OUR BACKGROUND

Once again we will take a brief look at those things in our text that come before our parable in this chapter.

Mt 21:1-6

1 When they (Jesus and His disciples) had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

I first asked myself, "Why does Jesus speak of getting the donkey and colt in the first place?"

Throughout the bible, and especially in the New Testament Jesus spoke (and virtually all of the writers wrote) quoting from places in the Old Testament which prophetically spoke concerning the topic that He was explaining. What many have not recognized is the fact that He is leading His listeners (and the writers their readers) to look at the context of the quoted verse. That quoted verse sits in a string of sentences or paragraphs of information that is essential for the hearer of Jesus' words full understanding of what He is saying that you would miss if you didn't do that. And this is one of those places. Here, Jesus quotes Hezekiah 9 and verse 9... because He wants you to see all of Hezekiah chapter 9, especially Hezekiah 9:10. Hezekiah is speaking about the coming dissolution of the nation as the givers of the Good News to the world, and giving that responsibility to "the nations." At Jesus' time of execution... that dissolution of the nation was just 40 years away by emperor Caesar. Israel will cease to be a nation and Jerusalem (and the temple) will be destroyed.

Here we’ll insert the actual quote from Hezekiah 9:9 a brief commentary and then move on to the unquoted Hezekiah 9:10.

09 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
He is just and endowed with salvation,
Humble, and mounted on a donkey,
Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew uses only a portion of the quote to remind all who read Hezekiah that Jesus’ coming would be about the recrimination of Israel and especially Jerusalem, the capital of the nation, at this very special of prophesied time – The arrival of their Savior and future King. We shouldn’t miss the fact that Jesus is requesting both the needed foal, and its mother. What a kind heart our Lord has – even toward this young foul that it should be without its mother on this journey.

Then in the very next verse (:10) the prophecy speaks of what will happen soon – Israel will be cut off and He will move His benevolent actions to the ends of the earth as He takes on His Church (both Jews and Gentiles) as those responsible for the preaching of His Gospel and reaches out to the whole world with the Gospel of salvation.

10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
And the horse from Jerusalem;
And the bow of war will be cut off.
And He will speak peace to the nations;
And His dominion will be from sea to sea,
And from the River to the ends of the earth.

Moving on with the story... Jesus said, "go get the donkey and it's colt" and then the disciples did just as Jesus asked. Matthew then continues his story.

And then (Mt 21:9-10) The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David;
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest!”

Here both Matthew and Mark quote the crowds. The word hosanna comes from a Hebrew word meaning “save now” or “Save us, we pray.” By saying “hosanna” as Jesus passed through the gates of Jerusalem and their referring to the Son of David, these Jews were acknowledging Jesus as their Messiah. This indicated the hope that their Messiah had finally come to set up God’s kingdom then and there. This large group of followers that led and followed Jesus into Jerusalem should give us a good indication that many from Galilee and Judah were perhaps true followers of Jesus. There was also a large number of Jews who believed He was a true Prophet and had a great respect for Him and His teaching. While the biblical story is about the Jews and their rabbinical leadership having led much of the nation away from God and the true Old Testament worship and belief, it does not mean that there were not many awaiting for, and believing in, Jesus as their Messiah who were necessary for the beginnings of His church at Pentecost.

Following this event (Mt 21:12-17) comes The Cleansing of the Temple, which I’m sure made none of the religious elite happy. This event is also part of the prophetic event showing what God is going to do with the temple and the religious leadership.

Amazingly, following that cleansing, there in the temple the blind and lame came to Jesus and he was teaching them and healing them, and there were children there shouting and singing – “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

It was then that Jesus told His story of (Mt 21:18-22) “The Unfruitful Fig Tree.” Jesus had woken up early in the morning and was hungry. He went to a fig tree and found no figs upon it for His breakfast. He then made the tree wither immediately. Jesus, pre-incarnate, as the Son of God, was the one who created the universe. He came to earth as a man and that Fig tree would not provide Him with breakfast. Seen correctly, this event that really happened was also meant to speak of the Jewish religious leadership - they refused to recognize Him as who He really was, and their nation would wither and be cut off because of it. 

Almost immediately, the chief priests and elders spoke to Jesus and challenged His authority for speaking like that to them.

(Mt 21:24-27) Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 The baptism of John was from what source, from heaven or from men?” And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.” 27 And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

As a separate event in Luke’s gospel (13:6-9) was Jesus using this fig tree parable as the precious moment to demonstrate His continuing willingness to give Israel more time to repent – even after His death - and then saying, “and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down. He was speaking figuratively about the eventuality of the destruction of both Israel and Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. – Jesus, just before His crucifixion, giving Israel the next 40 years to consider Him.

He then told them our next parable.

And this was Jesus' answer:

^28b A man had two sons,

Jesus sets up a situation where He is going to point out a comparison situation – son #1 versus son #2.

and he (the man) came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ ²⁹ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he (son #1) regretted it and went.”

This father gives this first son a simple command, “go and work.” I’m sure most of us have been in this situation. A parent asks us to do something and we go off refusing to do what we’ve been asked to do…. But after considering the choice we made… go and do what dad said. Simple and straightforward. So what do we see. A simple straightforward refusal to do what is asked, followed by a change of mind and following the authority of the request of his father.

³⁰ The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he (son #2) answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go.

Once again, this father gives this second son a simple command, “go and work.” And again, I’m sure most of us have been in this situation once or twice. This time the second son, noticeably, does not take any time to consider his father’s authority and just doesn’t do what he is asked to do.

³¹ Which of the two did the will of his father?” They (Jesus disciples, followers, and religious leaders) *said, “The first.”

I love Jesus’ choice of words here, for it tells right-out-straight the meaning of His parable to them: “Which of the two DID THE WILL OF HIS FATHER?”

We have the Father, who is God, and we have the two contrasting categories: Child of the Father #1 who are those who have lived some length of unbelieving lives but will respond to Jesus - Do it… No, Yes, and Child #2 of the Father who is Israel who makes believe they serve God, but in fact do not - Do it… Yes, No.

We all know (should know) that making good on your promises is an important spiritual, and moral, truth. In reality doing is more important than saying you will do. But Jesus’ words are focused upon the religious leadership right there in front of Him, and their lives are filled with deceit and manmade laws that allow them specific immoral actions and teachings which God’s (their Father’s) Law forbids. They have become those who are responsible for keeping God’s Word and they have chosen to pervert it and teach self-benefiting lies. They said “Yes,” and did “No!”