds to the significance of Jesus' action and reference to Isa 56 which refers to the gentile inclusion in the Messianic kingdom
Isa 56:1-2, 7 Thus says the Lord: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil....7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

In perhaps a most appropriate place, in the Temple, Jesus continues his messianic ministry of healing the blind and the lame.  However, when the chief priests saw the wonderful miracles of Jesus, and heard the children acclaiming Jesus as the Son of David, they were indignant and rebuked Jesus.  Jesus resp0nded by referring to Ps 8:2, with his "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise" statement.

Leaving the Temple Jesus went to Bethany, the home of Mary and Martha and lodged there.

The cleansing of the Temple sets Jesus in open clash with the Jewish leaders and leads into a series of confrontations which culminate in his condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matt 23) and judgment on the Temple and Jerusalem (Matt 24).  It is not surprising that Matthew, contra to mark, places the cleansing of the Temple immediately after his Messianic entry into Jerusalem and follows this with the Barren Fig Tree (condemnation of the Jewish leaders) narrative.
 
 3. The Barren Fig Tree (21:18-22)
Mark's account of this event is in two narratives separated by the cleansing of the Temple and is in greater detail than Matthew's.

The parable of the Barren Fig Tree is a lesson on faith.  However, it is also a lesson on the absence of faith!  The point of the parable is that Jesus expected fruit on the fig tree.  Fig trees in Palestine, as many places elsewhere, bore two crops of fruit, an early crop known to Palestinians as taqsh, and a later crop of fully formed figs. The presence of leaves indicates that the early fruit of the fig should have been present, but Jesus found none.  The harshness of Jesus' condemnation is symbolic of his condemnation of the Jews for their lack of faith.  Faith should have been the trademark of the Jews, but had not been typical of the Jews.

The expression regarding faith without doubt and moving mountains is a Hebraism indicating that with faith great things or great systems could be moved or achieved.  

4. Chief Priests Challenge Jesus' Authority (21:23-27)
Upon entering the Temple again Jesus is confronted by the Chief Priests and Elders who challenge him regarding his authority for doing the things he did.  Jesus responded with a similar challenge regarding the baptism of John the Baptism, "Was it from heaven or from men?"  This backed the Jewish leaders into a corner, for if they answered "From heaven" Jesus would challenge them as to why they had not believed John's witness.  They could not answer "From Men" for fear of the crowd who had heard John's message and had responded appropriately.  Stymied, they responded to Jesus that they did not know!  In similar fashion, Jesus answer that he would not tell them by what authority he acted. 

This exchange serves to illustrate the growing tension and opposition from the Jews and Jesus' firmness in response.

 5. The Parable of Two Sons (21:28-32)
In the next parable of the two sons, the one who initially refused to work in the vineyard but afterward repented and worked, and the second son who initially said yes but did not go and work is a reference first to the tax collectors and harlots (sinners) who turned away from God but then repented, and the second son, the Jews who claimed to be righteous but did not repent and work.  Those who should have inherited the kingdom would not, but those who did not deserve the kingdom received it's benefits.  Jesus gets really personal in Matt 21:32 by speaking directly to the Jews, "you did not repent".
 
 6. The Parable of the Wicked Tenants (21:33-46)
The parable of the wicked tenants is again a reference to the Jews who should have taken care of the masters vineyard, but who did not.  When the master sent servants  the tenants killed the servants, even to the point of killing the heir of the master when he came in the name of the master.  When asked by Jesus what should happen to the wicked tenants they rightly responded that they deserved death!  The chief priests and Pharisees did not see that Jesus had them in mind.  They had rejected the prophets and now they were rejecting the heir of the master, the Son of God.  

 Jesus challenges the Chief Priests and Pharisees from Psalm 118:22, "Have you not read the scriptures: the very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner..."   The Jews were rejecting the chief corner stone to the building of God, the true Holy Temple, the people of God, and did not recognize the error of their ways!

 Jesus next comment is a scathing rebuke, "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation (the Gentiles) producing the fruits of it."

 Finally, the Chief Priests and Pharisees saw that Jesus was speaking about them!  They would have liked to arrest Jesus but for fear of the crowds did not.

 Chapter 22 continues Jesus' condemnation of the Jewish leaders with the parable of the marriage feast, further discussion with the Pharisees and Sadducees which lead into Jesus scathing condemnation of the Scribes and Pharisees in Matt 23.