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21:1 The jubilant entrance of Yeshua into Yerushalem
21 When they were getting close to Yerushalem and arrived at Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Yeshua sent two of his apprentices ahead, 2 telling them, “Go ahead to the next village and in front of you you’ll see a donkey tied up and her colt near her. Untie the donkey and bring them back here to me. 3 But if anyone says anything to you, just tell them that the master needs them, and they’ll let you take them.”
4 “All this is happening so that the message that was written by the prophet will come to pass:
5 [ref]‘Tell the daughter of Tsiyyon/Zion:
gentle and riding a donkey,
and on a colt, a donkey’s offspring.” ’ ”
6 So the two apprentices left and did what Yeshua had instructed them. 7 They brought back the donkey and the colt, and they put their coats on them and he sat on them. 8 Then the huge crowd spread their coats on the road, while others cut branches off trees and spread them on the road. 9 [ref]The crowd that walked ahead of him and the crowd that followed along behind all yelled out, “David’s descendant, honoured saviour! Blessed one who comes in the name of the master! Honoured saviour in the highest!”
10 As they entered Yerushalem, everyone in the city was stunned, asking, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds responded, “It’s the prophet Yeshua—the prophet from Nazareth in the Galilee!”
21:12 Anger aroused in the temple
12 Then Yeshua dismounted and entered the temple. He drove out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves, 13 [ref]telling them, “It was written that my house will be called a house of prayer, but you all are making it a hideout of robbers.”
14 Those in the temple who were blind or lame approached Yeshua and he healed them. 15 But the chief priests and religious teachers, having seen him do miracles and heard the children in the temple yelling out ‘David’s descendant, honoured saviour!’ became angry 16 [ref]and accused him, “Can’t you hear what they’re saying?”
“Yes, I can,” Yeshua responded. “Didn’t you ever read where it says ‘You caused praises to come from the lips of infants and babies’?”
17 Then he left the temple and Yerushalem and went and stayed overnight out at Bethany.
21:18 Yeshua kills the fig tree
18 In the morning as he headed back into the city, Yeshua was hungry. 19 He saw a single fig tree near the road, but when he got close, it only had leaves on it, so he spoke to it, “You will never again bear fruit,” and immediately the fig tree withered up.
20 His followers who saw this happen were amazed and asked each other, “How did that tree instantly wither up?”
21 [ref]“I can assure you all,” Yeshua answered, “if you have faith and don’t doubt, not only could you do that to a fig tree, you could tell this hill to move away and go into the sea, and it would happen. 22 You’d be able to do everything—anything that you request in prayer and believe.”
21:23 The source of Yeshua’s authority
23 When Yeshua went back into the temple and started teaching the people, the chief priests and the Jewish elders came and challenged him, “What authority do you have to do these things?”
24 “Well, I have one question for you first,” Yeshua answered. “If you answer it, then I’ll tell you all about my authority to do these things. 25 So, where did Yohan’s practice of immersion come from?”
They discussed this among themselves, saying, “If we say from heaven, he’ll ask us why we didn’t believe Yohan. 26 But if we say it was a human idea, then the crowd might revolt against us because they consider Yohan to be a prophet.” 27 So they answered, “We don’t know.”
“Well then, nor will I tell you about my authority to do these things,” Yeshua answered.
21:28 The parable about obedience
28 “But what does it matter to you all, anyway? There was a man who had two children and he went up to the first one and instructed, ‘Son, go and work in my vineyard today.’ 29 ‘I can’t,’ he answered, but later he regretted what he’d said and went and did the work. 30 The father also approached the other child with the same instruction. ‘I will, master’ this one answered, but he never went. 31 Which of the two did what the father wanted?”
“The first one,” the hearers answered.
“I can assure you all,” Yeshua continued, “that tax collectors and prostitutes will enter God’s kingdom ahead of you lot, 32 [ref]because Yohan came to you all teaching the road to becoming right with God, but you didn’t believe that he was sent by God. Yet the tax collectors and prostitutes believed in him, and still, even when you saw that, you didn’t later regret and change your minds and believe.
21:33 The parable about the evil tenants
33 [ref]“Listen to another parable: A landowner planted a vineyard and fenced it, and he carved a wine-press in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to tenant farmers and moved away. 34 At harvest time, he sent some of his slaves to the tenant farmers to bring back his share of the harvest. 35 However, the tenants grabbed his slaves and beat them. They killed some and threw rocks at others. 36 So the owner sent a larger group of slaves, but the tenants did the same things to them.
37 “Next he sent his son because he thought his son would have influence over them. 38 But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they thought, ‘Hey, this is the heir of the estate. If we kill him, then the inheritance will be ours.’ 39 So they grabbed the son, dragged him out of the vineyard, and killed him there outside.
40 “Now, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what do you think he’ll do to those tenant farmers?”
41 “He’ll brutally destroy those wicked tenants,” they answered, “then he’ll rent the vineyard out to other tenant farmers who will give him his share of the harvest.”
42 [ref]Then Yeshua said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the scriptures:
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
this would become the cornerstone.
This one came from the master,
43 “Because of that, I’m telling you that God’s kingdom will be taken away from all of you and be given to a people who will produce a harvest. 44 And anyone who falls down onto this stone will be shattered, but anyone that this stone falls on will be totally pulverised.”
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard those parables, they knew that he was talking about them. 46 They attempted to arrest him, but couldn’t because they knew that the crowds believed him to be a prophet from God.
Matthew 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-48; John 12:1-19; see also Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9
At the start of Passover one week before he was crucified, Jesus and his disciples traveled to Jerusalem, approaching the city from the east. When they arrived at the village of Bethphage, Jesus mounted a donkey and rode down the Mount of Olives as a humble king entering his capital city. Along the way, many people laid branches and cloaks in his path to welcome him. After Jesus entered the city, he immediately went up to the Temple and drove out the moneychangers and merchants there, and he healed the blind and the lame. Then he traveled nearly two miles outside the city to the village of Bethany to spend the night, which appears to have been where he typically lodged each night while visiting Jerusalem during the crowded Passover festival. Bethany is also where Jesus’ close friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. One evening while Jesus was there at a large dinner party given in his honor, Martha served the food, and Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.
Much like the difficulties of discerning the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land (see here), the task of reconciling the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem into one coherent itinerary has proven very challenging for Bible scholars. As with many other events during Jesus’ ministry, the accounts of Matthew, Mark, and Luke (often referred to as the Synoptic Gospels) present a noticeably similar account of Jesus’ final travels, while John’s Gospel presents an itinerary that is markedly different from the others. In general, the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus as making a single journey to Jerusalem, beginning in Capernaum (Luke 9:51), passing through Perea (Matthew 19:1-2; Mark 10:1) and Jericho (Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-19:10), and ending at Bethany and Bethphage, where he enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44). John, on the other hand, mentions several trips to Jerusalem by Jesus (John 2:13-17; 5:1-15; 7:1-13; 10:22-23), followed by a trip to Perea across the Jordan River (John 10:40-42), a return to Bethany where he raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11), a withdrawal to the village of Ephraim for a few months (John 11:54), and a return trip to Bethany, where he then enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey (John 12:1-19). The differences between the Synoptics’ and John’s accounts are noteworthy, but they are not irreconcilable. The Synoptics, after noting that Jesus began his trip at Capernaum, likely condensed their accounts (as occurs elsewhere in the Gospels) to omit Jesus’ initial arrival in Jerusalem and appearance at the Festival of Dedication, thus picking up with Jesus in Perea (stage 2 of John’s itinerary). Then all the Gospels recount Jesus’ trip (back) to Bethany and Jerusalem, passing through Jericho along the way. Likewise, the Synoptics must have simply omitted the few months Jesus spent in Ephraim to escape the Jewish leaders (stage 4 of John’s itinerary) and rejoined John’s account where Jesus is preparing to enter Jerusalem on a donkey.
By the time of the New Testament, the ancient city of Jerusalem had been transformed from the relatively small fortress of David’s day (2 Samuel 5:6-10; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9) into a major city with a Temple that rivaled the greatest temples in the Roman world. Just prior to Jesus’ birth, Herod the Great completely renovated and expanded the Temple of the Lord, and he also built a lavish palace for himself, various pools (where Jesus occasionally performed healings), public buildings, and military citadels, including the Antonia Fortress, which overlooked the Temple. Wealthy residents, including the high priest, occupied extravagant houses in the Upper City, while the poorer residents were relegated to less desirable areas like the Lower City. The Essene Quarter was so named because many of its residents belonged to the Essenes, a strict religious sect that was known for its careful attention to the law of Moses. Across the Kidron Valley lay the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus often met with his disciples (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-53; John 18:1-14). Further east was the Mount of Olives, where Jesus began his triumphal entry one week before his crucifixion (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19), taught his disciples about the last days (Matthew 24-25; Mark 13), and eventually ascended to heaven after his resurrection (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-11).
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