Chapter 21
Verses 1-11 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus showed his divine knowledge. This something that only God would be able to know. He knew that in a certain place there would be a donkey and colt. Jesus told the disciples to go to that place and they would find the donkey and its young one. The disciples went and found the colt just as Jesus said.
Riding into Jerusalem on a donkey was something that had been told would happen long ago–hundreds of years before it happened, Zechariah, the prophet from the Old Testament, told that the Messiah (Promised One) would do this. (Zechariah 9:9)
In verse 11, we see that some of the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.
Verses 12-13 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus went into the temple and he became angry with what he saw. The men were selling things for the Passover celebration. Many of them were cheating as they sold things. Jesus upset their tables, money fell to the floor, and Jesus chased them out of the temple.
God’s house was to be a house of prayer. Jesus was angry to see it used the way it was. It could be that this was the first time the disciples or the church leaders or the people had ever seen Jesus angry.
Jesus did not sin with his anger. He was angry with sin and wickedness.
Verses 14-17 Read the Bible verses.
Then Jesus healed people right in the temple in front of the Jewish leaders who always found something bad to say about Jesus.
They were watching wonderful healings happened before their eyes.
Still they would not believe that he was God’s son.
Verses 18-22 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus saw a fig tree. He reached into it to get fruit, but there was none there. There were only leaves.
Jesus told the fig tree that it would never grow figs again. The tree dried up.
The disciples were surprised when they saw it. Jesus said if you have the faith, you can do even greater things.
Then whatever you ask for you will have.
Verses 23-27 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus went back to the temple. The leaders wanted to talk to him about chasing out the sellers. They asked, “What authority (power/right)
do you have to chase these men out?”
Jesus said that he would answer their question if they would answer his question. Jesus asked them, “Was John the Baptist just a regular man or did he get his power from heaven?”
The church leaders thought about this and talked it over. They had a problem: if they said that John the Baptist was given power from heaven, then Jesus would ask them why they did not accept John. If they said that John was just a regular man, then the people would be angry with the leaders because the people believed that John was special and had heavenly power.
The church leaders decided not to answer the question. So Jesus said, then I will not answer your question either.
Verses 28-32 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus told a story to the church leaders. He said there were two sons.
One promised that he would go work in the vineyard, but then did not go.
The other son said he would not go, then later changed his mind and decided to go work.
Jesus said, “Which one of the sons really obeyed?”
Jesus said to the church leaders, people who have lived an evil life will get into the Kingdom of God before you will.
Jesus meant that the people who were wicked and heard John preach, believed and repented (changed their way of living).
The church leaders heard John preach and would not repent of their sins. The church leaders were so proud that they did not think that they had sin.
Verse 33- 46 Read the Bible verses.
Jesus told another story to the church leaders. A man owned a vineyard and he rented it to another farmer.
When it was time to pick the grapes and sell them and get money for them, the man who owned the vineyard sent his servant to get his part of the money.
But the farmer killed the servant.
So the man sent some more servants to get his part of the money. The farmer killed those servants, too.
Finally, the man sent his son to get the money. He thought the farmer would respect his son. But the farmer killed the son, too.
Jesus said, “What do you think the man who owns the vineyard will do to the farmer?” The church leaders said, “He will have him killed and rent the land to someone else.”
The Jesus said, “Do you remember this from Psalms 118:22? The stone that the builders threw away is now chosen to be the cornerstone?”
A cornerstone was a special stone of honor that was put into the corner of a building. It usually has a name carved (cut) in it or a date.
Jesus was like the cornerstone. The Jewish people and Jewish leaders threw him away. But God will put Jesus in a place of honor in the building of the “church” or group of believers.
Jesus was a “stumbling stone” to the Jewish people. To stumble means to bump your foot into something and almost fall. The Jewish people
“bumped” into Jesus and stumbled. They could not believe him or receive him.
Jesus said, “This “stone” (Jesus) will crush those who refuse to believe. Jesus will judge those who will not accept him.
Jesus said, “ The kingdom of God will be taken away from “you” meaning the church leaders, and from the nation of the Jewish people.
The church will be given to another nation who will believe and grow spiritual fruit.
After Jesus went back to heaven this happened. The disciples went to the Gentile (not Jewish) nations and preached to them. They believed and accepted the truth that Jesus was God’s son.
To this day, the Jewish people still have not accepted Jesus as the Messiah sent from God.
They believed there was a person called Jesus. They know that history says that he did wonderful miracles. They know that history says that Jesus died on a cross. But they do not accept that Jesus was God’s promised Messiah come in the flesh ( a body).
When Jesus finished with his stories, the Jewish leaders understood that Jesus was talking about them. They understood that Jesus meant that they were the farmer in the story that killed the son.
As Jesus left, the church leaders talked together about how they could take Jesus and do something to him. They were afraid that the people would attack them so they did not do anything right then.