MAT 21
21
The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
Mk. 11:1-11; Lk. 19:28-38; Jn. 12:12-19
1 And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples ahead,
2 saying to them, "Go into the village before you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt—a young donkey—with her. Untie them and bring them to Me.
3 And if anyone says anything to you or questions you, you will say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and he will send them immediately without hesitation."
4 Now this happened in order to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Zechariah, saying,
5 "Say to the daughter of Zion—the people of Jerusalem,
'Behold, your King comes to you in humility,
humble and mounted upon a donkey,
and upon a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"*
6 So the disciples went and did just as Jesus had ordered them,
7 and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them as a saddle; and He sat on them.
8 And a very large crowd spread their cloaks upon the road as a carpet of honour, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them upon the road in royal homage.
9 And the crowds who went before Him and those following were shouting, saying, "Hosanna—save us now—to the Son of David! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"
10 And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up and in commotion, saying, "Who is this man causing such a stir?"
11 And the crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
The Cleansing of the Temple
Mk. 11:15-19; Lk. 19:45-48; Jn. 2:13-22
12 And Jesus entered the temple courts and expelled all those selling animals and buying in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves for sacrifice.
13 And He said to them with righteous anger, "It is written in Scripture: 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a hideout for robbers and a place of commercial exploitation!"
14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple courts and He healed them with compassion.
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wondrous things which He performed, and the children shouting in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were greatly displeased and indignant.
16 And they said to Him, "Do You hear what these children are saying?" So Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read in the Scriptures,
'From the mouth of infants and nursing babies
You have prepared praise'?"*
17 And having left them without further explanation, He went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there with friends.
The Cursing of the Fig Tree
Mk. 11:12-14, 20-24
18 Now in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He became hungry.
19 And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone—no fruit despite the appearance of fruitfulness. He then said to it, "May there be no more fruit from you for eternity." And the fig tree withered immediately.
20 And when they saw it, the disciples marvelled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly and completely?"
21 And in response, Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to 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 say to this mountain, 'Be removed and thrown into the sea,' it will take place.
22 And whatever you request in prayer, if you believe with genuine faith, you will receive."
The Questioning of the Authority of Jesus
Mk. 11:27-33; Lk 20:1-8
23 And when He had come into the temple to teach, the chief priests and the elders of the people approached Him while He was teaching, saying, "By what authority are You doing these things—cleansing the temple and teaching, and who gave You this authority?"
24 And in response, Jesus said to them, "I also will ask you one question, which, if you tell me the answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 From where did the baptism of John originate—from heaven as a divine commission or from men as merely human invention?" And they began to reason among themselves, saying, "If we say 'From heaven,' He will say to us, 'Then why did you not believe him and his message?'
26 But if we say, 'From men,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet."
27 And in response, they said to Jesus, "We do not know the answer." Then He said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
The Parable of the Two Sons
28 "Now, what do you think? A man had two sons. And he came to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'
29 And in response, he said, 'I will not go,' but afterwards he changed his mind and repented and went.
30 And he came to the second and said the same. And in response, he said, 'I will go, sir,' but he did not go.
31 Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first who obeyed despite his initial refusal." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes go before you into the kingdom of God!
32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness preaching repentance, and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And when you saw it, you did not even repent afterwards and change your minds, and believe in him.
The Parable of the Vineyard and the Tenants
Mk. 12:1-12; Lk. 20:9-19
33 "Hear another parable: There was a man, the master of a house—a landowner, who planted a vineyard, and placed a fence around it for protection, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower for security. Then he leased it to farmers and embarked on a journey.
34 And when the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers to collect his fruits—his rightful share.
35 And the farmers took hold of his servants, one of whom they scourged and beat, and one of whom they killed, and one of whom they stoned.
36 Again, he sent other servants, more than the first ones, and they did likewise to them—rejecting and abusing them.
37 At last, he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will have respect for my son and honour him.'
38 But seeing the son, the farmers said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and appropriate his inheritance for ourselves.'
39 So they took hold of him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 Now, when the master of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?"
41 They said to Him, "He will consign those wretches to a wretched death, and lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him the fruits in their proper seasons."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
'The stone which the builders rejected as worthless,
this has become the cornerstone—the most important stone.
This was from the Lord,
and it is wonderful in our eyes'?*
43 "For this purpose, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you who reject Me and given to a people—the Gentiles—who produce its fruits.
44 And the one who falls upon this stone will be broken to pieces; and upon whomever it falls, it will crush him into powder."*
45 And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they knew that He was speaking about them and their rejection.
46 And although they wanted to seize Him and arrest Him, they were afraid of the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet.
Notes
5 Quoted from Zech. 9:9
16 Quoted from the Septuagint of Ps. 8:2
42 Quoted from Ps. 118:22-23
44 Referring to Is. 8:14-15
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
