Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King^(A)

21 As Jesus and his ·followers [disciples] ·were coming closer to [approached] Jerusalem, they ·stopped at [^Lcame to] Bethphage ·at [or on] the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his ·followers [disciples] ² and said to them, “Go to the town ·you can see there [ahead of you; or opposite you]. When you enter it, you will ·quickly [immediately] find a donkey tied there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone asks you ·why you are taking the donkeys [^Lanything], say that ·the Master [the Lord; or its Owner] needs them, and ·he will send them at once [or the Lord will return it soon; see Mark 11:3].”

⁴ This was to ·bring about [fulfill] what ·the prophet had said [^Lhad been spoken through the prophet]:

⁶ [So] The ·followers [disciples] went and did what Jesus ·told them to do [instructed; commanded]. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus and laid their ·coats [cloaks] on them, ·and Jesus sat on them. ⁸ ·Many people [A very large crowd; or Most of the crowd] spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ The ·people [crowds] were walking ahead of Jesus and ·behind [following] him, shouting,

¹⁰ When Jesus entered Jerusalem, all the city was ·filled with excitement [stirred up; in an uproar]. The people asked, “Who is this man?”

¹¹ The crowd said, “This man is Jesus, the prophet from the town of Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Goes to the Temple^(B)

¹² Jesus went into the ·Temple [temple complex; ^Cthe large temple area, not the inner building where only the priests could go] and ·threw [drove] out all the people who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables of ·those who were exchanging different kinds of money [^Lthe moneychangers], and he upset the benches of those who were selling doves [or pigeons; ^Cmoneychangers provided particular coins needed for the temple tax; doves or pigeons were sold for sacrifices; Lev. 5:7]. ¹³ Jesus said to ·all the people there [^Lthem], “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My ·Temple [^LHouse] will be called a house for prayer [Is. 56:7].’ But you are ·changing [making] it into a ·hideout for robbers [^Tden of thieves; Jer. 7:11].”

¹⁴ The blind and ·crippled people [lame] came to Jesus in the Temple [courts; v. 12], and he healed them. ¹⁵ [^LBut when] The ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the ·teachers of the law [scribes] saw that Jesus was doing wonderful things and that the children were praising him in the Temple [courts; v. 12], saying, “·Praise [^LHosanna; v. 9] to the Son of David [^Ca title for the Messiah; v. 9].” All these things made the priests and the ·teachers of the law [scribes] ·very angry [indignant].

¹⁶ They asked Jesus, “Do you hear the things these children are saying?”

Jesus answered, “Yes. Haven’t you read in the Scriptures, ·‘You have taught children and babies to sing praises’ [^L‘From the mouths of infants and nursing babes you have prepared/created praise’; Ps. 8:2 LXX]?”

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

The Power of Faith^(C)

¹⁸ Early the next morning, as Jesus was going back to the city, he became hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree beside the road, Jesus went to it, but ·there were no figs [^Lhe found nothing] on the tree, only leaves [Is. 5:1–7]. So Jesus said to the tree, “·You will [May you] never again have fruit.” The tree immediately ·dried up [withered].

²⁰ When his ·followers [disciples] saw this, they were amazed. They asked, “How did the fig tree ·dry up [wither] ·so quickly [immediately]?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree and even more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘·Go, fall [^LBe lifted up and thrown] into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will ·happen [be done]. ²² If you ·believe [have faith], you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”

Leaders Doubt Jesus’ Authority^(D)

²³ Jesus went to the Temple [courts], and while he was teaching there, the ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the elders of the people came to him. They said, “What authority do you have to do these things? [^LAnd] Who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus answered, “I also will ask you a question. If you answer me, then I will tell you what authority I have to do these things. ²⁵ Tell me: When John baptized people, did that come from ·God [^Lheaven; ^Ca reverential Jewish way of referring to God] or just from ·other people [human beings]?”

They argued about Jesus’ question, saying, “If we answer, ‘John’s baptism was from ·God [^Lheaven],’ Jesus will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘It was from ·people [human beings],’ we are afraid of what the crowd will do because they all ·believe [think; hold] that John was a prophet.”

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

Jesus said to them, “Then I won’t tell you what authority I have to do these things.

A Story About Two Sons

²⁸ “Tell me what you think about this: A man had two sons. He went to the ·first [elder] son and said, ‘Son, go and work today in ·my [the] vineyard.’ ²⁹ The son answered, ‘I will not go.’ But later the son ·changed his mind [regretted/thought better of it] and went. ³⁰ Then the father went to the other son and said, ·‘Son, go and work today in my vineyard’ [^Lthe same thing]. The son answered, ‘Yes, sir, I will,’ but he did not go. ³¹ Which of the two sons ·obeyed [^Ldid the will of] his father?”

·The priests and leaders [^LThey] answered, “The first son.”

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes ·will enter [are going into] the kingdom of God ·before you do [ahead of you]. ³² [^LFor] John came to show you the ·right way to live [the way/path of righteousness]. You did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after seeing this, you still refused to ·change your ways [change your mind; repent] and believe him.

The Story of the Evil Farmers^(E)

³³ “Listen to ·this story [another parable]: There was a ·man who owned [landowner who planted] a vineyard. He put a wall around it and dug a ·hole [vat; pit] for a winepress and built a tower [^Cto protect against thieves; see Is. 5:1–7 for the background to this parable]. Then he leased the land to some [^Ctenant] farmers and left for a trip [^Cthe owner represents God, the farmers are Israel’s religious leaders]. ³⁴ When it was time for the grapes to be picked, he sent his ·servants [slaves] to the farmers to get his share of the grapes. ³⁵ But the farmers grabbed the ·servants [slaves], beat one, killed another, and then ·killed a third servant with stones [^Lstoned a third]. ³⁶ So the man sent some other ·servants [slaves] to the farmers, even more than he sent the first time. But the farmers did the same thing to them that they had done before [^Cthe servants represent the prophets God sent to Israel]. ³⁷ ·So [^LFinally; Last of all] the man sent his son to the farmers [^Cthe son represents Jesus]. He said, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This son will inherit the vineyard. Let’s kill him, and we will get his inheritance!’ ³⁹ Then the farmers grabbed the son, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ So what will the ·owner [lord] of the vineyard do to these farmers when he comes?”

⁴¹ ·The priests and leaders [^LThey] said, “He will ·surely kill those evil men [bring those wretches/evil men to a wretched/evil end]. Then he will lease the vineyard to some other farmers who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time [^Creferring to the sinners who were responding to Jesus’ call for repentance, and eventually to the Gentiles who would be saved].”

⁴² Jesus said to them, “·Surely you have read [^LHaven’t you ever read…?] this in the Scriptures:

⁴³ “·So [For this reason; Therefore] I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to ·people [a nation] who ·do the things God wants in his kingdom [^Lwill produce its fruit]. ⁴⁴ The person who ·falls on [stumbles over] this stone will be ·broken [shattered], and on whomever that stone falls, that person will be crushed.”^[a]

⁴⁵ When the ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the Pharisees heard these ·stories [parables], they knew Jesus was talking about them. ⁴⁶ They ·wanted [were seeking/trying] to arrest him, but they were afraid of the ·people [crowds], because the people believed that Jesus was a prophet.