Come Follow Me LDS- Matthew 21 Part 2

'A Bull In A China Shop'
- The Chief Priests & Elders are the 'Thieves' of the Den
- Parable of the 2 Sons
- Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen

 

Come Follow Me New Testament

LDS Mormon Matthew Bible

 

all right in this episode we're gonna

talk about a bull in a china shop here

we go so our focus in this episode is

Matthew 21 alright where are we at

remember that Jesus has gone through the

procession now the multitudes the masses

his converts and others that are

interested in want to follow him have

come out with their palms the lulavs

and he's got a day of atonement type of

a procession or a feast of tabernacles

type of procession where he's coming in

from the Mount of Olives from the east

and entering Jerusalem and where does he

end up of course he ends up at the

temple because that's where the king

would go for the great festival and

drama that would happen here and what

does he do when he gets there now John

is the only gospel that has Jesus Clint

cleansing the temple at the beginning of

his ministry the synoptic Gospels have

it at the end of his ministry so we

sometimes say that well this is the

second time that he cleanses the temple

that could be but we I don't know that

we really know that John might be

purposefully taking things out of

chronological order authors do that

often to make a point and we've talked

about that previously but regardless

here Jesus is at the temple at the end

of the procession and why is he there

because he is the king of kings he is

the great high priest the new

Melchizedek which is the king of

righteousness or another phrase would be

your title would be the Prince of Peace

and as the new Melchizedek the new

Melchizedek priest or the royal priest

the high priest

he would be there to effectuate the Day

of Atonement ritual which used to be in

the first temple period the most sacred

of rituals all year long and that is

again I'm going to go over this quickly

here because it's very important or they

would take the two goats the high priest

would put his hands on one of the heads

of the one of the goats remove all of

the sins and then put his hands on the

on the on the head of the other goat and

place all the sins on that other goat

now the pure goats the purified goat

would be the goat that is slain right

out is sacrificed and the blood is used

to cleanse the altar to cleanse the Holy

of Holies in the Ark of the Covenant to

cleanse the temple to cleanse the

priests to cleanse the people and to

cleanse the land it is the blood of

Christ that this represents well the

other goat is the scapegoat and that

goat is sent out of the city of

Jerusalem and eventually what they would

do is in later times they would force

the goat off of a cliff and he would

fall to his death that's an important

scenario an important ritual to look at

when we're looking at the scriptures

because we see this happen all the time

there is a separation we have for

example Lucifer and his followers are

kicked out of the pre-existence we have

Adam and Eve who are kicked out of the

garden because of sin and there is

always a sacrifice that is made for the

sinners and so that's what's happening

the blood of the sacrificial goat

that was used to cleanse all of the

temple this is what the representation

of Jesus cleansing the temple is he is

going around and he is cleansing the

temple not with his blood at this point

but he's cleansing the temple as the

high priest he is getting rid of the

moneychangers and think about again

going back to the spiritual economy how

this is mentioned it Jesus says that

this is a house of prayer a spiritual

house and you have made it

den of thieves again the spiritual

economy they are a den of thieves that

the temple is a den of thieves and

we get a very interesting parallelism to

this as we go down the chapter as we

learn about thievery in the form of the

gospel and the priesthood so not only

are the money changers inside the

thieves who are stealing money from

those that need to come in from the

diaspora from all different parts of the

land and other lands to get their

sacrificial animals and other things and

trade money but the thieves are the

chief priests the high priests and the

elders that run the temple itself they

are the thieves and in fact it might

very well be that Jesus has them in mind

and not the money changers just my

thought on this but that he has them in

mind when he's talking about a den of

thieves

follow me on this as we go through this

chapter so as he is in the temple and

he's teaching there the chief priests

and the elders come to him and they want

to know by what authority he is doing

and saying all of these things the

miracles that he's performing the

teachings that he is giving what

authority does he have this is so ironic

that the those that run the temple are

asking Jesus Jehovah by what authority

he is doing these things and Jesus

brings up John the Baptist and he says

well by what authority did John teach

because he taught about me and of course

the chief priests know that John the

Baptist was very widely accepted as a

prophet and with all the people around

they didn't want to say anything they

were trying to accuse him directly but

they didn't want to say anything about

John the Baptist because they were

afraid that the people would turn on

them because many of the

people were followers of John the

Baptist and they saw the chief priests

in the end the elders they don't answer

him and so Jesus doesn't answer them he

says if you if you can't answer by what

authority John preached then I'm not

gonna answer by what authority I preach

by what authority John baptized and by

what authority Jesus performs his

miracles and probably referring to

ordinances as well that he would have

performed callings that he gave to Peter

James and John and the Apostles etc and

so the priests and the others say we

can't tell by what authority it is and

so Jesus gives them a parable and he

says here in verse 28 but what think ye

a certain man had two sons and he came

to the first and said son go work today

in my vineyard he answered and said I

will not but afterward he repented and

went and he came to the second and said

likewise and he answered and said I go

sir and went not and then he asked them

whether of them Twain did the will of

his father and they saying to him the

first Jesus saith unto them verily i say

unto you that the publicans he brings up

the publicans again the publicans and

the harlots the lowest of society

that the chief priests will have nothing

to do with the publicans and the harlots

go into the kingdom of God before you

here they are in their den right in

their temple the chief priests and the

elders they are the authorities here the

authorities of the temple and he's

telling them that the publicans that

they revile and the harlots are going to

get into the kingdom of God before they

will get in and of course the parable is

saying that the publicans and harlots

whom Jesus has converted I think that's

an important thing to understand why

does he bring up the publicans all the

time we have all of this talk especially

in Matthew and Luke about this spiritual

economy and the publicans are inserted

over an

over again into the scenario of being

present in these parables or actually

being referred to in these parables but

Jesus and the Apostles converted many of

these publicans and harlots and sinners

and that's where we start getting this

idea about the prodigal son and how

can somebody who made so many mistakes

be brought back in and now they're as

good as I am and I think that as I read

through these types of teachings these

types of parables I need to re-examine

things I think myself and think am I too

judgmental about those that are sinners

are we as a church too judgmental

sometimes about those that are sinners

boy we want purity we want to protect

ourselves that's a natural occurrence a

natural behavior but there's an awful

lot of

all the things that Jesus could teach

about the gospel there's an awful lot of

this in his time and mortality to love

the sinner and don't exalt yourself

because if you're again cutting in line

by making yourself first in the kingdom

how might we do that we might do that by

thinking that because we do the

checklist things that we are doing

better than other people

and of course Jesus is saying look I

mean do those things but love the sinner

don't exalt herself self-righteousness

isn't going to get you anywhere she says

that the first son who said he wasn't

gonna go but then did so the harlots and

the publicans the sinners that repented

and then went and performed in the

vineyard in the Lord's vineyard that's

what he's referring to that's what they

did

they are going to get into the kingdom

of God first before those in charge here

those with the authority those with the

priesthood are going to get in it's a

brutal teaching

right in their face it's and what he's

doing here in the temple in this setting

with these specifically says in this

example in Matthew he doesn't even bring

up the Pharisees and he talks about the

chief priests and the elders these are

the people in charge at the temple he is

a bull in a china shop here and he's

saying that they're saying that what

they're doing is right that chief

priests and elders they are saying that

they're going to go work in the vineyard

but they never do and so they're worse

off much worse off than the other son so

here they've been asking Jesus by what

authority he does all these things and

he's coming back and saying what are you

doing with your authority and of course

we go back to the example of the

laborers in the vineyard previously and

the parable of the pounds and get the

same idea and he says right here in

verse 32 following up with this parable

he says for John came unto you in the

way of righteousness and ye believed him

not but the publicans and the harlots

believed him and ye when ye had seen it

repented not afterward that ye might

believe him so I can't here's the

scenario you have the lowest of life

those that are the biggest sinners that

are converted by John originally and

later by Jesus and His apostles but

those in charge those that have it good

those that don't want to give up the

scenario that they have the

authority the power the privilege

everything that they have a sinful way

of life they're not going to give that

up and believe John and they're not

going to give that up and believe Jesus

here so it doesn't really matter Jesus

gives us a great principle here that it

doesn't really matter where we've been

but what we do now and what we do going

forward it matters where we're going and

so it's a full upside-down world here

that he is portraying to the chief

priests and the elders here we are in

the temple this

incredible edifice of Herod the center

of their civilization with those that

are in power of this and those that are

at the lowest here are the ones that are

going to be exalted

and the ones that are in charge of all

of this here are the ones that are going

to be brought down and then he gives

another parable he says there was a

certain householder which planted a

vineyard and hedged it round about and

dug a winepress in it and built a

tower and let it out to husbandmen and

went into a far country and when the

time of the fruit drew near he sent his

servants to the husbandmen that they

might receive the fruits of it and the

husbandmen took his servants and beat

one and killed another and stoned

another again he sent other servants

more than the first and they did unto

them likewise but last of all he sent

unto them his son saying they will

reverence my son but when the husbandmen

saw the son think of him saying this

real-time to them referring obviously to

himself but when the husbandmen saw the

son they said among themselves this is

the heir come let us kill him and let us

seize on his inheritance and they caught

him and cast him out of the vineyard and

slew him and this is exactly what they

are planning to do they already know

that they're going to do this and Jesus

is calling them out right here in their

own den here so to speak so they're

going to cast him out which is what they

do outside of the city up on Golgotha

and they're going to slay him

and of course as they see the son they

understand that he is the inheritance in

other words here Jesus has just come

into the procession they get this they

understand this he just came in as the

king as the heir apparent with all of

his followers and he is now in the

temple he is the son he is the heir and

what are they going to do they're going

to seize his inheritance

so who are

thieves what is he speaking of the chief

priests and the elders are the thieves

they have stolen the authority that was

given to them they have stolen the

stewardship that was given to them and

they are not offering it to the king to

the heir-apparent they are holding it

for themselves and they're going to kill

the son and then he says to them down in

verse 42 did you never read in the

scriptures this is in psalm 118 did you

never read in the scriptures the stone

which the builders rejected the same has

become the head of the corner or the

whore the cornerstone of everything this

is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous

in our eyes the stone which the builders

rejected is Christ and this comes from

the Psalms from centuries before because

Christ was always rejected it has always

been an issue to keep Christ up at the

top to keep that value that

understanding of Jehovah being the

Savior of God lowering himself below

all mankind and taking on the sins of

the world it has always been an issue

and it is one of the things that gets

pushed away over time as the spiritual

law of thermo-dynamics takes over and

corruption spiritual corruption enters

into the church and the gospel psalm 118

is a psalm about the lord and salvation

and about the temple and that's exactly

what is being brought together here as

Jesus refers to this scripture and of

course more or less 40 years later

that's exactly what happens the temple

is destroyed by the Romans and

essentially the entire priesthood of the

chief priests and the elders

disintegrates it's gone and in verse 45

and when the chief priests and Pharisees

had heard his parables they perceived

that he spake of them really but when

they sought to lay hands on him they

feared the multitude again

a large multitude they feared the

multitude because they took him for a

profit so that is the environment that

is the tension that is happening here

this climax that has brought together

here in the temple at the end of this

royal procession that has just happened

at the time of Passover where everybody

is here and all of these themes of the

Day of Atonement and the Feast of

Tabernacles are taking place showing

that Jesus is the king and that he is

Jehovah and that he is the awaited new

Melchizedek High Priest and so the match

has been struck and the tinder is

igniting a bonfire but it's this

conflict in this environment that

teaches us so much from what Jesus is

instructing about these different

characters why is this what is focused

on in other words in Jesus's mortal life

in his time of his ministry why is this

scenario of these elevated a pasta

sizing chief priests and elders and

Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes the

conflict that is Jesus is focusing on

and must focus on the focus is on the

church and therefore the focus of the

parables and their morals and their

eternal truths are targeting us as

members of the church so we might

consider these parables not only

personal teachings but in a sense a

teaching for the church itself so the

bowl has essentially knocked over all of

the china in the china shop he already

knows what his end is here and it's up

to us to take those pieces and put them

together so that we can see the eternal

true

but the savior is trying to teach us

I'll talk to you next time