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Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Betfage by the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples first, and said to them, “As soon as you come to the village here before us, you will find a donkey with a donkey tied up. Dare up It is and bring them to me. If someone asked you what you are doing, say what the prophet predicted: ‘Notice to Jerusalem: Your king comes to you, silent, comes to a donkey.’
Comment: Imagine this was prophesyed as early as the 5th century BC, about 500 years before Jesus was born in Zechariah 9:9!
The disciples went and did everything according to Jesus’ command. They brought a donkey and a donkey, instead of the saddle they put their cloaks on and on them They put Jesus down. Many of the crowd laid their cloaks on the road, others cut branches from trees and decorated the road with them. The procession of people, who surrounded him from front and back, called out: Hosanna, son of David!’ ‘Blessed, who comes in the Lord’s name!’ ‘Hosanna in the Highnesses!’ (B21) When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was boiling and people were excitedly asking, ‘Who is that?’ From the procession was heard: ‘It is Jesus, that prophet from the Galilean Nazareth!’
Comment: Hosana means ‘save us’ or ‘glory to the Savior’.
Jesus cleans the temple again
Jesus then entered the temple and expelled all those who sold and bought there, overturned the tables of money changers and sellers of sacrificial pigeons and said to them: ‘The Scriptures say: God’s temple is a place for prayer, but you have made it a thief’s lair!’
In the temple courtyard, the blind and lame clustered around him and He healed them.
But when the high priests and interpreters of the law saw the miracles and heard the little children cry out in the temple: ‘Glory to the Son of David!’ They were very outraged. They reproached him: ‘Don’t you hear what they are calling?’ He answered them: ‘Of course. Which you did not read in the Scriptures: even the cry of the infants praises God.’ (Psalm 8:3) He left them alone and left Back to Bethany where he stayed overnight.
Comment: Interesting! Where does Jesus go first after entering Jerusalem as a king celebrated by everyone? – He goes to the temple and obviously annoys him that they are making a business out of God’s house. But he immediately heals the sick. Such a rapid transition from an emotion to anger to an emotion of empathy can probably only be explained by the fact that it was God’s anger. We too can sometimes feel God’s anger over what is happening in some parts of the world or towards some people. But it must never be an excuse for our personal outbursts of rage or even physical violence against the people around us. We are not God, and in the vast majority of our case we are to act in love, not in anger. Perhaps a good rule in our case is – can we instantly turn into empathy from our anger? Or are we still smoldering with rage and not even able to see around us?
It’s great how Jesus knew the Old Testament and how he was able to quote it to his enemies. (Sure, it’s no wonder that he himself is the word!) In Psalm 8:3 it is said: ‘With praise from the mouths of infants and infants, you proved your strength against the enemies, and stopped the enemy burning with revenge.’ The high priests must have been in a bad way, when the only defense that came up with them to say: ‘How terrible that even the children praise you!’
Jesus tells the disciples that they can beg for anything
18 When he was returning to Jerusalem in the morning, got hungry. He noticed a fig tree by the road. But when he came to the tree, he saw that there are no fruits on it, but only leaves. He said, ‘You will never have fruit again!’ And the fig tree suddenly dried up. When the disciples saw it, they said in astonishment, ‘How did you manage to make the fig wither so quickly?’
Jesus answered them, “I am truly telling you, If you believe without doubt, you can do bigger things than what you have seen now. If you ordered this mountain to move and descend into the sea, then it will happen. Everything is attainable to you, what do you pray for with faith.”
Comment: I think Jesus felt great pain deep inside. He knew what was going to happen to him and it hurt him that some people still don’t understand why he came. He had so little time to teach them. Therefore, he used this opportunity to learn. The lesson was that we – as Jesus’ followers – should bear fruit in our lives. If we don’t, our life is useless.
We can know Jesus for many years, listen to 50 million sermons, read the Bible many times, pray and live a ‘good’ spiritual life, but if our life does not bear fruit – shown by actions – love for others and helping them get closer to God – it is No problem!
In verse 22 Jesus says Everything is attainable to you, what do you pray for with faith.’ How wonderful it is that if we pray with faith, Jesus will do anything for us! We don’t just have to accept our circumstances hopelessly.We can change them! We have the power to pray for good weather, when we need it, we can pray for change in any situation, we can literally move mountains if necessary. We should stop underestimating ourselves. Jesus and I are the most powerful! We are like the greatest ship from which all the sharks appear to be tiny!
Great sermons and comparisons to this boat here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRZT0HOlHYQ
God would never tell us that we are insignificant! He’s always the devil! So let’s stop acting like that! Step every day in the authority of God’s Spirit and bravely step into every situation! The devil will be shaking and you will do great things for God!
The Jews argue over the authority of Jesus
Then when he was teaching in the temple again, the high priests and Jewish leaders came to him and asked him: ‘What right do you act here like this? Who gave you the power?’ ‘I’ll tell you, but first answer my question: Did John baptize on the mandate of God or people?’ They said to each other: ‘If we answer that he was from God, he will object to us, why we did not believe his words. And if we answer in the negative, then to be afraid of the crowd, because they all consider John a prophet.’ So they finally answered: ‘We don’t know.’ Then Jesus: ‘Neither will I tell you who is behind me.’
Comment: Jesus here again answers the question with a question. And again, he gives a very wise answer that takes the wind out of their sails.
Jesus tells parable of two sons
How would you decide such a case? One man had two sons and said to one of them: ‘Go today to work in the vineyard!” But he replied: ‘I don’t want to!’ But then he changed his mind and went. He asked the other son for the same. He said: ‘Yes, I’ll go,’ but he didn’t go. Which of the two sons obeyed his father?’ They answered: ‘The first one.’ “Just like that,” said Jesus, “you fraudsters and prostitutes are overtaking you to the kingdom of God. John the Baptist showed you the right path to repentance; you did not give him, but these people did. Nor did it shame you and you still did not obey.
Comment: Who is Jesus talking to here? – To the religious leaders of the time who decided to be his enemies. What does he say to them here? That they are like the other son who disobeyed his father.
Jesus tells parable of the rich man
Now listen to another story: there was one husbandman, who founded a vineyard. He surrounded her with a fence, set up a press in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to winemakers and traveled. at the time of the vintage sent to winemakers your representatives, to choose his share. However, the winemakers grabbed them, beat one, beat the other and stoned the other. So the landlord sent another man; This time there were more. But the winemakers treated them the same. Finally he sent his son to them. He thought they would at least have respect for him. But when they saw him coming, they said to themselves: ‘That’s the heir! Let’s kill him and the vineyard will be ours!’ They grabbed him, dragged him out of the vineyard and killed him. What do you think the landlord will do with those winemakers when he returns?’ They answered him: ‘He will have those criminals executed without mercy and will rent the vineyard to people who will conscientiously pay him the proceeds.’
COMMENT: What are they talking about here? The landlord is God. His representatives are various prophets, kings and judges whom God sent to earth, but which people did not listen to, beat them and even killed many of them. Finally, God sent his own Son Jesus to earth, hoping that they would have respect for him, but they killed him too!!!
Then Jesus asked them if they knew the words of the Scriptures: ‘The stone, which the builders kept putting away, eventually served as the main Vault bolt. What a wonder! What a strange thing God did!’
Comment: B21 translation provides it as follows: Jesus said to them: ”The stone’s stone was rejected by the builder Angle stone. (main, most important)The Lord himself did it, and in our eyes it is a wonder.’
by the term corner stone or cornerstone in Czech and other languages, the foundation stone located in the corner of the building is also referred to. This meaning is also meant in the translations of the biblical psalm widely cited in the New Testament writings: ‘The stone that the builders rejected became the cornerstone (head of the angle).’ (Psalm 118.22 cited in MK 12.10, Lk 20.17, Acts 4.11, 1Petr 2.7, Eph 2.20).
‘I mean by that God will take away your administration over his kingdom and entrust it to the people who will pay him what belongs to him. Whoever does not put the stone in the right place, trips over it, or the stone crushes it.” When the high priests and Pharisees heard these parables, they understood that they were talking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd, because they all considered Jesus a prophet.
