Matthew 21
The Triumphal Entry
When they drew near to
Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of
Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately
you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring
them to me. If anyone
says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and
immediately he will send them."
All this was done,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
"Tell the
daughter of Zion,
behold, your King comes to you,
humble, and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
The disciples went,
and did just as Jesus commanded them, and brought the donkey and the
colt, and laid their clothes on them; and he sat on them. A very great multitude spread
their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread
them on the road. The
multitudes who went before him, and who followed kept shouting,
"Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
When he had come into
Jerusalem, all the city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"
The multitudes said,
"This is the prophet, Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
Jesus at the Temple
Jesus entered into
the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the
temple, and overthrew the money changers' tables and the seats of those
who sold the doves. He
said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be
called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of
robbers!"
The blind and the
lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and
the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who
were crying in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the son of
David!" they were indignant, and said to him, "Do you
hear what these are saying?"
Jesus said to them, "Yes. Did you never read, 'Out
of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected
praise?'"
He left them, and
went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.
The Fig Tree Withers
Now in the morning, as he
returned to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road,
he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, "Let there be no fruit from you forever!"
Immediately the fig tree withered away. When the disciples saw it, they
marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree immediately wither away?"
Jesus answered them,
"Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and
don't doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even
if you told this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it would
be done. All things,
whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
When he had come into
the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as
he was teaching, and said, "By what authority do you do these things?
Who gave you this authority?"
Jesus answered them,
"I also will ask you one question, which if you tell
me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was
it from? From heaven or from men?"
They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,'
he will ask us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From men,' we
fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet." They answered Jesus, and said,
"We don't know."
He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by
what authority I do these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
But what do you think? A man had
two sons, and he came to the first, and said, 'Son, go work today in my
vineyard.' He answered,
'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind, and went. He came to the second, and said
the same thing. He answered, 'I go, sir,' but he didn't go. Which of the two did the will of
his father?"
They said to him, "The first."
Jesus said to them, "Most certainly I tell you
that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom
of God before you. For
John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him,
but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it,
you didn't even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
The Parable of the Tenants
"Hear another parable.
There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard,
set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out
to farmers, and went into another country. When the season for the fruit
drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit.
The farmers took his
servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants
more than the first: and they treated them the same way. But afterward he sent to them
his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But the farmers, when they saw
the son, said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him,
and seize his inheritance.' So they took him, and threw him
out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"
They told him,
"He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out
the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its
season."
Jesus said to them,
"Did you never read in the Scriptures,
'The stone which the builders rejected,
the same was made the head of the corner.
This was from the Lord.
It is marvelous in our eyes?'
"Therefore I tell you, the
Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation
bringing forth its fruit. He who falls on this stone will
be broken to pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will scatter him as
dust."
When the chief
priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke
about them. When they
sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered
him to be a prophet.
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