Matthew 21
Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey; cleanses the temple; curses the fig tree; authority is questioned — he answers with John's baptism; then the parable of the two sons and the wicked tenants.
Summary
The Jerusalem entry is staged as a deliberate fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 — the king who comes to Zion humble, riding on a donkey. The crowds' acclamation — hosanna to the son of David — is the language of Psalm 118, the great processional psalm of the Jerusalem festivals. The entry is a royal procession that uses the symbol of the anti-warrior king: not the war horse but the donkey of peace. The temple cleansing that immediately follows is the symbolic act that gives the entry its content: the house of prayer has become a commercial enterprise, and the one who has the authority to clean it is the one who enters with the acclamation.
The parable of the wicked tenants is the most explicitly allegorical of the gospel's parables and the one whose referents are least concealed: the vineyard is Israel (from Isaiah 5), the landowner is God, the tenants are the current leaders, the servants who are beaten and killed are the prophets, and the son who is killed is Jesus. The parable's outcome — the vineyard taken from the tenants and given to others — is the gospel's most explicit statement of the transfer of the kingdom, and the chief priests and Pharisees understand that he is speaking about them. The citation of Psalm 118:22 — the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone — gives the parable its Christological point: the one they are about to reject is the one the Father has made the foundation of the new structure.
- Matthew 1The gospel begins with a genealogy from Abraham to Jesus and closes with Joseph's dream: the son of David is named God-with-us.
- Matthew 2The Magi's visit, Herod's massacre, the flight to Egypt, and the return to Nazareth compose a typological replay of Israel's own...
- Matthew 3John preaches repentance in the wilderness; Jesus comes from Galilee to be baptized, and a voice from heaven declares him the...
- Matthew 4Three temptations in the wilderness, three citations of Deuteronomy; then Jesus calls his first disciples and launches the...
- Matthew 5The Beatitudes name the blessed conditions the world does not name; six antitheses intensify the Torah's commands from external...
- Matthew 6Three practices redirected from public display to the hidden Father; the Lord's Prayer; the counsel against anxiety, citing birds...
- Matthew 7Do not judge, ask and it will be given, the golden rule, the narrow gate, the false prophets, and the house built on rock that...
- Matthew 8A cycle of healings — leper, centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, the storm — showing the authority of deed that matches...
- Matthew 9Forgiveness before healing, eating with sinners, raising the dead, and restoring sight: the authority that has been demonstrated...
- Matthew 10The twelve are sent to Israel with authority to heal and proclaim, armed with warnings of persecution and the promise that losing...
- Matthew 11John's question answered with Isaiah's deeds; John identified as Elijah; warnings to unrepentant cities; the great invitation to...
- Matthew 12Two Sabbath controversies; the Pharisees' conspiracy; the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit; the sign of Jonah; and the...
- Matthew 13Seven kingdom parables — sower, weeds, mustard seed, leaven, treasure, pearl, dragnet — each refusing to define the kingdom in the...
- Matthew 14John's martyrdom; five thousand fed in the wilderness; Peter walks on water and sinks; the boat-community worships: truly you are...
- Matthew 15Defilement from the heart, not the hand; a Canaanite woman wins the crumbs; four thousand fed; the logic of the inclusive mission...
- Matthew 16Peter's confession at Caesarea Philippi; the rock saying and the keys; the first passion prediction; Peter rebuked as Satan; the...
- Matthew 17The transfiguration — the baptism declaration repeated with Moses and Elijah — followed by the disciples' failure to heal, faith...
- Matthew 18Greatness as the child's humility; the lost sheep; the community procedure for sin; forgiveness seventy-seven times; the...
- Matthew 19Divorce by appeal to creation's original design; children belonging to the kingdom; a rich young man sorrowful; a camel and the...
- Matthew 20The generosity of the vineyard owner; the most detailed passion prediction; James and John's misplaced request; the Son of Man who...
- Matthew 21The Jerusalem entry on a donkey; the temple cleansed; the fig tree cursed; authority challenged and the baptism counter-question...
- Matthew 22The wedding banquet parable; Caesar's coin; the resurrection with no marriage; the two great commandments; and David's son who is...
- Matthew 23Seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees — blind guides, whitewashed tombs, serpents — and the lament over Jerusalem, the city...
- Matthew 24The temple's coming destruction; wars and tribulation; the abomination of desolation; the Son of Man coming in clouds; the hour...
- Matthew 25Three parables of readiness: the virgins and the oil, the talents used or buried, and the final criterion — mercy shown to the...
- Matthew 26Judas's agreement; the Last Supper's eucharistic words; Gethsemane's three prayers; the arrest; Peter's three denials and bitter...
- Matthew 27Judas's remorse; Pilate's trial; the mocking; darkness at midday; the cry of dereliction from Psalm 22; the curtain torn; the...
- Matthew 28The empty tomb; the risen Jesus met by the women; the Great Commission on the mountain in Galilee — all authority, all nations...