Matthew 21: Summary and Commentary

Verse 1

21:1–28:20 Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem initiates Matthew’s account of how the Messiah’s suffering and resurrection establish salvation.

21:1 Bethphage (a Hebrew name meaning house of figs) was probably located on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives between Bethany and Jerusalem proper.

Verse 3

21:3 Jesus was revealing himself as the Lord who, as king of Israel, ascends to Mount Zion on a donkey (21:5; see Zech 9:9).

Verse 4

21:4-5 The Old Testament fulfillment here emphasizes the Messiah’s non-violent, humble, and saving work (see 11:28-30; Isa 62:11; Zech 9:9-10).

Verse 11

21:11 The crowds with Jesus understood him to be a prophet, empowered by God to teach and to perform miracles. • The description from Nazareth in Galilee highlights Jesus’ humble origins (see 2:23).

Verse 12

21:12-13 The close association of the Temple cleansing (see John 2:13-16) with the cursing of the fig tree (Matt 21:18-19) reveals Jesus as the Messiah who confronted Israel and warned that God judges those who reject the Messiah and his message.

21:12 Buying and selling took place within the Temple complex, in the Court of the Gentiles. • Money changers profited from the exchange of money from other currencies into official Jewish currency. Jesus criticized the commercialism that profaned the holiness of the Temple (see Mark 11:11-18).

Verse 13

21:13 Jesus’ actions were justified, because God’s glory was being desecrated through financial exploitation.

Verse 15

21:15 The Jewish leaders’ stubborn refusal to believe is contrasted with the exuberant faith and praise of little children (see 18:1-14; 19:13-15).

Verse 16

21:16 Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? Jesus put this penetrating question to opponents who did not perceive the fulfillment of messianic promises in his ministry. See also 12:3, 5; 19:4; 21:42; 22:31.

Verse 19

21:19 there were only leaves: Mark observes that “it was too early in the season for fruit” (see Mark 11:13). It was spring (just before Passover); figs form in the spring but ripen in the fall. • immediately the fig tree withered: Matthew has apparently compressed the story (cp. Matt 21:18-22; Mark 11:13-14, 20-23). The cursing of the fig tree is a symbolic gesture depicting God’s judgment on Israel for rejecting the Messiah (see Matt 3:9; 8:11-12). Like a fig tree that shows promise but no fruit, the Israelites (especially the hypocritical leaders) did not bear the fruit of receiving the Messiah (see 21:33-46).

Verse 22

21:22 Jesus was exhorting the disciples to trust in God and to pray accordingly. He was not offering God’s unconditional endorsement of all that they might desire (1 Jn 5:14-15).

Verse 23

21:23–22:46 This section focuses on the Jewish leaders’ attack on Jesus’ authority. In each case, Jesus’ wisdom revealed the leaders’ spiritual blindness. These debates also revealed Jesus’ status as Messiah and the consequences of rejecting him. Tragically, the leaders grew more resistant with each encounter and plotted to eliminate Jesus (21:23, 46; 22:15-17, 23, 34, 41).

21:23 Elders (literally elders of the people) were family heads from each tribe who were members of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem (cp. Ezra 5:5; 6:14; 10:8).

Verse 24

21:24 Jesus propounded a riddle, the solution to which answered the leaders’ question and forced them into a dilemma that revealed their hearts (21:25-26). Answering by counter-question was typical for such debates.

Verse 25

21:25 John’s ministry, like Jesus’ (see 3:1, 5-6), was controversial, especially after John’s public denouncement of the sins of Herod Antipas (see 14:4). The leaders did not want to acknowledge that John’s ministry was from God, since they had refused to believe John by repenting of their sins (3:2) and accepting Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:29-34).

Verse 27

21:27 The leaders lacked integrity and courage to confess what they believed about John. So Jesus’ refusal to answer their original question was fair.

Verse 28

21:28–22:14 Three parables expose the guilt of those who had rejected the Messiah and forfeited their privilege as God’s chosen people. The new people of God are only those who embrace the Messiah.

21:28-32 This parable continues the point about John’s significance.

Verse 29

21:29 I won’t go: This response must have offended Jews who were taught to show outward respect for the authority of a father (see 8:21-22).

Verse 32

21:32 The right way to live is in conformity to God’s will (3:15; 5:20; see also Prov 8:20; 12:28).

Verse 33

21:33-46 In this story Jesus draws on Isa 5:1-7. The people of Israel who rejected God’s Messiah forfeited the privilege of being God’s people. The Christian community, comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, has now been called to be the people of God (cp. Rom 9:4-8; 11:1-12).

Verse 34

21:34-35 sent his servants: The prophets had spoken God’s word to Israel. The tenant farmers represented the leaders of Israel, whom Jesus held responsible for the deaths of God’s prophets (23:29-37).

Verse 37

21:37 Finally: God’s revelation climaxed in Jesus (see 13:16-17; Heb 1:1-2).

Verse 40

21:40 When the owner of the vineyard returns refers to the Lord’s coming in judgment (see 16:27; 24:1-36).

Verse 41

21:41 The Jewish religious leaders pronounced their own condemnation.

Verse 42

21:42 The cornerstone was either the first stone of the foundation or the capstone (as of an arch), the last to be laid. The very stone that the builders rejected as unworthy of use was, in fact, the most important. Jesus was referring to his own role in the Kingdom of God (21:43) and to the religious leaders’ rejection of him.

Verse 43

21:43 taken away from you: Either the privilege of being God’s chosen nation no longer belonged to the Jews, or the religious leaders had lost the privilege of being leaders of God’s people (see Rom 9–11). • The Christian community is a nation that will produce the proper fruit—that is, a life of trust and obedience that demonstrates the inauguration of the Kingdom (see Matt 3:8; 7:15-20; 12:33; 13:8, 26).

Verse 44

21:44 Though in a short while the Messiah’s opponents would gain a brief victory, they would ultimately be broken and the stone would crush them because the cross became the gateway to Jesus’ vindication and triumph (see also Dan 2:34-35, 44-45).

Verse 45

21:45 This explanation fits with Matthew’s theme of God’s judgment on the Jewish leaders who misled the people of Israel (see 23:13-15).

Verse 24

And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, &c.

Verse 25

The baptism of John—meaning his whole mission and ministry, of which baptism was the proper character.

whence was it? from heaven, or of men?—What wisdom there was in this way of meeting their question will best appear by their reply.

If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?—"Why did ye not believe the testimony which he bore to Me, as the promised and expected Messiah?" for that was the burden of John's whole testimony.

Verse 26

But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people—rather, "the multitude." In Luke (Luk 20:6) it is, "all the people will stone us."

for all hold John as a prophet—Crooked, cringing hypocrites! No wonder Jesus gave you no answer.

Verse 27

And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell—Evidently their difficulty was, how to answer, so as neither to shake their determination to reject the claims of Christ nor damage their reputation with the people. For the truth itself they cared nothing whatever.

Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things—What composure and dignity of wisdom does our Lord here display, as He turns their question upon themselves, and, while revealing His knowledge of their hypocrisy, closes their mouths! Taking advantage of the surprise, silence, and awe produced by this reply, our Lord followed it up immediately by the two following parables.

Parable of the Two Sons (Mat 21:28-32).

Verse 28

But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard—for true religion is a practical thing, a "bringing forth fruit unto God."

Verse 29

He answered and said, I will not—TRENCH notices the rudeness of this answer, and the total absence of any attempt to excuse such disobedience, both characteristic; representing careless, reckless sinners resisting God to His face.

Verse 30

And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir—"I, sir." The emphatic "I," here, denotes the self-righteous complacency which says, "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men" (Luk 18:11).

and went not—He did not "afterward repent" and refuse to go; for there was here no intention to go. It is the class that "say and do not" (Mat 23:3) —a falseness more abominable to God, says STIER, than any "I will not."

Verse 31

Whether of them twain did the will of his Father? They say unto him, The first—Now comes the application.

Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go—or, "are going"; even now entering, while ye hold back.

into the kingdom of God before you—The publicans and the harlots were the first son, who, when told to work in the Lord's vineyard, said, I will not; but afterwards repented and went. Their early life was a flat and flagrant refusal to do what they were commanded; it was one continued rebellion against the authority of God. The chief priests and the elders of the people, with whom our Lord was now speaking, were the second son, who said, I go, sir, but went not. They were early called, and all their life long professed obedience to God, but never rendered it; their life was one of continued disobedience.

Verse 32

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness—that is, calling you to repentance; as Noah is styled "a preacher of righteousness" (Pe2 2:5), when like the Baptist he warned the old world to "flee from the wrath to come."

and ye believed him not—They did not reject him; nay, they "were willing for a season to rejoice in his light" (Joh 5:35); but they would not receive his testimony to Jesus.

but the publicans and the harlots believed him—Of the publicans this is twice expressly recorded, Luk 3:12; Luk 7:29. Of the harlots, then, the same may be taken for granted, though the fact is not expressly recorded. These outcasts gladly believed the testimony of John to the coming Saviour, and so hastened to Jesus when He came. See Luk 7:37; Luk 15:1, &c.

and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him—Instead of being "provoked to jealousy" by their example, ye have seen them flocking to the Saviour and getting to heaven, unmoved.

Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen (Mat 21:33-46).

Verse 33

Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard—(See on Luk 13:6).

and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower—These details are taken, as is the basis of the parable itself, from that beautiful parable of Isa 5:1-7, in order to fix down the application and sustain it by Old Testament authority.

and let it out to husbandmen—These are just the ordinary spiritual guides of the people, under whose care and culture the fruits of righteousness are expected to spring up.

and went into a far country—"for a long time" (Luk 20:9), leaving the vineyard to the laws of the spiritual husbandry during the whole time of the Jewish economy. On this phraseology, see on Mar 4:26.

Verse 34

And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen—By these "servants" are meant the prophets and other extraordinary messengers, raised up from time to time. See on Mat 23:37.

that they might receive the fruits of it—Again see on Luk 13:6.

Verse 35

And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one—see Jer 37:15; Jer 38:6.

and killed another—see Jer 26:20-23.

and stoned another—see Ch2 24:21. Compare with this whole verse Mat 23:37, where our Lord reiterates these charges in the most melting strain.

Verse 36

Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they did unto them likewise—see Kg2 17:13; Ch2 36:16, Ch2 36:18; Neh 9:26.

Verse 37

But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son—In Mark (Mar 12:6) this is most touchingly expressed: "Having yet therefore one son, His well-beloved, He sent Him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence My Son." Luke's version of it too (Luk 20:13) is striking: "Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send My beloved Son: it may be they will reverence Him when they see Him." Who does not see that our Lord here severs Himself, by the sharpest line of demarcation, from all merely human messengers, and claims for Himself Sonship in its loftiest sense? (Compare Heb 3:3-6). The expression, "It may be they will reverence My Son," is designed to teach the almost unimaginable guilt of not reverentially welcoming God's Son.

Verse 38

But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves—Compare Gen 37:18-20; Joh 11:47-53.

This is the heir—Sublime expression this of the great truth, that God's inheritance was destined for, and in due time is to come into the possession of, His own Son in our nature (Heb 1:2).

come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance—that so, from mere servants, we may become lords. This is the deep aim of the depraved heart; this is emphatically "the root of all evil."

Verse 39

And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard—compare Heb 13:11-13 ("without the gate—without the camp"); Kg1 21:13; Joh 19:17.

and slew him.

Verse 40

When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh—This represents "the settling time," which, in the case of the Jewish ecclesiastics, was that judicial trial of the nation and its leaders which issued in the destruction of their whole state.

what will he do unto those husbandmen?

Verse 41

They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men—an emphatic alliteration not easily conveyed in English: "He will badly destroy those bad men," or "miserably destroy those miserable men," is something like it.

and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons—If this answer was given by the Pharisees, to whom our Lord addressed the parable, they thus unwittingly pronounced their own condemnation: as did David to Nathan the prophet (Sa2 12:5-7), and Simon the Pharisee to our Lord (Luk 7:43, &c.). But if it was given, as the two other Evangelists agree in representing it, by our Lord Himself, and the explicitness of the answer would seem to favor that supposition, then we can better explain the exclamation of the Pharisees which followed it, in Luke's report (Luk 20:16) —"And when they heard it, they said, God forbid"—His whole meaning now bursting upon them.

Verse 42

Jesus saith unto them. Did ye never read in the scriptures— (Psa 118:22-23).

The stone which the builders rejected, &c.—A bright Messianic prophecy, which reappears in various forms (Isa 28:16, &c.), and was made glorious use of by Peter before the Sanhedrim (Act 4:11). He recurs to it in his first epistle (Pe1 2:4-6).

Verse 43

Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God—God's visible Kingdom, or Church, upon earth, which up to this time stood in the seed of Abraham.

shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof—that is, the great evangelical community of the faithful, which, after the extrusion of the Jewish nation, would consist chiefly of Gentiles, until "all Israel should be saved" (Rom 11:25-26). This vastly important statement is given by Matthew only.

Verse 44

And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder—The Kingdom of God is here a Temple, in the erection of which a certain stone, rejected as unsuitable by the spiritual builders, is, by the great Lord of the House, made the keystone of the whole. On that Stone the builders were now "falling" and being "broken" (Isa 8:15). They were sustaining great spiritual hurt; but soon that Stone should "fall upon them" and "grind them to powder" (Dan 2:34-35; Zac 12:2) —in their corporate capacity, in the tremendous destruction of Jerusalem, but personally, as unbelievers, in a more awful sense still.

Verse 45

And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables—referring to that of the Two Sons and this one of the Wicked Husbandmen.

they perceived that he spake of them.

Verse 46

But when they sought to lay hands on him—which Luke (Luk 20:19) says they did "the same hour," hardly able to restrain their rage.

they feared the multitude—rather, "the multitudes."

because they took him for a prophet—just as they feared to say John's baptism was of men, because the masses took him for a prophet (Mat 21:26). Miserable creatures! So, for this time, "they left Him and went their way" (Mar 12:12).

Next: Matthew Chapter 22