A king enters His own capital riding a borrowed colt while a whole city shouts hosannas, then walks straight into His Father’s house and overturns the tables of the men profiting from it; a fig tree covered in leaves and empty of fruit withers at a word; and two parables in a row leave the very men trying to trap Him pronouncing their own sentence out of their own mouths.
A study in Matthew 21 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 32 min read
Hosanna To The Son Of David
“And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus 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.”
Matthew 21:1-3
“At His birth the Saviour was dependent upon the hospitality of strangers. The manger in which He lay was a borrowed resting place. Now, although the cattle on a thousand hills are His, He is dependent on a stranger’s kindness for an animal on which to enter Jerusalem as its King.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 569
A borrowed manger opened this Gospel’s own account of His birth; a borrowed colt opens this last public week of His life — the same poverty bracketing the whole earthly story, right up to the borrowed tomb still to come.
“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 Jesus commanded them, And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.”
Matthew 21:4-7
Zechariah’s prophecy, five centuries old, is fulfilled to the letter, and the crowd that gathers around this deliberately humble procession turns it into something no earthly king had ever received.
“And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 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 21:8-9
“Never before had the world seen such a triumphal procession. It was not like that of the earth’s famous conquerors. No train of mourning captives, as trophies of kingly valor, made a feature of that scene. But about the Saviour were the glorious trophies of His labors of love for sinful man. There were the captives whom He had rescued from Satan’s power, praising God for their deliverance. The blind whom He had restored to sight were leading the way.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 572
Every other triumphal procession in history displayed the conqueror’s power over the defeated; this one displayed His power to heal them, and put the formerly blind, deaf, lame, and dead at the very front of the parade. But at the crest of the Mount of Olives, with the whole golden city spread out below Him, the procession stops.
“And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”
Matthew 21:10-11
“But instead of this they behold a cloud of sorrow. They are surprised and disappointed to see His eyes fill with tears, and His body rock to and fro like a tree before the tempest, while a wail of anguish bursts from His quivering lips, as if from the depths of a broken heart. … In the midst of a scene of rejoicing, where all were paying Him homage, Israel’s King was in tears; not silent tears of gladness, but tears and groans of insuppressible agony.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 575
Every voice around Him is shouting praise, and the King they are praising is weeping over the very city offering it — He can already see, five days ahead of the arrest and forty years ahead of the Roman siege, exactly what this same crowd’s rejection will cost them.
My House Shall Be Called The House Of Prayer
“And Jesus 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
“At the beginning of His ministry, Christ had driven from the temple those who defiled it by their unholy traffic; and His stern and godlike demeanor had struck terror to the hearts of the scheming traders. At the close of His mission He came again to the temple, and found it still desecrated as before. The condition of things was even worse than before. … The dignitaries of the temple were themselves engaged in buying and selling and the exchange of money. So completely were they controlled by their greed of gain that in the sight of God they were no better than thieves.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 589
Three years of warning had changed nothing; the second cleansing was necessary only because the first had been ignored. What happens next in the same courtyard, minutes later, is the clearest possible answer to anyone who reads this scene as pure anger.
“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 Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?”
Matthew 21:14-16
“Quietly returning to the temple, they heard the voices of men, women, and children praising God. … They saw the sick healed, the blind restored to sight, and deaf receive their hearing, and the crippled leap for joy. The children were foremost in the rejoicing.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 592
The same temple courts that moments before rang with the clatter of coins and cattle now ring with children’s praise and the sound of the healed walking, seeing, and hearing for the first time — a den of thieves converted, however briefly, back into a house of prayer.
If Ye Have Faith, And Doubt Not
“And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there. 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 henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.”
Matthew 21:17-19
It was not the season for ripe figs, but this particular tree, already in full leaf ahead of its neighbors, made a promise its branches could not keep — and in the one recorded instance of Jesus destroying rather than healing, the tree becomes a sermon.
“The cursing of the fig tree was an acted parable. That barren tree, flaunting its pretentious foliage in the very face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. … Like the barren tree, they spread their pretentious branches aloft, luxuriant in appearance, and beautiful to the eye, but they yielded ‘nothing but leaves.’ The Jewish religion, with its magnificent temple, its sacred altars, its mitered priests and impressive ceremonies, was indeed fair in outward appearance, but humility, love, and benevolence were lacking.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 582
“And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus 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
“The warning is for all time. Christ’s act in cursing the tree which His own power had created stands as a warning to all churches and to all Christians. … In the sentence pronounced on the fig tree Christ demonstrates how hateful in His eyes is this vain pretense. He declares that the open sinner is less guilty than is he who professes to serve God, but who bears no fruit to His glory.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 584
A leafless tree in a barren orchard disappoints no one; a tree covered in leaves and empty of fruit disappoints everyone who trusted its appearance — the real danger this passage names is not unbelief, but the practiced look of belief with nothing behind it.
By What Authority Doest Thou These Things
“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? And Jesus 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?”
Matthew 21:23-25
“The priests saw that they were in a dilemma from which no sophistry could extricate them. If they said that John’s baptism was from heaven, their inconsistency would be made apparent. Christ would say, Why have ye not then believed on him? … If the priests believed John’s testimony, how could they deny the Messiahship of Christ? If they declared their real belief, that John’s ministry was of men, they would bring upon themselves a storm of indignation; for the people believed John to be a prophet.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 593
Every path out of the question they asked leads back to their own condemnation, and the priests know it before they ever answer.
“But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.”
Matthew 21:26-27
“Scribes, priests, and rulers were all silenced. Baffled and disappointed, they stood with lowering brows, not daring to press further questions upon Christ. By their cowardice and indecision they had in a great measure forfeited the respect of the people, who now stood by, amused to see these proud, self-righteous men defeated.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 594
“We cannot tell” from men who had spent their entire careers claiming to know exactly what God required is its own kind of answer, and the two parables Jesus tells next make sure the crowd does not miss it.
The Publicans And The Harlots Go Into The Kingdom Of God Before You
“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. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.”
Matthew 21:28-31
“This son represented the publicans, those who were despised and hated by the Pharisees. … The second son represented the leading men of the Jewish nation. Some of the Pharisees had repented and received the baptism of John; but the leaders would not acknowledge that he came from God. … Like the second son, who, when called, said, ‘I go, sir,’ but went not, the priests and rulers professed obedience, but acted disobedience.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 595
“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 21:32
The priests answer the parable’s simple question correctly, without seeing where it is pointed, and only realize afterward that they have just ranked the people they despise most above themselves.
The Stone Which The Builders Rejected
“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.”
Matthew 21:33-39
“In the parable the householder represented God, the vineyard the Jewish nation, and the hedge the divine law which was their protection. The tower was a symbol of the temple. The lord of the vineyard had done everything needful for its prosperity. … Thus was represented God’s unwearied care for Israel. And as the husbandmen were to return to the lord a due proportion of the fruits of the vineyard, so God’s people were to honor Him by a life corresponding to their sacred privileges. But as the husbandmen had killed the servants whom the master sent to them for fruit, so the Jews had put to death the prophets whom God sent to call them to repentance.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 596
The priests answer this parable’s question too, before they realize where it is aimed — and this time there is no ambiguity left about who the son in the story represents.
“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.”
Matthew 21:40-41
“Jesus 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 21:42-44
“Christ was the cornerstone of the Jewish economy, and of the whole plan of salvation. This foundation stone the Jewish builders, the priests and rulers of Israel, were now rejecting.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 597
Solomon’s own temple builders once set aside an oddly shaped stone as useless, only to discover, when the walls were finished, that it was the one stone precisely cut for the most important place in the whole foundation — the very cornerstone. The priests standing in front of Jesus are, at this moment, doing exactly what those long-dead builders did, to the one Stone the whole building actually depends on.
“The people who rejected Christ were soon to see their city and their nation destroyed. Their glory would be broken, and scattered as the dust before the wind. … In the Jews’ crucifixion of Christ was involved the destruction of Jerusalem. The blood shed upon Calvary was the weight that sank them to ruin for this world and for the world to come.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 600
“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
The chapter that opened with a whole city shouting hosannas closes with its own religious leaders plotting an arrest they dare not yet attempt — the same stone that was, only days before, the object of the loudest public praise Jesus ever received in His earthly life is now, in private, the thing His enemies have decided must be removed.
