The King and His Kingdom

It was a symbol of the seat of God's power. It was seen as God's dwelling place among the Jews. It was also the center where they practiced their faith and was intended to prepare the people for their Savior. Ironically, Jesus visited the Temple on several occasions, especially during the last week of His ministry and was not recognized as the Savior in spite of the miracles and teachings He gave in answer to prophecy. The blindness of the Jewish leaders was staggering but we too must be careful to avoid their mistakes and recognize Jesus' true identity and respond accordingly.

Jesus directs the apostles to obtain a young donkey for His entry into Jerusalem. He tells them where to find it and guides them in what they are to do and say. Jesus then rides upon the young donkey into Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd. He is taking this action to demonstrate the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the arrival of the Messiah.

Upon His arrival, Jesus enters the temple and sees the money changers and those selling doves for sacrifices. He becomes angry and drives them from the temple. Also, some come to Him for healing. The chief priests and scribes see all of this and recognize what is happening. Instead of accepting Jesus, they challenge Him. Jesus departs the temple for Bethany where He spends the night.

The significance of this is that despite the fact that Jesus continues to witness His identity through miracles, teaching and the clear fulfillment of prophecy, the Jewish leaders continue to reject both Him and His claims.

Jesus returns to the city. Along the way he sees a fig tree that is not producing fruit. He uses this as an object lesson about faith. This event symbolizes what is taking place between Jesus and those that reject Him. He is showing that it is the right time to save His people but is rejected by those who should be supporting Him.

The challenge was to the legitimacy of Jesus to teach. He did not possess the acceptable credentials required for religious teachers and leaders in that society. Note, these credentials were man-made and not from God. Jesus responded to their challenge with the statement that John the Baptist was accepted without their standards of credentials and that He possessed the same and even greater powers than John in that the Baptist was a powerful preacher (as was Jesus) but the Baptist did no miracles but Jesus performed many. This stopped the challenge from the religious leaders for the time.

The parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32) In this parable, Jesus is teaching about true obedience.

The parable of the landowner (Matthew 21:33-46) In this parable Jesus is teaching about what will happen to those that reject Him. This enrages the Jewish leaders because they recognize that He is directing the teaching towards them and in their anger, they begin to plot His death.

The parable of the marriage feast (Matthew 22:1-14) In this parable Jesus teaches that the Kingdom was offered first to the Jews. They rejected Him so it will be offered to Gentiles.

• Matthew 22:15-22 – Jesus teaches that we are to focus on spiritual matters above earthly matters. We do obey earthly laws, but first we give our allegiance and obedience to God.
• Matthew 22:23-33 – The Sadducees challenged Jesus about the resurrection. They did not believe in it so they sought to trap Jesus with an answer. Jesus' response shows their misunderstanding of scripture.
• Matthew 22:34-36 – The Pharisees ask of Jesus what is the greatest commands in the Law. This is a test of ongoing issues and disagreements among the religious leaders. It is a test of Jesus' knowledge, and perhaps political leanings. They sought to embarrass Jesus and their rivals. Jesus answered with what is actually the standard for judgement: our demonstrated love for God and for our neighbor. All other laws come from these.

Jesus rebukes the religious leaders and teachers for not preparing the people for His arrival. He delivers seven severe condemnations of them placing the responsibility for the people's ignorance directly on them.

As leaders and teachers in the Church today, we must take heed to ensure that we are properly preparing ourselves and others for the second and final coming of our Lord. Each of us must exercise our faithfulness by teaching others the gospel and the need to be faithful until the end.

Jesus' arrival to Jerusalem and the events there were deliberate. The people were spiritually unprepared for Him to arrive and failed to recognize Him. As a result, they missed the blessing of Jesus in their presence.

One day Jesus will return (Acts 1:10-11). We must be vigilant (not complacent) and ready. If we are, then we will receive the blessing of being called into the presence of God for eternity. If not, then we will be cast out from the presence of God forever.