Jesus set His face toward Jerusalem, knowing what awaited Him. He entered the city on a donkey to shouts of Hosanna, cleared the temple courts, taught in the temple, and wept over the city. The leaders resolved to kill Him, and one of the Twelve agreed to help.
As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke says that Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. On the way He kept teaching and healing, and kept telling His disciples what would happen there.
The entry into the city is one of the few events all four Gospels record. Jesus rides a donkey, as Zechariah had said the king would, and the crowds greet Him with words from Psalm 118. Within days He has driven traders from the temple and answered the leaders' challenges with parables they understood all too well.
Events in this chapter
- Event
Jesus sets out for Jerusalem
Luke records that as the time for His departure drew near, Jesus resolutely set His face toward Jerusalem. On the way He kept teaching in towns and villages, and He told the Twelve plainly that in Jerusalem He would be handed over, mocked, killed, and raised on the third day. The disciples did not understand.
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Zacchaeus receives Jesus
Passing through Jericho, Jesus called a wealthy chief tax collector named Zacchaeus down from a sycamore tree and stayed at his house, to the crowd's disapproval. Zacchaeus pledged half his goods to the poor and fourfold restitution to anyone he had cheated, and Jesus declared that salvation had come to his house.
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Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus
Near Jericho a blind beggar, named Bartimaeus by Mark, heard that Jesus was passing and cried out to Him as Son of David. Told to be quiet, he shouted louder. Jesus called him, asked what he wanted, and restored his sight, and the man followed Jesus along the road.
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The anointing at Bethany
At a dinner in Bethany, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, poured costly perfume on Jesus. Judas objected that it should have been sold for the poor, and John notes that he kept the money bag and stole from it. Jesus defended her, saying she had kept it for the day of His burial.
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The triumphal entry
Approaching Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples for a colt and rode into the city while crowds spread cloaks and branches on the road and shouted words from Psalm 118, hailing Him as the Son of David who comes in the name of the Lord. Matthew and John say this fulfilled Zechariah's picture of a humble king on a donkey.
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Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
As the city came into view during the entry, Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He said it had not recognized what would bring it peace, and He foretold a siege in which enemies would surround it and leave no stone standing on another.
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The cleansing of the temple
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out those buying and selling, overturning the money changers' tables and the seats of the dove sellers. He explained the act with Scripture, calling the house a house of prayer for all nations that had been made a den of robbers. The chief priests and scribes began looking for a way to destroy Him.
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The controversies in the temple
Teaching in the temple courts, Jesus was challenged in turn by the chief priests and elders, the Pharisees with the Herodians, the Sadducees, and an expert in the law. He answered with the parable of the tenants, the coin bearing Caesar's image, the God of the living, and the two great commandments, then asked how David could call his own son Lord.
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The Olivet discourse
After leaving the temple, Jesus told His disciples that not one stone of it would be left on another. Seated on the Mount of Olives, He answered their questions about when this would happen and about His coming, warning of deception and persecution, describing the coming of the Son of Man, and calling them to stay awake and ready.
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Judas agrees to betray Jesus
Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests and offered to hand Jesus over to them away from the crowds. They agreed to pay him, and Matthew records the sum as thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity.
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Old Testament threads 8
Promises and patterns in this chapter
Matthew 21:5 quotes Zechariah 9:9
Direct quotationHigh confidenceMatthew cites Zechariah's picture of the humble king on a donkey as fulfilled in the entry; John cites the same words.
Matthew 21:9 quotes Psalms 118:25-26
Direct quotationHigh confidenceThe crowds' Hosanna and their blessing on the one who comes in the name of the Lord are the words of Psalm 118, sung at the feasts.
Matthew 21:16 quotes Psalms 8:2
Direct quotationHigh confidenceWhen the chief priests object to children praising Him in the temple, Jesus answers with Psalm 8.
Evidence:Mark 11:17 quotes Isaiah 56:7
Direct quotationHigh confidenceJesus explains the cleansing with Isaiah's word that God's house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.
Evidence:Mark 11:17 quotes Jeremiah 7:11
Direct quotationHigh confidenceThe phrase den of robbers comes from Jeremiah's temple sermon, which warned that the house bearing God's name would not protect a corrupt people.
Evidence:Matthew 21:42 quotes Psalms 118:22-23
Direct quotationHigh confidenceJesus closes the parable of the tenants by quoting the rejected stone that became the cornerstone and applying it to Himself.
Matthew 22:44 quotes Psalms 110:1
Direct quotationHigh confidenceJesus quotes Psalm 110 to ask how the Christ can be both David's son and David's Lord.
Evidence:Matthew 27:9-10 quotes Zechariah 11:12-13
Direct quotationMedium confidenceMatthew's citation about the thirty pieces of silver thrown to the potter follows Zechariah 11 most closely, though he attributes the words to Jeremiah.
Evidence:Other responsible views
- Attribution to Jeremiah: Matthew names Jeremiah although the closest wording is Zechariah 11. Explanations include a combined citation that also draws on Jeremiah's potter and field (Jeremiah 18, 19, 32), naming the major prophet for a scroll collection, or an early copying variant. Readers differ, and FaithGraph does not decide.
Explore the layers
People, places, themes, and passages in this chapter
- Person
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth is the center of the Christian faith and of FaithGraph. The Gospels present Him as the promised Messiah of Israel, the eternal Word made flesh, who taught, healed, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose bodily on the third day, and commissioned His followers to carry the good news to all nations.
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Peter
Peter, originally Simon, was a fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus called to follow Him and renamed Peter. He confessed Jesus as the Christ, denied Him during the trial, was restored after the resurrection, and preached the first sermon at Pentecost.
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Zacchaeus
Zacchaeus was a wealthy chief tax collector in Jericho who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus. Jesus called him by name and stayed at his house, and Zacchaeus responded by giving half his possessions to the poor and promising fourfold restitution to anyone he had defrauded.
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Jericho
Jericho is an ancient oasis city in the Jordan Valley, the first city Israel took under Joshua and, in the Gospels, the last stop before Jesus climbed to Jerusalem. There He healed blind Bartimaeus and stayed at the house of Zacchaeus.
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Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was one of the Twelve and, according to John, kept the group's money and stole from it. He agreed with the chief priests to hand Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver, identified Him with a kiss in Gethsemane, and afterward, filled with remorse, returned the money and took his own life.
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Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus lived in Bethany with his sisters Martha and Mary and was a friend of Jesus. When he died, Jesus came to Bethany, wept, and called him out of the tomb four days after his burial. The sign led many to believe and moved the council to plot Jesus's death.
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Martha
Martha was the sister of Mary and Lazarus in Bethany. Luke records her serving while her sister listened at Jesus's feet, and John records her going out to meet Jesus after Lazarus died and confessing that He is the Christ, the Son of God, before He raised her brother.
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Mary of Bethany
Mary of Bethany was the sister of Martha and Lazarus. She sat at Jesus's feet to hear His teaching, fell at His feet weeping after her brother's death, and anointed His feet with costly perfume six days before the Passover, an act Jesus connected with His burial.
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Bethany
Bethany was a village on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives, a short walk from Jerusalem, and the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Jesus raised Lazarus there, was anointed there, lodged there during the final week, and led His disciples out toward Bethany before His ascension.
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