Matthew 21:1-22

Matthew 21:1-22
Since this is the week before Easter, I am skipping ahead a little. Multitudes had been following Jesus, many because of the miracles He had performed. Others trusted Him as their Messiah and Savior.

Chapter 21 opens on Sunday (the day we now call Palm Sunday) with Jesus entering Jerusalem on a young donkey. This fulfills an Old Testament prophecy (Zechariah 9:9) and shows His humility. It's interesting to note that the donkey didn't even belong to Jesus but was borrowed!

The crowd greeted Him with honor and enthusiasm, spreading their coats and palm branches on the road before Him. They cheered Him with the words "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" v. 9 They were greeting Him like a King! Indeed He was and is a King, but not in the sense they were expecting. They thought He would be a political King and would free them from the oppression of the Roman government. This was not God's plan as we will see!

In vv. 12-22, we see Jesus performed two acts of judgment. First of all He called out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders by overturning the tables of the cheating money changers and the dove sellers. These were business people set up in what was called the "court of the Gentiles," so that foreign worshippers could exchange money and buy doves for the Jewish sacrifices. However, these sellers had turned into dishonest merchants who charged exorbitant prices and cheated and took advantage of people.

Jesus left no question as to how He felt about this abuse. He overturned their tables and benches and called the place a den of robbers! By contrast He said "My house will be called a house of prayer,..."
We could make application to the church of today. We should always remember that the church is the "body of Christ" made up of true believers whose purpose is to honor and worship God and pray to Him in total dependence and faith. It is also for fellowship with other believers and for reaching out to spread the Gospel to others. It is NOT for personal profit as some TV evangelists and others have made it. It is NOT for political purposes or to show ourselves respectable to the community or for any other selfish reason.

The second judgment took place when Jesus caused a fig tree to wither immediately because it was not bearing fruit. If we look at this miracle in the context we see that the fig tree was apparently a symbol of the Jewish religion which was barren of faith in God. Jesus used the tree as an object lesson. The lesson shows us that religion without true faith in the Lord Jesus is worthless. It also shows us the power of prayer. Remember that Jesus wanted His house to be a house of prayer. The kind of prayer to which Jesus refers is not a superstition or a plan to gain selfish riches, but is a true and genuine prayer of praise to God and confession of our sins and seeking God's will by asking Him to help us conform our own will to His. "Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, 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. If you believe, you will receive what ever you ask for in prayer.'" vv. 21-22