THE HOLIESTCommentaries on St. Matthew
Tablet Thirty-One
Chapter 21
"And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Esa two disciples,"
"Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me."
"And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them."
"All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,"
"Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass."
"And the disciples went, and did as Esa commanded them,"
"And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon."
"And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way." (Matthew 21:1-8)
<1>Christ prepared himself to enter Jerusalem as the King of the Jews, but in a humbling and humiliating manner. That was done to show that greatness is not because of the wealth of the person, but how much Christ had overcome the lower nature.
"And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest." (Matthew 21:9)
<2>People who knew him praised him on his way to Jerusalem as their king. They knew he had come in the name of the Lord (
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).
"And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?" (Matthew 21:10)
<3>Because of the multitudes, the attention of most of the city was directed to his coming to the city.
"And the multitude said, This is Esa the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." (Matthew 21:11)
<4>Still very few truly knew him.
"And Esa went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves."
"And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." (Matthew 21:12-13)
<5>Esa started to cleanse and purify the temple, and he threw out all the business activities from the temple. He reminded them that the temple is a place of worship, meditation, and a Soul-to-Soul relationship with the Lord, not a place of noise and business activities.
"And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them."
"And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased,"
"And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Esa saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"
"And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there." (Matthew 21:14-17)
<6>With power and truth, he broke all the superstitions and concepts that the elders had created to bind their subjects. <7>He also showed his spiritual powers by healing people. But the only thing the priests and scribes could do was to try to mock him by pointing out that the little children praised him, so with this break him. He even won this by reminding them that <8>the true praise comes from the pure in heart, "the babes and sucklings."
"Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered."
"And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee hence forward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away." (Matthew 21:18-19)
<9>It was a tree with no fruit but only leaves, like those with much talk (leaves) but no actions (fruit). Such a person will give no fruit and will be withered away with no positive effect in his life.
"And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!"
"Esa answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done."
"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (Matthew 21:20-22)
<10>That is why the slightest doubt will put you millions of miles away from the Lord, and he who has no doubt is with Him.
"And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?" (Matthew 21:23)
<11>The elders saw his authority, and they marvelled at who gave him this power and authority. That was because whatever he did was true, so affected everyone. <12>Also they wanted to point out that he had no authority to do these things and it was they who could make laws around the temple.
"And Esa answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things."
"The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?"
"But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet."
"And they answered Esa, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." (Matthew 21:24-27)
<13>With this he did not answer them directly and also showed their hypocrisy that they were afraid of men but not of God. <14>He was not afraid of men and had the power of God with him so his authority was from heaven.
"But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard."
"He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went."
"And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not."
"Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Esa saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."
"For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." (Matthew 21:28-32)
<15>The priests and elders were supposed to be the good children of God and they said they obeyed Him, but when His Prophet came unto them they said, "No," and believed not. But publicans were supposed to be the ones who did not walk in the ways of the Lord and said "No," to Him. However, when his Prophets came they accepted them and did His Will.
<16>The priests and elders of any old religions create so many concepts and attachments to their ways that they lose their common sense and cannot give up their false egos. They do not accept a humble Prophet and his truth. But those who are humble and have nothing to hang onto have no big false egos to prevent them from accepting the truth.
<17>Also Christ established this truth in these verses that the authority of John the Baptist had come from heaven but they (the priests) did not accept it. So his authority also came from the same Source, but still would be rejected by them.
"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:"
"And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it."
"And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another."
"Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise."
"But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son."
"But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance."
"And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him."
"When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?"
"They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons."
"Esa saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?"
"Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
"And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." (Matthew 21:33-44)
<18>This entire parable is directed toward the priests, elders, and all those who were supposedly chosen to take care of God's Kingdom. However, they beat and killed his Messengers (servants) and rejected His Kingship over themselves, "but they [Children of Israel] have rejected me [God], that I should not reign over them" (1Samuel 8:7). <19>Now he had sent His First Begotten Son and they would kill him as Christ that they might not hear the truth. With doing this God would take the Kingdom from them and give it to another nation, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
<20>This end of the spiritual kingly domination and lawgiving (scepter) from the tribe of Judah by the coming of the Messiah (Shiloh) was prophesied by Jacob at the last moment of his death that, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come" (Gen. 49:10). Shiloh or Messiah (Esa) came and with this parable finished the prophecy. <21>That is why after Christ, no other great Prophet came from the Children of Israel, but from another nation, the Arabs, who also are the Children of Abram (Abraham). God had promised Abram that they also would have a great Prophet of their own; read Children of Abram (Abraham), All Prophecies Are Fulfilled.
<22>Therefore we can say that there were three parts in Esa's mission to be fulfilled: first to teach and symbolically show (to be crucified and rise again) how to overcome the lower nature by crucifying it (false ego), thus to be born again (rise to the higher self); <23>secondly, he came for the lost sheep of the House of Israel who were called "people" in Jacob's prophecy which he should have gathered, "...until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:10), which he fulfilled (read Children of Abram (Abraham), All Prophecies Are Fulfilled); <24>and thirdly, as described in the parables above, to finish and fulfill the prophecy of Jacob that the scepter and lawgiving would be finished from the tribe of Judah, so consequently from the Children of Israel, and would be given to another nation.
<25>Therefore he fulfilled all parts of his mission. Again we can surely realize that God never fails to fulfill His promises and the prophecies which are given through His servants. They might take longer than the human expects but they will come true eventually.
"And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them."
"But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet." (Matthew 21:45-46)
<26>He gave his message to them and was relieved from his duty to let them know what the message of the Lord was for them, so it will be done -- they could accept it or reject it, it was up to them now.
<27>That is the duty of a Messenger -- to give the message to those he had been chosen to take it to. He is not responsible for the consequence. It is up to God.
<28>In truth his mission as Messenger was finished here. But he should have continued until he was crucified on the cross. So he stayed and taught further, and he pressed the elders until they would do His Will. <29>For this reason the next two chapters are described separately in an appendix. They are his final attacks on the corrupt elders and some points which should have been described.