Day 35

Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast. I'm here with Pastor Sam as we're walking through the Gospel of Matthew verse by verse, and we have reached it. Chapter 21, Holy Week. Holy Week, the start of it. So we're going to dive right into it. In verse one, it says When they approached Jerusalem and came to Beth Page at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples, telling them, Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied with her colt, untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled. Tell daughter Zion, see your king is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey, right? So So this is a old testament prophecy that Jesus is fulfilling. We've talked about this before that ⁓ just how many prophecies Jesus fulfilled in his lifetime. Now, this is one that was more under his control. You know what I mean? Like he could tell them go do this. And then there were other prophecies such as where he was born, that if he was making this up, he could not control. Like that was beyond his control. But again, this is a very symbolic symbol of like a conquering king, like a war king would have ridden into a city on a horse, like a war horse. So he's coming in on a different animal representing a different kind of conquering king. You know, one that's again like gentle lowly. This is the but this is still the king coming either way. In verse six it says the disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt. Then they laid their clothes on them, he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their clothes clothes on the ground. Others were cutting branches from trees and spreading them on the road. Then the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed shouted Hosanna, the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest heaven. When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar saying, Who is this? The crowds were saying this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth and Galilee. Yes. So this is not a small crowd. This has got like the the city is at capacity, like swelling, you know, well beyond capacity for this time of year. Jesus is still front and center. Like this is like everyone knows who he is that's coming in. And if they don't know, they're finding out because of this uproar as they're describing. Yeah. But ⁓ Real quick. Yeah. Yeah. Why are they why is it at capacity? Like why ⁓ okay. So they're coming in, yeah, good point, for Passover, which is ⁓ the holiday, the Jewish holiday that celebrates when in Exodus, when they were in slavery, that God sent the angel of death to wipe out all the firstborn ⁓ sons and animals in Egypt in order to be released from slavery, but he passed over the house of yeah, with the blood of the lamb over the houses of Israel. Yep. So they celebrate that every year for God's deliverance. And then Jesus comes saying, I am that Passover lamb. I am the one who will s you know shed my blood for you and ⁓ pass over you. And before we started recording, I I was Googling this 'cause I and I couldn't find you know I mean I was just looking this up 'cause I've never made this connection before. So Bible experts out there, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's fascinating that there is these details that they're cutting down, you know, branches and they're throwing their clothes on the ground. And it just sparked something in me thinking, what was the Garden of Eden moment like again? Mm-hmm. When sin entered into the world, they covered themselves with what? With like leaves? And then God gave them clothes, and then and that's when the world became the way that it was. Yeah. God, the conquering king is here, and what are they throwing on the ground? The exact same thing they covered themselves with to hide from him. And they're shouting Hosanna, which means save us. So it's almost like there's this thing, this that's not the right word, but you know, I can't describe it in the human heart that's like, I need to be rescued and I'm throwing off all security in the presence of the savior. And that seems to be what's happening here. Like this, this is not a half-hearted religious thing. They're like, no, you are the one that my heart has been waiting for, looking for, that all human beings have been looking for, and we're throwing off everything. Not like saying getting like totally naked just to not be crass, but I'm like, it is fascinating parallel to think the descendants of Adam and Eve as God is entering into their city. Are saying, Save us, save us. And that's what he's come to do. Yeah. And you know, this one is we were talking about it earlier, kinda when Jesus cuffs are off in this. Yeah, I love that phrase. He said the cuffs are off. Yeah. He's not holding back. He's got days, a few hours left. He's not No, he lets it go. Mm-hmm. And in verse 12 talks about it. ⁓ Jesus went into the temple and threw out all those buying and selling. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves. Right. Now what what was happening was in the temple they were making the sacrifices that were mandated through the law of Moses, that God does, you know. after they're delivered in ecstasy's like, here's how you're gonna worship me. Here's how you know you're gonna sacrifice these animals. And we're gonna get it that's gonna be a longer discussion for another podcast. But like the reason behind that and it's actually very beautiful. But what was happening is they were taking what God had said as the gifts and the sacrifices, but people were profiting off of Yes. If you could imagine people were taking advantage of the crowd's desperation to be right with God. And they're saying, ⁓ you can't bring your animal, that's ⁓ that's unclean, you gotta buy ours, and it's at ten times the price. Yeah. And so Jesus is like, This is injustice, this is brokenness, this is not the heart of worship. So he's clearing it out, saying, No more, no more, you ten of thieves. Yeah. Yeah, you've twisted it. You twist it. Yeah. Continues on in verse 14. The blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. When the chief priest and the scribes saw the wonders that he did, and children shouting in the temple, Hosanna. To the son of David, they were indignant, and said to him, Do you hear what these children are saying? Jesus replied, Yes. Have you never read, You have prepared praise for from the mouths of infants and nursing babies? Then he left them and went out to the city of Bethany and spent the night there. So again, it it's just incredible that the people who should have seen Jesus. For who he was where the religious leaders, the scribes reject him. But the blind actually see him better than the religious leaders do, and they rush to him in the temple and they're experiencing the presence of God, yep, healing in the temple, which was the point all along. And the children, those who were despised by the world, Jesus values, so again is showing that upside down. Yeah. And he's like, Yes, they get it. You don't. Yeah. Like like that's what we're doing. Yeah. Yep. In verse eighteen it says Early in the morning he was returning to the city. He was hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road he sent up to it and found nothing on it except leaves, and he said to it, May no fruit ever come from you again. At once the fig tree withered. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, How did the fig tree wither so quickly? Jesus answered them, Truly I tell you, if you have faith, And do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the sea, it will be done. And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask in prayer. Yeah, again, we've said this a few times, but this is falls in that category of passages of scripture where if you knew the Bible you just say, What? What it was happening. This is Jesus is using this fig tree. And ⁓ y this takes some digging. Yeah. So like if you miss it, don't don't feel bad. Like Bible scholars would say that what Jesus is doing is demonstrating for the disciples what he's about to do in the temple with the religious leaders. They have the f they have the leaves, they look beautiful, they're growing this tree, but it's not producing the one thing it's supposed to do. A tree doesn't exist a fruit tree does not exist for leaves to be the only thing it's growing. It exists for the fruit it's supposed to grow and it's not growing any fruit. So it's useless. And that's what Jesus is saying. This temple, the way that you're worshiping me, has become useless 'cause it might look beautiful and it might look put together, but there's no fruit. Mm-hmm. So that's what Jesus is saying. So again, if you've never heard that, understood that before, no worries. Like it's it was confusing to them too. But that's what Jesus is doing. He's saying, I'm gonna show you and they're like, How quickly that happened? Well, fast forward just a few years, that temple collapses and It's under siege and the whole it's like God's judgment passes over it. But the fruit of those doing the work of Jesus continues on. Mm-hmm. Continue on in verse twenty three. It says, When he entered the temp temp temple, the chief priests and the elders of the of the people came to him as he as he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority? Jesus answered them. I will also ask you one question. And if you answer it for me, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Did John's baptism come from heaven or was it h of human origin? Yeah, so in those times, speaking under authority as like you were discipled under this person, this person you know I mean, like you they were your rabbi and on and on on. It was like a lineage, if you will, of authority. ⁓ so that's what they're trying to kind of trap him with. Like you've just gone rogue. ⁓ that doesn't quite hit us at the same way like in America, 'cause like that doesn't really bother us. But in that time and place and culture, that would have been a very big deal to be like, I'm speaking of my own authority. No, no, you don't do that, not in that culture. So then Jesus again, just being the ultimate jujitsu master, just takes all their energy and turns it against them and says, If you ask a question for me, let me ask you a question and is like, So what authority did John? Do what he was doing. Again, trying to show them where does authority even come from in the first place? That's what he's trying to put back on them. It's not from the rabbi, or maybe it is from the rabbi, but it's not from that rabbi's rabbi. Where's the origin? Yeah. So the ultimate authority. Right. ⁓ continuing on, they they discussed it among themselves. If we say from heaven, he will say to us, then why didn't you believe him? But if we say of human origin, we're afraid of the crowd because everyone considers John to be a prophet. So they answered Jesus, We don't know. And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Yeah. Kind of answering their question without answering their question. Like you you come on, guys, you know. You know. Yeah. ⁓ verse twenty eight says, What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, My son, go work in the vineyard today. He answered, I don't want to, but later he changed his mind. And went. Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. I will, sir, he answered, but he didn't go. Which of these two two did his father's will? They said the first. Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you, for John came to you in a way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him. Tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him. But you, when you saw it, it didn't change your minds then and believe him. That's right. So keep in mind as you're setting the scene in your mind's eye that Jesus is speaking to the crowds 'cause again, people want to be around him wherever he is. Yes. And the religious leaders are still there. Yeah. So he's obvious so what he's saying is the first son are like those who are obvious sinners. Like They don't do what the father told them to do, but they change their heart. Something changes their heart and they go and do it. Mm-hmm. The next ones say they're gonna do it, but they don't. Mm-hmm. Tim Keller has a great line where he says the kingdom of God is structured in such a way that the pimps and the prostitutes get in before the priests and the Pharisees. Mm-hmm. The pimps and the prostitutes come into the kingdom of God before the priests and the Pharisees. Because they have their heart changed. Mm-hmm. Those who don't think they need it changed, who think they're good, they're religious enough, blah, blah, blah. Don't enter. They don't think they have to. But those who know they're broken know their sinners come in. So he's saying this with a mixed crowd. There's sinners, there's prostitutes, there's tax collectors there, and they're like, ⁓ so we're in, as long as you believe in me. Priests and the scribes who are like, We're in, they're like, As long as you believe in me. Again, he's not excluding them, but he's like, You're excluding yourself by thinking you don't need it. Yeah. Which is which leads to the next passage. So he he continues his monologue, his teaching. In verse thirty three it says, Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watch tower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away. When the time came to harvest fruit, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Again he sent other servants more than the first group, and they did the same as ⁓ to them. Finally he sent his son to them. Truly they will ⁓ they will respect my son, he said. But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, This is the heir, come, let's kill him and take his inheritance. So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard k comes, what will he do to the farmers? Right. Jesus has basically summarized the Old Testament in this story, saying, like the this vineyard is like the world. It's God's world. Mm-hmm. God is the landowner. And he's sending Abraham, Moses, the prophets. He's sending a whole nation of Israel, king like he's sending all these people and they're still not listening. And then he's like, I know that I'll send my son. Mm-hmm. And they kill him. So again, he's predicting his death here for those who are carefully reading. Mm-hmm. he's asking the crowds, if this was you, if you were the landowner, what would you do if they killed your son? Mm-hmm. So Verse forty-one, he says, He will complete he will completely destroy those terrible men, they told him, and lease his vineyard to other farmers that who will give his fruit at the harvest. Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the scriptures, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This is what the Lord has done. And it is wonderful in in our eyes. Again, he's saying the same thing over and over. You have been a terrible tenant. You spiritual leaders have done a terrible job. Mm-hmm. You're being cast out. You're being thrown aside, and new people are taking over. Mm-hmm. In verse ⁓ forty three, it says, Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to the people producing its fruit. Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but On whomever it falls, it will shatter him. When the chief priest and the Pharisees heard this parable, his parables, they knew that they knew he was speaking about them. Although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds because the people regarded him as a prophet. Mm-hmm. So Jesus is saying, I mean, th this this line about the cornerstone is is is beautiful, slightly confusing at first, but ultimately beautiful. It's like you've you will break on Jesus or Jesus will break you. Like you know what I mean? Like you have no option. Like your life will be shattered when you've when you come to Christ, it shatters you, but in the best way. Yeah. You know what I mean? It it it breaks you open. It it it your life has changed. Mm-hmm. But if you refuse it will crush you in the end. Like you will have to kind of in a weird way of saying you will have to do business with that rock one way or another. You will be destroyed one way or another. In the best way or in the worst way. And it's be it's the rock, it's the cornerstone that the builders rejected those who're like, ⁓ we don't really need this. He's not a big deal. ⁓ no, it's the main point. And so but but then you get this sense that the chief priests, the Pharisees They are they Jesus has their full attention, as you said. Cuffs off. And they are plotting. They are beginning their plot ⁓ to figure out what's next, but they're afraid of the crowd. So just again, as we get in these next episodes, Holy Week is tense. It's not boring. Like this is feuding time. Like it's about to I don't know. It's about to come off. It's about to go off. Like yeah. It's a taking time bomb. It is, it is. And so with that, that'll be it for today's episode. Tomorrow will be in ⁓ chapter twenty two. So thank you for tuning in and we'll see you tomorrow.