Your King Comes to You
21 1 When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples ahead, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with a colt beside her. Untie them and bring them to me." 3 "If anyone says anything to you, say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once."
4 This took place to fulfill what the prophet had said: 5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and laid their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds who went ahead of him and those who followed kept shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of our Father! Hosanna in the highest!" a a v9 "Hosanna" is a Hebrew cry meaning "Save us!" — used here as a joyful shout of praise and welcome.
10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred, asking, "Who is this?"
11 And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."
Jesus Reclaims His Father's House
12 Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying there, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those selling doves. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a den of robbers."
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did, and the children shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant 16 and said to him, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?"
17 He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.
Faith That Moves Mountains
18 Early in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it but leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?"
21 Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell 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 lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen." 22 "And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, you will receive it."
The Son's Authority Questioned
23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and asked, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"
24 Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things." 25 "The baptism of John — where did it come from? From heaven or from man?" And they discussed it 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 man,' we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet." 27 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."
Two Sons: Words or Deeds
28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'" 29 "And he answered, 'I will not,' but later he changed his mind and went." 30 "Then the man went to the second and said the same. And he answered, 'I will, sir,' but did not go." 31 "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of our Father ahead of you."
32 "For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did believe him. And even when you saw it, you did not later change your minds and believe him."
The Vineyard and the Rejected Son
33 "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away on a journey." 34 "When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit." 35 "But the tenants seized his servants — they beat one, killed another, and stoned another." 36 "Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they treated them the same way." 37 "Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'" 38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come on, let's kill him and take his inheritance.'" 39 "So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him." 40 "Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
41 They said to him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruit in its seasons."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this came from our Father, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
43 "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of our Father will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit." 44 "The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and anyone on whom it falls will be crushed."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized he was speaking about them. 46 And although they were looking for a way to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because the people regarded him as a prophet.