Monday, March 14 - Matthew 21:1–22 (NIV)

Matthew 21:1-22 

Jesus enters Jerusalem to the cheers of the crowd and shortly thereafter does two unexpected things:  clears out the temple and curses a fig tree.  An interesting beginning to a world-altering week.
                       

It’s Monday. Monday of the last week of the earthly life of Jesus.

Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem the previous day.  Sunday.  Lamb Selection Day.  He had presented Himself as the perfect, spotless, unblemished      Lamb . . . a lamb to be slain.  Symbolically He said to the people, “Choose Me.” And they did.

But the next day, we read about an episode that just doesn’t seem to jibe with other episodes about Jesus that we read of.  It’s the account of Jesus clearing the temple.

Any time I run onto a passage that seems to contradict all the other passages, then it becomes the one that I concentrate on as being the one that I haven't rightly understood.  The "cleansing of the temple" is just such a passage.  The cleansing/clearing of the temple appears to be an angry, out-of-control Jesus.  So, what’s with that?

It seems to fly in the face of the Beatitudes.

It seems to fly in the face of the Sermon on the Mount.

It seems to fly in the face of the cross.
It seems to fly in the face of the apostolic letters  (and the change that they reflect in the men that wrote them).

So I have to ask, what is it about this episode that I don't understand?

Well, we have no physical temple now.  We . . . you and I, are the temple, the dwelling place of God (the Holy Spirit).  Paul expanded on this in First Corinthians when he said, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” And Jesus made it clear that this temple needs to be cleared of the worldly to make place for the holy.  (The account in John has Jesus saying, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."  Of course, He was talking about His body.)  This episode was not about Jesus' finally having reached a limit to His patience and losing His temper.  This was about Jesus teaching that "My house (God’s dwelling place) will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers."

 It seems apparent that the temple that Jesus was demonstrating the cleansing of was not the one on the mountain in Jerusalem.  It was my body; it is your body.

So I guess the point is this.  If I want to be angry, if I want to be frustrated, if I want to be impatient, if I want to be fed up, then it's my flesh with which I should be angry, frustrated, impatient, or fed up.  It's me that I should want to "cleanse".  It's my "temple" that I need to clear.  It's my body from which I need to remove the profane to make way for the holy.

Because, you see, if this episode is all about Jesus becoming Popeye and saying, "That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!", then there is no limit to when I can play the "temple" card.  If I use the episode of Jesus clearing the temple in that respect, it opens the door for all kinds of mischief.  Fact is, I can play that card any time I want to be selfish.  Period.  End of story.  I can call it righteous indignation, I can call it holy wrath, I can call it whatever I want.  In the end, it's all about me.

And believe me, there are plenty of times that I would love to play that card.

 Somebody hits me:  "Jesus in the temple!"

 Somebody cuts me off in traffic:  "Jesus in the temple!"

 Somebody disrespects me:  "Jesus in the temple!"

 Somebody cheats me:  "Jesus in the temple!"
 Somebody talks ugly to me:  "Jesus in the temple!"

And when I say (or think), "Jesus in the temple", I justify whatever behavior I want.

That's what Satan wants me to do.
It’s what He wants you to do.
And it's not the nature of God.
 

“Father, this body of mine is Yours.  It is Your dwelling place.  Please cleanse me now.  Clear this temple of the profane to make way for Your holiness, both now and forevermore.  Amen.”

                           
 Greg Clay

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1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

      5 “Say to Daughter Zion,

         ‘See, your king comes to you,

         gentle and riding on a donkey,

         and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” 

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

         “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

         “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

         “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’  but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,

         “ ‘From the lips of children and infants

         you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”

17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Tuesday, March 15 - Matthew 21:23–46 (NIV)

Matthew 21:23-46 

The chief priests question Jesus authority and Jesus retorts by questioning their sincerity.  The tension is palpable.

Shaken, but Still Stirred

The disciples have been with Jesus three years.   They have witnessed the High Priest and Elders approach Jesus to test him.  Jesus was in the temple teaching; the High Priest approached and asks, “By what authority do you do these things?”  Jesus answered with a question. “By what authority did John baptize?” The leaders answered, “We do not know”, because they feared the people who thought John was a prophet. Jesus said, “I will not say by what authority I am doing these things.” The questioners didn’t leave until he told them two parables.  The parables told about people that have received the blessings of God but have rejected them.  The leaders knew Christ was talking about them and wanted to find a way to arrest him.  But they were afraid of the people.

Jesus was not shaken by these people.  Were his followers?    The High Priest and Elders were powerful leaders of the Jews.  If the disciples were shaken the strength of Jesus stirred them to continue. 

Do the events surrounding us today shake us?

Yes, without a doubt!

When you are shaken is there still a stirring within you to tell The Good News?

Jannie Bellows

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23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

29 “ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

         “ ‘The stone the builders rejected

         has become the cornerstone;

         the Lord has done this,

         and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” 

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

Wednesday, March 16 - Matthew 22:1–46 (NIV)

Matthew 22:1-46 

Jesus tells a parable that extends the borders of his kingdom; he teaches on taxes and marriage;  he riddles the religious leaders; in between all this he sums up all the commandments with a couple of sentences. 

  

I had a dream last night, and couldn’t help but compare it to the man who was thrown out for not preparing himself for the wedding.  The dream went like this:    I was eating dinner with a young child at a nice restaurant.  We were enjoying some shrimp.  After the meal was done, I noticed that she had been eating only the tails and not the meat.  The shrimp were large and full of goodness.   I remember feeling that it was such a shame that all that meat had been wasted.

I began to think of this like that of the wedding feast written in Matt. 22.  In the passage there are three types of guests and four responses.  There are the invited, the called and the chosen. 

Of the first group , “The Invited”, give  two responses;  The first was of disregard.  The KJV says that “They made light of it.”, and went about their business.  The second response was that of hostility toward the invitation and they were met with the same fate in the end.1

The second group is the “called”.  Anyone that would come was welcome, all walks of life,   regardless of what they had done in the past.

All are called, but few are chosen.  Who is chosen?  The chosen were all who prepared themselves.  In the parable given about the Kingdom of Heaven in Matt: 25, we can see that there are those who are unprepared for the wedding and are unable to borrow any oil from the other virgins. 

Oil has two uses in the Bible, light and anointing.2 Christ is the light of the world,3 and the Holy Spirit is the gift we are anointed with.  Coming to Christ involves abiding in the light.4 We are anointed with the Holy Spirit which leads us into all truth.5   There is no way to God other than through Christ.6

You can’t borrow someone else’s faith.  You can’t simply come to church because it was how you were raised.  Something has to take place from within.  Why would anyone even be content with this, unless deep down, they really did not believe that through Christ we can have life and have it more abundantly.7  It is the same as having no faith.  Jesus is the Word 8 and if you do not put your faith in the Word, then you are not clothed with Christ. 

Why was the man not chosen as a guest?  The better question might be:  Why did he refuse the Wedding Garments?  He missed out on the goodness of the gift given.  He refused it actually; just like that little girl, who was content with only shrimp tails, leaving all the goodness of the meat on the plate. 

1 “Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Matt 26:52

2 “olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;” Ex 35:8

3. “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

4. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7

5. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” 1 John 2:20

6. “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

7. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

8. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1: 1-5

Amy Norris

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1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

4 “Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

5 “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax  to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

“The son of David,” they replied.

43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

      44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord:

         “Sit at my right hand

         until I put your enemies

         under your feet.” ’ 

45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.