[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 05:00 p.m. or Wednesdays at 07:00 p.m. if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison church, you can find us
[email protected] dot. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast Madison Church of Christ sermons thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
So I am going to call an audible here. We were going to finish up chapter 20. The only part we did not cover last week is the last little section there where it says they are leaving Jericho. And there are these blind men that are calling out to Jesus. Crowd tells them to stop and Jesus ends up. They keep yelling anyway, and Jesus ends up healing them. The part I wanted to get to was, so they've been in Jericho. They're leaving Jericho and they're headed toward. And this is where we're going to jump into chapter 21. They're headed toward Jerusalem. So let me see if I can get the slide to advance.
Okay, well, let's go on into. If you'll go ahead and start 21, I will see if I can get this to work for us.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Okay, I'll go ahead. And if you would turn and read with me as we read the first section of chapter 21, and then we'll break it down after that and just start talking about.
Should be a familiar story to most of us, chapter 21 beginning at verse one.
Now, when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you'll find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, the Lord needs them and he will send them at once.
This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this? And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.
Okay, we'll stop right there and talk about that section. So what do we refer to that story as? Most of the time it's got a common. I don't know if I put it on the triumphant entry is what it's known as being. What was triumphant about his entry had.
[00:03:36] Speaker C: That circum with the people going before him, laying cloaks on the road, striking how for a few days they completely turned off.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Okay. I guess to me it didn't seem all that triumphant, especially if you're focused through the eyes of the Romans, maybe. And the folks of that time. To me, it was not at all what those who had not accepted him were expecting.
So, to come on a donkey, though there is a historical basis for that. The time in that day, the triumphant emperors and warriors rode horses. Right. And came in on decked out horses. So this was not exactly the glitz and glamour, but there was a reason for it, right.
It fulfilled a prophecy. So I don't know how far you wanted to take any of this, but any thoughts?
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Well, I've got a comment on. I'll go ahead and make my comment.
One of the things that I thought was interesting, again, if you go back into chapter 20, what was he just telling his? He was talking about the first have to become last. Right. And so then in verse five there in chapter 21, notice that what it says about the king is coming. How is he coming? That third line, humble, you know, so it's, to me, it's, again, it's showing that Jesus was. He was trying to prepare them for everything that they were seeing. So that just goes right into, again, I see this narrative throughout this that he's been trying to tell them.
[00:05:31] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: They were just talking about who's going to be the greatest. And we ended last week that James and John's mother had asked Jesus and said, you know, I want my sons to be prominent and everything, and they're headed to Jerusalem. And, you know, I'm wondering. Scripture doesn't say, I'm wondering if they were expecting something. They were expecting something to happen. In Jerusalem, even though Jesus had already told them what was going to happen, they were still hanging on to, this is going to be big, and Jesus has been preparing them.
It is going to be big, but not in the way you think it is.
[00:06:12] Speaker B: So there was prophecy, and it's quoted here in this section of verses, and it's a reference to Zechariah, nine nine.
It's interesting to me, this one, this prophecy was fulfilled in a little different flavor than a lot of them. Jesus himself executed, if you will, this prophecy. He made it happen without others to help, except for sending those to get the donkey. And I thought it was interesting. I did put that on chart, something about that.
Why two animals?
Have you ever thought about that when you studied this?
[00:06:56] Speaker A: I did. When I read your slide.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: What's your answer?
[00:07:00] Speaker A: I was waiting to see you. I didn't know.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: I don't know that there's an answer or that it matters, but I found it interesting.
[00:07:09] Speaker C: What I read is that the guys I read about it that said that the colt was probably too young to be ridden and had not been trained.
And so the normal reaction of a donkey that has not been trained to be ridden on, if somebody gets on the back, will go crazy trying to kick them off or something like that. Well, if the mother is nearby, the mother is going to come and try to protect her child.
Well, now Jesus walks up and put the clothes on the back of the fold. Jesus gets on, doesn't say anything, and the mother and child of the mother quietly go into Jerusalem, all the hubbub and all that kind of stuff, with never a cry from either dying. So that is considered a miracle.
[00:08:08] Speaker B: But I like the thought, and I had read several different theories on that. But that the mother being there would help calm and console the colt who hadn't been ridden. Likely so.
But for a minute, let's think about some other potential.
When he said, going to the village, you'll immediately find a donkey tied in a colt with her.
And what did he ride in on?
The colt. And let's skip down to verse five and see what the prophecy said. Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.
The way he did it, was there any doubt that he's fulfilling that with the mother and the cult that he wrote in on?
Just a thought. Jesus executed this fulfillment himself, and I think very thoroughly did.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: So I also thought something that jumped out to me is verse six. And I had never really thought about this as an odd request. But again, after reading the slides, then it kind of jumped out of me that I think verse six is essentially reinforcing that because it makes the statement that the disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them. Well, why would it say that? I mean, because I do think that was, to Robert's point, that was an odd request. Say, go get me these two donkeys. Right. You know, but I just thought it was interesting that it calls that out of and something that seems, you know, odd and simple.
The disciples, they went and did it. They obeyed. I mean, you got to, I got to think, you know, he says, yeah, you're going to go in the city. This is what you're going to see. Bring me this donkey and its baby, right?
And they're like, okay. And they go and do it. Right. They have that obedience, that they go and do that. And it might not have made sense to them. I don't know. I never really thought about that until I saw these slides.
Yeah.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: If you go back and read when David and Solomon became king, at that time, Israel did not have cavalry. In fact, Calvary was kind of rare at that time. So both David and Solomon, when they were proclaimed king, they rode donkeys into Jerusalem, not horses. And so they were coming in.
Jesus, the son of David, was coming in like David did and how Solomon did.
[00:11:01] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Yeah. I wasn't aware of that. But that, again, leads us right into then verse nine, what you just said in the crowd. What are they screaming?
They're saying Hosanna, son of David. Right to the son of David. So they're apparently making that connection as well.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: So why put your coats on the ground in front of the donkey or limbs from trees?
Why were the people doing that?
And to me, it's tied directly. Go ahead, Robert.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: It's just one of those things I think they did. Like when the king was coming, they would straighten the road out, do all kinds of things, Romans and other big.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: People, you know, a lot of money and so forth.
[00:11:50] Speaker C: So I guess that was their best way of keeping the dust down and to make it was an entry and show respect.
[00:11:59] Speaker B: I think you're right. I. I do believe.
Well, to me it says the point they're in, both right answers, but drilled down to it's because they recognized who he was, right. They knew it was somebody. It wasn't just somebody coming in on a donkey.
It was somebody special.
And when they start shouting the Hosanna, it confirms they knew, you know, he was the messiah.
[00:12:30] Speaker A: So I'll make a comment here. And this is just editorial. I think every time I read this story, what I. It just blows my mind that the people that are doing this, right, they're throwing their coats down, they're praising him. They're the same people that, a week later, are what?
Calling for his blood.
You know?
And I think the thing that scares me about that is they're the same kind of people we are.
[00:13:08] Speaker C: Right?
[00:13:10] Speaker A: And it's just.
I'll just say it. It's scary to me to think that a large group of people. And again, we're susceptible to this today, can be so what I'll call, right, you know, saying Hosanna to the son of David, you know, throwing praises. And then a week later, you know, literally kill him. Put his blood on us. His blood on us. His blood on our children. You know, they're literally calling for his blood. And that is terrifying to me. And I think it goes back even to the prayer request that Julie asked for. It scares me for our world, for our country to see that people can do that. And again, I guarantee you we can do that today.
Some of us, had we been there, we probably would have done the same thing. And that's terrifying to me.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: It's another interesting note that there, at the last verse in that section, as he enters the actual city, it says the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this?
So there were folks there that did not know who he was or recognize him for who he was. So there was still a large part of the population there. That did not recognize him for who he was.
[00:14:37] Speaker C: It's probably people since Passover was the next weekend.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: Right?
[00:14:42] Speaker C: People who had come early from all over the world. Possibly for the Passover. They had gotten there, like I said, a week earlier. They might not have known.
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Yeah, true.
[00:14:54] Speaker C: Some people that were shouting Hosanna were not crying for his blood. Because I don't think the entire population, including all of those who saw his miracles. There had to be some that were faithful. But the majority of the city obviously didn't stand up.
This passage, I think Matthew mentions the Pharisees. Were instrumental in inciting the crowd. Right? And there's no mention of where the Pharisees were.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: And all this. Who knows? If nothing, it wasn't descriptive. From that perspective. Which is an interesting perspective of this parable or the story.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: We want to move on.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: Any other comments on the triumphant entry?
Okay.
[00:15:54] Speaker A: All right. So as we jump into this one, I want to make a couple comments.
The cleansing of the temple. And this one's a little interesting. To me, I want to cover some stuff before we actually get into the meat of it. So an event like this is recorded in all four gospels. Okay, I'll give you the references. Matthew 20, 112 13, mark 1115 18, and Luke 1945 through 47. The final one is John two verses, 14 through 16.
And this is really the first bullet here that I'm calling out. There's a lot of people, if you actually google Jesus cleanses the temple, there's a lot of people that say this is a contradiction in the Bible.
[00:16:51] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:16:53] Speaker A: And I will tell you, I was north of 40 years old before I realized that Jesus cleansed the temple twice. Okay.
John's narrative, actually, with the timeline you see there, it's actually very close to the beginning of his ministry.
And in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, it's at the end. Okay. One of the commentaries I was reading was talked. There were several pieces that it talked about. One, I think it's interesting that he cleansed the temple at the beginning and then he did it at the end. Right? So he did it twice. Also, if you look in John, he actually does not call.
He does not call the money changers, the people that are selling. He doesn't actually call them robbers. Okay? He just says, don't make the temple a place of business. Okay. And some of the commentators mentioned that that was probably, I'll call it incendiary to the jewish leaders. They probably didn't like it. But in the synoptic gospels, he goes further and then he says, you're being thieves. And that's when we'll see a little bit later. That's when they really decide we're going to kill him. Okay? We're going to go and get him.
But I did want to point that out before we got into that. There is, again, if you google it, a great deal of debate on that. It's interesting to me that some people, again, some people's first reaction is, oh, it has to be a contradiction. Well, no, it doesn't. You know, it is clearly two different events that are about two years apart. And it actually mentions that, that John's in the timeline. In John, John mentions another Passover that's not mentioned in the synoptic gospels. So we get a little bit more accurate timeline from what we see in John.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: What was it about that that upset Jesus?
Do we know?
I mean, other than what he said and quoted, what do you think? I mean.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: I don't think that was something you wanted going on there to begin with, but then to be deceitful or cheating people, you know, was like an additional straw that broke the Campbell's back.
[00:19:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you're probably right there. What about the money changers?
That was a necessary thing at the temple, right?
As long as it was done fair and legal. But somebody doesn't tell us that it was the actual money changers taking advantage of anybody. But it definitely benefited some folks, whether it be the changers or the local area, from the exchange that went on with all these folks that were there.
[00:20:17] Speaker C: What I've read is that the priest required a specific coin that was only in Jerusalem.
And so people were coming from all over the world, and they brought their own money from that area, or they brought roman coins or something like that. Well, they wouldn't accept those coins. So you had to buy the right coin or coinage to pay that tax.
And so it came at a premium, a very high premium.
It's like coming in and wanting $100 worth of jewish currency, and you're being charged $200 to get $100.
And that's where Jesus was saying it was in a thief.
There is a cost of exchanging money for money. But the exchange was very unfair to the people that were coming from all over the roman world to worship God and to put in the correct coinage that the Jews were requiring the worshippers to do.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: Right. And think of those of you who've traveled and been on mission trips and what have you, when you make that exchange. So you have some.
Some cash, some funds to spend in that area. You always have some leftover. Right? So there's a benefit to the community based on that exchange, too. And there's those that speculate there may have been a little price gouging going on with some of the things that had to be purchased as well.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: I don't disagree with what anybody has said thus far. It just seems to me the way he. He words it to them is, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers. It's like they're taking the focus away from why everyone should be there, and you're now turning it to the total opposite extreme of what this is here for. He's just trying to refocus what. What it's all about.
[00:22:34] Speaker B: I agree with you.
[00:22:34] Speaker C: We humans are so afraid of losing track of what it's all about.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Aren't we, though?
[00:22:41] Speaker A: I want to add on to kind of what you're saying. I mean, let's do what we do today, right? Well, it was a good thing, right? That these guys were providing a service so that people could make the sacrifices. Right. That's good, isn't it?
There's nothing wrong with that, is there?
[00:23:01] Speaker C: They were creating an artificial barrier, right?
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Well, no, but I'm just saying. I'm just saying they're providing a service because people are coming a long way and they want to make their sacrifice.
[00:23:14] Speaker C: Just like we do with.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: That's where I'm going. That's where I'm going. When we look at things, even in our own lives or in the world, that's what we do.
[00:23:27] Speaker B: Right.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: We say, well, that's this thing. There's nothing wrong. And let's just boil it down to that one question. Was it wrong for them to sell animals for the sacrifice?
It's a yes or no. I'm going to be an attorney here.
Oh, Ed. No, no, it wasn't wrong. Right. There's nothing wrong with that. But where were they doing it? Why were they doing it?
What had they turned it into? Right. Clearly it was like the way you say they had perverted something.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: Right?
Yeah. We had another comment over here.
[00:24:14] Speaker C: I've also read that the only place they would have been allowed to set up the market, places where. The outer court.
[00:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Court of the gentiles.
[00:24:23] Speaker C: Gentiles would have been the only place they would have been allowed to worship and learn about God and Judaism. And that obviously being there would be a big impediment on people wanting to worship. And that also has to be an issue to Jesus.
[00:24:41] Speaker A: So I want to jump over. I know in other classes we said we didn't want to jump over a whole lot, but I want to jump over to Mark. And this is in Mark, chapter eleven and verse 16. And this one was one that, again, as I was looking into the first bullet there, that was interesting to me. Okay, so he's turned off or he's turned over the tables. He's driven the merchants out. And verse 16 says, what else?
He wouldn't let anybody carry merchandise through the temple grounds.
So it was more than just running them out. Now, he was a man, right?
Jesus was a man.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: How did he do this and get away with it? You mean without being.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Let's just say that I wanted to run everybody in this room out of the room. I don't think I could pull it off.
Good point.
[00:25:52] Speaker C: He came in with a crowd. I was sitting there still with him.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: At least part of him with him.
[00:25:56] Speaker C: I mean, he kind of did have like a posse with him, so to speak. Right.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: And I don't know that I've got answers here, but I'm going to ask a couple more questions. Was Jesus angry?
[00:26:05] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: Yes.
Was he violent?
Ooh, you feel the air go out of the room when you ask that he was violent.
Say what it was.
He didn't make that whip for an object lesson.
[00:26:24] Speaker B: He hit people with it.
[00:26:30] Speaker A: I got that from your dad.
[00:26:33] Speaker C: The wind would move the animals faster than was before.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:37] Speaker C: I mean, perhaps some shock in the opium or he just stepped in and just started taking.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Why is this making us uncomfortable? Why does the statement that Jesus was angry and he got violent over something righteous, why does that make us uncomfortable? That's not how everybody likes to. No, no.
[00:26:56] Speaker C: He's the God of love and, you know, hearts and flowers.
[00:26:59] Speaker A: But there's. What's it gonna be like on the, the day of judgment? It's not going to be pretty for those that. Is he going to be violent then?
[00:27:07] Speaker C: What's the same God that told the Israelites coming into Israel, destroy all the inhabitants?
[00:27:14] Speaker A: Yes. Now I'm saying this stuff, I know it shocks, okay? I know it shocks. And again, thank you for that, Ed. Thank you for that point. I really think, or something I want, personally, I want to understand God, and I don't know that I ever will. I don't know that any human can.
But I do think contemporary society really focuses on those loving aspects, and we don't sometimes focus on or we lose the fact that, yeah, God gets angry about stuff. God.
To Ed's point, God does stuff that to us as humans, it seems pretty harsh, but again, it's an aspect of God. Right. Anger is an emotion that God feels and he demonstrates. There used to be a bulletin board around here in Huntsville that used to say, God's not mad at you. I remember I used to see that and I was like, he might be.
I mean, you know, I mean, it's one of those things. It's fun to say. Right. But he might be. I think a lot of the crowd had seen the miracles that he had done. So, you know, you asked, why didn't they confront him? I was like, well, I'm just going to stay clear.
[00:28:39] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:28:41] Speaker C: Righteousness can also be justice. Yes, we have, yet again, perverted that, too.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: Yes, I.
[00:28:48] Speaker C: The Bible says that God is love.
Doesn't say he's loving sometimes and vengeful.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:28:57] Speaker C: Which would imply that in his vengeful times, there is some love in that Jesus. It might be love from the righteous.
[00:29:06] Speaker A: Have humans. And I'm going to ask you directly, Larry, because I think you'll stand up to this question. Have humans that love you done things that maybe at the time seemed cruel and unusual, but they did it because they loved you, because they needed to get you to change something.
[00:29:29] Speaker C: We had a tree in our backyard that was the source of many switches, and I deserved every one of them looking back on it. But is it still there?
[00:29:39] Speaker A: But at the time.
[00:29:41] Speaker C: At the time, it did not seem loving.
[00:29:43] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'm gonna make a deduction here that you're talking about either your parents or your grandparents or both, correct? Parents. Yeah. And obviously your parents loved you, right?
Yeah.
[00:29:58] Speaker C: And looking back on, I'm very grateful in that way.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:30:02] Speaker C: Because I needed it.
[00:30:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep. Absolutely.
[00:30:07] Speaker C: Can I make one comment about the.
[00:30:09] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:30:10] Speaker C: You talked about how he was able to get people out. Sometimes people with a really guilty conscience, it's easy to get them to flee. But to me, a lot of that goes back to if you just think about how God looks at the heart and if somebody is there trying to help other people worship God, that's one thing that they're taking the advantage of that and trying to get something for themselves out of it.
He sees the heart.
[00:30:41] Speaker B: Yep. Any other thoughts?
[00:30:42] Speaker C: Why was Jesus angry?
Because of what they did to him or because what they did to his father's house and father's will?
Anything that was ever done to Jesus that would make us angry, even on the cross, forgive them, he never responded because of something that was done to him. The anger was because of what they did to the fathers. We get angry because of what people do to us. We should get angry when we see injustice being done to others. But it is so commonplace, regrettably, I see it every day. It makes me angry when I see what is being done to people. It causes me to do something not violently or acting out. But Jesus was not angry because of how he was treated. He was righteous. That was righteous indignation, anger because the father's will. Washington, lord it, Father, everything was perverted.
[00:31:53] Speaker B: Very good point. Very well said.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: That is important. Wonderful point. Thank you very much for making that point.
Any other comments? I think the bell is going to catch us.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: I don't think we need to start.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: And so. Yeah, we won't start anything else now as we close out.
Robert and I will not be here next week. I think Larry be able to do pickup for us next week.
Okay. Thank you all very much.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: Thanks for being here.
