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Post by Josh on Feb 8, 2007 20:42:36 GMT -8
12/30/05:
21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
Matthew tells us that there were two donkeys in fulfillment of this prophecy while the other gospel writers only mention one.
Indeed, it seems as if Matthew might be going out of his way to fulfill this prophecy, seeing as only one donkey was probably necessary to fulfill the passage- which is likely to have just repeated the donkey phrase for literary purposes.
That's a bit skeptical- but you can see why it seems a bit fishy.
But perhaps there were two and Matthew is telling us how ironic it was that the prophecy was fulfilled in a very literal sense indeed.
It, of course, wouldn't have been strange to have a colt stay with it's mother. And Jesus purposely chose the donkey to fulfill the prophecy.
Remmeber that this passage echoes David's triumphal entry into Jerusalem after he had captured it.
By entering Jerusalem this way, Jesus was declaring that He was the Son of David with Messianic overtones-a bold move that no doubt caught some attention.
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Post by michelle on Feb 9, 2007 18:52:52 GMT -8
1/6/06:
5"Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"
I love that Jesus is flat out described as "gentle". I've always admired people who have had a gentle nature and in reading this it seems to be apparent why.
15But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. 16"Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'[g]?"
I love that Jesus recognizes the little children and although they have a lot to learn he loves that they so zealously love him. I've always thought that this is how Jesus most wants us to love him. The kids are unfiltered, which of course is not always good. But they are unfiltered in their praise of him, which he wants from us. And they don't know to be self conscious of who is standing around them. All they know is that they want to give praise to Jesus. I love that.
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Post by Josh on Feb 9, 2007 18:53:51 GMT -8
1/6/06:
Yes, it's quite lovely.
I'm reading the Anne Rice book about Jesus' childhood right now (Christ the Lord) and I'm just astounded by all the implications of the Incarnation I hadn't ever thought of. But one of the most amazing things so far is reading (an admittedly fictional account, obviously) these beautiful parts about Jesus as a kid going to the Temple for the first time-- with all of his littles cousins, brothers, sisters, etc.. and just seeing the child-like innocent wonder they had for God, the Temple, and for their faith. Reading this chapter now, I'm tempted to think of Jesus' scolding of the Chief Priests and Pharisees as coming from his memory of what it was like to be a child Himself.
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Post by Josh on Jul 18, 2007 13:41:43 GMT -8
The Parable of the Tenants
33"Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. 35"The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
38"But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40"Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41"He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
42Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone[h]; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43"Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."[j]
45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
When is the coming of owner of the vinyard referred to in verse 40? Perhaps we might assume at the end of the world, but the context is clear that it is a reference to the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, based on the following points:
Jesus is not speaking to humanity in general as the original tenants, but the Jews from the days of the prophets up until that time. He is saying that God is going to take the vinyard from them and give it to someone else. This refers to the end of the Mosaic covenant and the beginning of the new covenant with the Church (the true Israel, made up of Jews and Gentiles).
The 'coming' is the coming of judgment against Jerusalem and its temple, not the second return of Christ. The renting of the vinyard to others is the setting up of Christ's Church which will begin to produce fruit which will ultimately (not immediately after the coming referred to here) produce a bountiful harvest.
The 'wretched end' referred to here, then, is not primarily hell, but the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple sacrificial system. Jesus is speaking specifically to the religious leaders of his day when he says: "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."
If this is still doubtful, just turn to the parable of the Wedding Banquet in the next chapter, Matthew 22:
Matthew 22 The Parable of the Wedding Banquet 1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
5"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.
13"Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14"For many are invited, but few are chosen."
Same theme, different parable. Verse 7 is a super-thinly veiled reference of course to the destruction of Jerusalem.
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