Jesus is King and We are His People (Matthew 21:28-22:13)
For those familiar with the Lord of the Rings books and movies, there is a scene in which Gandalf decides to reveal who he is. Theoden is possessed by the evil Wormtongue and he refused to reveal the fullness of who he was until the right moment. But when the right moment came, he revealed his true power. He revealed who he truly was.
I find this moment to be just that. Jesus had done many miraculous things. In fact, He had just raised someone from the dead. But these miracles were oftentimes accompanied by Jesus saying, “Don’t run off and tell anybody what just happened.” Jesus’s time had not yet come, and He had yet to reveal His secret to everyone.
But this is the moment that everything changed. This is the moment that Jesus took off the robe and allowed everyone to see who He was. But His full revelation was the simple act of riding into town on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
For it was said of the coming king,
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9 ESV)
Because Jesus rode upon a donkey instead of a massive horse, many people mistakenly think that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem in humility. In fact, a lot of sermons from theological liberals today will be about Jesus’s humility.
But this was not a humble move.
This was an announcement.
Jesus was telling the crowds something that day.
He was telling the crowds that He was king. As the great Bible Commentator, D.A. Carson put it,
“But the ride on a colt, because it was planned, could only be an acted parable, a deliberate act of symbolic self-disclosure for those with eyes to see or, after the Resurrection, with memories by which to remember and integrate the events of the preceding weeks and years. Secrecy was being lifted.” (D.A. Carson, “Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew”, p. 437)
In this moment, Jesus announced to all that were looking that He was the king. He was the long-awaited Messiah. His time had come. And it was time for everyone to see who He was.
His first act after fully revealing Himself seems to be to clear the temple. Imagine this. Jesus has now formally revealed Himself to the people of Israel and one of His first acts is to walk in and assess the temple activity. And on the following day, He judged the activity and cleared the temple.
People of Jerusalem celebrated the coming of the King. They cried out “Hosanna”, which means “Oh save!” and was used as a statement of adoration. And then He went to the place that the people of God expected Him to go and assessed the place. He looked all around and then left (Mark 11:1-11).
The next day, presumably on His way to judge the temple, Jesus then saw a fig tree. And there was no fruit on the fig tree. The Gospel of Mark seems to keep the order of events as they were. And the Book of Matthew puts the two events together. Matthew is attempting to show the linkage of the two events. Mark does the same in a different way. Matthew places the entire cursing of the fig tree and its withering as being after Jesus cast people out of the temple. And Mark tells us that Jesus cursed the Fig Tree, judged the temple, then they saw the withered tree after the ordeal at the temple.
Much like Jesus riding into town on a colt, the foal of a donkey, Jesus was painting a picture. He judged the fig tree unworthy and placed a curse upon the tree itself (Matthew 21:18-19, Mark 11:12-14).
And then Jesus walked into the Temple in fury of judgment and cast out the people that were selling in the temple. It was necessary to sell doves in the temple. It was sinful to profit off it. It was sinful for people to get wealthy by taking advantage of the sacrificial system and those wanting to be faithful to the Lord by offering sacrifices.
After turning over the tables and running people out of the temple, Jesus said,
“He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.” (Matthew 21:13-19 ESV)
Jesus then left and came back to the temple to teach.
So, Jesus revealed Himself as king on Sunday, assessed the temple on Sunday, judged the activity within the temple on Monday, and on Tuesday taught and dealt with controversies in the Temple.
The chief priests and elders questioned Jesus’s authority. And He wisely dealt with their questions. And then Jesus taught, in parables what was happening in that moment.
In His response, we receive a powerful message. It is that the Church is God’s redeemed people, who are to go forth and proclaim the gospel to the nations. We find this in Matthew 21:28-22:14).
Parables are an earthly story meant to teach a heavenly reality. And in this we will see that the Church is God’s redeemed people, who are to go forth and proclaim the gospel to the nations.
Parable of the Two Sons
The first parable that Jesus gives in response is of the two sons. The set up is quite simple. One child neglects His duty. The other child neglects his duty and eventually does what he is supposed to do.
The child that neglected his duty was the leadership of the people of Israel. Israel was God’s chosen people. And they neglected their duties before the Lord. This much is seen repeatedly throughout the Old Testament.
Who is the other child? Jesus tells us that it was the dregs of society that was the other child. They were the ones that immediately rebelled but eventually came around to follow the Lord.
So, what is the lesson of this short parable? Jesus told them quite plainly that the lesson is that
“Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the Kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” (Matthew 21:31b-32 ESV)
So, John came proclaiming “the way of righteousness” and they rejected him. But the ill repute of society did not. They believed.
The people of Israel rejected the Lord and His Messiah. And now it was the tax collectors and harlots that would be getting into Heaven.
The tax collectors were, as we all know, considered the worst of the worst. They collected taxes from their countrymen with the force of Roman soldiers. And they made their income by extorting extra from their countrymen. But prostitutes were not far behind them in the regard of others.
It was those people that were deemed unworthy that would enter into the Kingdom. It was the despised that were going to gain entrance into the Kingdom of God.
Israel was the first son. But He neglected his duty.
Gentiles neglected their duty to the Lord for a long time. But eventually, they got it right. Who is the faithful son?
Well, the gentile Christians were.
They were despised by the religious elite. They were despised by virtually all of Israel, but it had always been the case that the Jewish people were supposed to be a light to the nations. Exodus 19:5-6 makes it clear that the people of Israel were always to be a light to the nations, a kingdom of priests representing God to the world. But they did not do this.
And now the Gentiles would do it.
In 1 Peter 2:9, Peter quotes Exodus 19:5-6 and states that the Church was what Israel was commanded to be in Exodus 19.
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV)
We are the needy sinners that have now received mercy. Once we were not a people. But now we are God’s people. And we are to go forth with the message of grace and mercy to a lost and dying world.
And Jesus followed this up with The Parable of the Tenants
Parable of the Tenants
The master of a house planted a vineyard. And Jesus gives a detailed description of this vineyard for a reason. It is the vineyard of Isaiah 5:2.
“Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!” (Isaiah 5:1-7 ESV)
And this vineyard, with a fence around it, a winepress, and a tower was rented out or leased to someone that was to look after it.
Slaves were sent to receive the produce, but they were beaten, stoned, and killed. He was owed fruit, but they would not give it to him. More servants were sent and they beat, stoned, and killed them.
He thought that they would respect his son. So, he sent his son. The tenants decided to kill the son in an attempt to steal the son’s inheritance. And that is what they did.
At the end of the parable Jesus asks this question,
“When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (Matthew 21:40 ESV)
The answer that they gave was,
“He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” (Matthew 21:41 ESV)
Jesus responded to that statement with a quote from Psalm 118:22. Jesus proclaims in that moment that He is the stone the builders reject. He is that stone that became the chief cornerstone.
And then, notice what Jesus said,
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Matthew 21:43-44 ESV)
We might say that, the people of Israel were in the middle of rejecting Christ at this moment. Many had just shouted “Hosanna”. But in just a few days many would shout, “Crucify Him!”. Israel was about to be crushed by this cornerstone.
I do think that one must have 70 AD in their mind here. God’s judgment was about to fall upon Israel for their rejection of Christ. And they would be scattered.
Jesus told this story to state that God would bring judgment upon the people of Israel. The Kingdom was to be taken away from the people of Israel and given to the Church. And judgment was to fall upon all those that fell over Jesus, the cornerstone.
Days later, Israel was to be filled with shouts of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” as they called for the murder of God’s Son.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”” (Acts 4:12 ESV)
Those who trust in Jesus, the cornerstone, are brought into God’s family.
Those who reject Christ, the cornerstone, are smashed to pieces. This includes the people of Israel.
This applies to all people. If you are here today and think that you are lost and without hope, then you are wrong. There is hope in Jesus Christ. In Him you can have forgiveness of sins.
But there is no hope outside of Christ.
And this includes Jewish people. Jewish people that trust in Christ will find their selves to be part of God’s people. The first disciples of Jesus were Jews that trusted in Christ. They were counted as part of God’s people. But they were not God’s people outside of Christ.
The same is true today. There is no hope outside of Christ. There is salvation in Him and no one else.
Parable of the Wedding Feast
And then Jesus tells of a wedding feast given by a king for his son. Servants were sent out to invite people to come, but the people were unwilling. More servants were sent out, but this time the people seized the messengers, mistreated them, and killed them.
Of course, the king was enraged. So he burned the whole city down. The king brought justice to this wicked city. Those invited were not worthy, so the king decided to invite others.
The people were called upon to go out and invite everyone. They were to invite, “as many as you find.” (Matthew 22:9) So they ran around inviting everyone “both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.” (Matthew 22:9-10 ESV)
The wedding hall was full of people. But there was one person that was not wearing a wedding garment. And this was troubling. Wedding garments were simple, non-descript robes that the host would give guests to wear. Oftentimes everyone wore white robes to these weddings. Everyone was to wear wedding garments.
This person had apparently gotten in without receive robes from the host. Therefore, he was bound up and cast out into the outer darkness, “in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:13-14 ESV)
This parable builds upon the last one. The first group rejected the invitation. In fact, they rejected it a second time and killed the messengers. So, we have been building to this parable.
The king brought judgment upon the people that rejected the invitation and killed the messengers. Obviously, because Jesus said this very thing, this is about the people of Israel, who repeatedly killed the messengers.
“”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37 ESV)
“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation.” (Luke 11:47-51 ESV)
So, God brought judgment upon them. You should again be reminded of AD 70, when the Romans burned down the city of Jerusalem. Most every structure in Jerusalem was destroyed, somewhere around 1 million Israelites were killed, and around 90,000 Israelites were taken captive.
These people rejected Christ, so the king judged the city and invited others to come. These people filled the great wedding feast. But one person was there that did not put on the robes.
So, what are the robes? The robes are the righteousness of Christ.
Mankind rebelled against God. And because of that we are sinners. We sin because we are sinners. But God didn’t leave us in that awful state. God sent His Son to redeem us through His perfect life, death, and resurrection. Jesus was on His way to the cross. There He would bare the full wrath and justice of God in place of wicked sinners. We earned the punishment and Jesus would pay the price. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave.
Only those that trust in Jesus are saved from sin. Only they are brought into God’s family. Only they are allowed to be at the wedding feast.
It is only through the finished work of Christ, only those clothed with His righteousness will enter.
Many are called out. Many intend to go to the wedding. Many try to get their on their own. But it is only through Jesus that you can be a part of His people.
Conclusion
What do you get when you combine all of Jesus’s parables in response to the Pharisees?
It actually brings us a rather full picture of the message we proclaim so often.
- God saves sinners.
- God judges all those that reject the Savior.
- God saves only those that have the robes of Christ’s righteousness.
- We are to go and proclaim Christ to the nations.
R. Dwain Minor