Our reading today begins with Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The way that the long-expected messianic King enters the Holy City reveals that the Kingdom he is ushering in will be a lot different than the kingdoms of men. He is not riding in on a warhorse and he is not going to conquer and take power by killing people.
A Different Kind Of King and Kingdom
His firepower is not going to be the normal physical weapons of warfare but the spiritual weapons of servanthood and self-sacrificing love. He is going to defeat all the powers of evil, including death, by dying on the cross and then rising from the dead, three days later. In the passage right before our Palm Sunday reading, Jesus has already redefined greatness for his disciples according to this pattern of self-emptying love and service (Mt. 20:26-28).
The leafy fig tree that Jesus curses in Mt. 21:18-22 apparently represents Israel. Despite being outwardly religious, God’s people have been unable to bear fruit according to God’s purposes. The fig tree should have figs on it because of its many leaves but it doesn’t, just like Israel, especially its leadership. In the Parable of the Tenants (Mt. 21: 33-46), the owner of the vineyard sends his servants to collect his fruit at harvest season. But the tenants either beat up or kill the servants. They don’t give the owner his fruit and they finally kill his son.
The religious leadership of God’s people fail to represent God faithfully to the world. When the Messiah comes they don’t recognize him because they don’t live according to God’s values. They like the best seats at banquets and in the synagogues and they walk around like prideful showboats (Mt. 23:5–7). Self-sacrificing love and servanthood are not a part of who they are. They sit in Moses’ seat, but they don’t practice what they preach (Mt. 23:1-4).
Instead of recognizing Jesus as the Messiah and following him, they try to get Jesus in trouble by trapping him in his words. But Jesus wisely answers their questions and exposes their hypocrisy (Mt. 22:15-46). Through his Parables of Mathew 21 and 22 and through his words of woe in Mathew 23, Jesus pronounces judgment on the religious leadership of Jerusalem. They have the keys to God’s kingdom, but they shut the door of heaven in men’s faces. Jesus says in Mt. 23:14 – “You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” That’s why Jesus cleansed the Jerusalem Temple when he came into the city on Palm Sunday.
The money changers’ tables and the animal benches were located in the only place of the Temple grounds that the Gentiles could worship. Furthermore, mercenary rates were being charged to the poorer Jewish pilgrims as they bought animals for sacrifice. The average Joe was being ripped off by the religious elite. No wonder Jesus cleansed the Temple. The guardians of Judaism were not ready and prepared to meet their holy and awesome Lord.
God’s Judgment Is Real
Because the Jerusalem Temple worship was corrupt and because the Jerusalem leadership failed to recognize their Messiah, the Lord prophesied destruction of the Temple and the Holy City (Mt.23:37-39, 24). The judgment of Jerusalem prophesied in Mathew 24 occurred in AD 70 when the Romans sacked the City and the surrounding province. The prophecy of Mathew 24 also talks of God’s judgment of the world at the end of the age, when Christ will come a second time.
Our reading concludes with 3 Parables of Jesus in Mathew 25. Each of the Parables talks of the need for the follower of Jesus to be faithful and fruitful to the very end. We are saved by grace through faith, but our heavenly reward will depend on our faithfulness (Mathew 25:14-30). The Parable of the Sheep and Goats urges us to live by the values of God’s Kingdom. We are to feed and clothe the poor, visit the prisoner and take care of the sick (Mathew 25:34-40). This is what a cross-shaped discipleship looks like in everyday life.
There is a remarkable congruence in the type of King that Jesus is and the kingdom of God that he brings into the world. His followers, all who profess his Name, are to live lives that are according to the values of God’s Kingdom. We are not to live self-centered lives. Jesus said to his disciples: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mathew 16:24). We see these Kingdom values modeled and taught by our Lord throughout our reading today.
QOTD: Are you faithfully living a cross-shaped discipleship in everyday life?