Matthew 21:22-46

Matthew 21:22-46 – The Stone The Builders Rejected

This passage is as follows:

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

(End of passage)

At the end of chapter 20, Jesus starts to make his way from Jericho to Jerusalem, and two blind men call Jesus “Son of David.” When Jesus approaches Jerusalem, the crowd calls him “Son of David.” While he is healing people left and right in the temple courts, the children call him “Son of David.” The chief priests are angry about this. The chief priests are Annas, who was deposed by the people from being chief priest and his son in law, Caiaphas, the new High Priest. Annas controlled everything that Caiaphas did. Josephus, the Jewish historian called Annas, “a great hoarder of money.” Annas oversaw the temple operations and saw to it that the money changing and animal for sacrifice selling still occurred even in the temple courts for maximum profit. The chief priests obtained their position from the King of Judea, Herod the Great. Herod the Great ruled Judea from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. This was the Herod that ordered the killing of the young male children in Bethlehem, which Jesus and his parents narrowly escaped. Herod the Great was an Idumean from Edom, but he submitted to some Jewish customs to please the people. He was a very jealous ruler and even killed one of his sons and his wife because he suspected they were plotting to depose him. The Roman Emperor Augustus commented that it would be safer to be Herod's pig than his son (https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_1312.cfm).

When Herod the Great died Archelaus, his eldest son, was placed over Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. He did not rule over Galilee. Archelaus began his reign by slaughtering 3,000 prominent citizens. The Emperor removed him two years later. The Emperor then took away of the rule of Judea from the Herod family (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Archelaus).

Herod Antipas, another son of Herod the Great, ruled Galilee when Jesus began His public ministry. It was this Herod that killed John the Baptist. It was this Herod that tried Jesus. He was appointed by Pilate to do this because Jesus was from Galilee. Herod Agrippa was appointed King over all of Palestine in 36 A.D (https://catholic-resources.org/Bible/History-RomanEra.htm). So from 6 A.D. to 36 A.D. there was no king over Judea. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, there was no king there, and the people were proclaiming him to be “Son of David,” a kingly title for Jerusalem.

Below is a timeline of the Herods (https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney1/1-the-world-of-the-new-testament-journeys-b/the-rulers-of-palestine/).

So, this is the day after Jesus slapped the chief priests silly for being angry at him because the children were calling him “Son of David.” They certainly didn’t want Jesus to be king, especially after he ran their profiteering out of the temple during their most holy week. They would want a king that would let them do what they wanted, someone like Herod the Great that was appointed by the authority of the Roman Emperor. Let’s see what they try to do now.

Verses 23-27,

What does Jesus mean by the baptism of John?

Does he mean just the fact that John baptized, or does he mean his own baptism?

If they acknowledged that John’s baptism in general was from God, they would have to acknowledge what John said about Jesus and what the voice from heaven said about Jesus. The chief priests and elders condemn themselves here. They acknowledge that the people recognized that John’s baptism was from God, and yet they acknowledge that they didn’t believe the prophet John. They ask by what authority Jesus is doing these things because they want a worldly or human authority to appoint people so they can be swayed to let them run things. Once again, the chief priests are slapped silly. Their answer is “We do not know.” Their answer is all just a cover for their sin. They act like they don’t know whether John’s baptism is from God or not. They act like they don’t know who Jesus is while he is healing people in the temple and everyone is calling him “Son of David.”

If the chief priests and elders would have installed Jesus as king, they would have had at least a logical victory over the Romans with that. They would have had an actual Jew with Davidic lineage as king. The Romans would have accepted it because Jesus never led a rebellion, preached paying Roman taxes, and the crowds that followed him were peaceful. This was not God’s plan, however. This is why Jesus came during the mafia priesthood.

Since the chief priests will not answer Jesus about John’s baptism, does his rebuke of them stop there? No. He talks about them with a parable.

Verses 28-32,

Jesus likens this parable to the chief priests and elders. He goes right out and addresses them and says, “The tax collectors and prostitutes will go into the kingdom of God before you.”

What does Jesus mean when he says, “And even when you saw it?”

Is Jesus talking about his own baptism, or the general revival under John the Baptist?

Mark 1:5 says that all of Judea and Jerusalem were going out to John to be baptized.

John 1:32-34 says that John the Baptist testified that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus and that he is the Son of God.

John the Baptist even addressed some Pharisees when they came to be baptized in Matthew 3:7-10.

So we know that they came out to John. Some of them wanted to be baptized, so they must have followed John. All the elders and chief priests must have heard of everything that John did and preached, including what happened at Jesus’ baptism.

Here in our passage, Jesus is speaking directly to the chief priests and elders, and he has another parable for them.

Verses 33-41,

Who do the characters in this parable relate to?

The chief priests and elders complete the ending of this parable. As it turns out, this ending is their ending. The parable is about them. They are the evil tenants. The servants are the prophets and the son is Jesus Christ. The chief priests just spoke of their own destiny.

Let’s see how Jesus summarizes this.

Verses 42 – 44,

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Jesus is speaking directly to the chief priests here. He quotes Psalm 118:22-23 and applies that directly to them. By the way, this makes for another fulfilled prophecy.

Then Jesus says that the one that falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. This is from Isaiah 8:14-15:

He will be a holy place;

for both Israel and Judah he will be

a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall.

And for the people of Jerusalem he will be

a trap and a snare.

Many of them will stumble;

they will fall and be broken,

they will be snared and captured.”

Jesus concludes that the Kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to a people producing its fruits.

The last high priest was Phannias ben Samuel, from 67-70 A.D., the 83rd since Aaron. He was from the 'tribe' of Eniachin (priestly order Jachin) and did not originate from one of the six families from whom high priests had traditionally been chosen. He was a leader of revolutionary forces and died during the destruction of Herod's Temple in 70 A.D. Phannias was chosen by lot and was reluctant to be High Priest since he was a man that was considered to be unworthy of the position (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phannias_ben_Samuel#cite_note-1). In 70 A.D. the Temple was destroyed and the priestly rituals of sacrifice has ceased since then.

Now that the chief priests have gotten this full blast from Jesus, what are they going to do?

Verses 45-46,

Is it any wonder that the Pharisees perceived he was talking about them?

Jesus actually pointed this out for them.

So, the plot thickens. The Pharisees and the chief priests want Jesus out of the picture. They can’t do this in a way that allows the people to respond because the people regard Jesus as a prophet.

Song: The Stone That The Builders Rejected by Loma Linda Academy

Chapter BY Chapter

Live your life chapter by chapter as you discover God's guide for life chapter by chapter.

When: Sundays at 5:00 PM Where: Follow the Map >>>>>>>>>

Or join our Bible Study via video conference with this link: https://join.skype.com/KTORY1RedNI7