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Mateus 21

ARC · Chapter 21/28

1E, quando se approximaram de Jerusalem, e chegaram a Bethphage, ao monte das Oliveiras, enviou então Jesus dois discipulos, dizendo-lhes:

2Ide á aldeia que está defronte de vós, e logo encontrareis uma jumenta presa, e um jumentinho com ella; desprendei-a, e trazei-m'os.

3E, se alguem vos disser alguma coisa, direis que o Senhor os ha de mister: e logo os enviará.

4Ora tudo isto aconteceu para que se cumprisse o que foi dito pelo propheta, que diz:

5Dizei á filha de Sião: Eis que o teu Rei ahi te vem, manso, e assentado sobre uma jumenta, e sobre um jumentinho, filho de animal sujeito ao jugo.

6E, indo os discipulos, e fazendo como Jesus lhes ordenára,

7Trouxeram a jumenta e o jumentinho, e sobre elles pozeram os seus vestidos, e fizeram-n'o assentar em cima.

8E muitissima gente estendia os seus vestidos pelo caminho, e outros cortavam ramos d'arvores, e os espalhavam pelo caminho.

9E a multidão que ia adeante, e a que seguia, clamava, dizendo: Hosanna ao Filho de David; bemdito o que vem em nome do Senhor: Hosanna nas alturas.

10E, entrando elle em Jerusalem, toda a cidade se alvoroçou, dizendo: Quem é este?

11E a multidão dizia: Este é Jesus, o Propheta de Nazareth da Galilea.

12E entrou Jesus no templo de Deus, e expulsou todos os que vendiam e compravam no templo, e derribou as mesas dos cambistas e as cadeiras dos que vendiam pombas:

13E disse-lhes: Está escripto: A minha casa será chamada casa de oração: mas vós a tendes convertido em covil de ladrões.

14E foram ter com elle ao templo cegos e côxos, e curou-os.

15Vendo então os principaes dos sacerdotes e os escribas as maravilhas que fazia, e os meninos clamando no templo, Hosanna ao Filho de David; indignaram-se,

16E disseram-lhe: Ouves o que estes dizem? E Jesus lhes disse: Sim; nunca lestes: Pela bocca dos meninos e das creancinhas de peito aperfeiçoaste o louvor?

17E, deixando-os, saiu da cidade para Bethania, e ali passou a noite.

18E, de manhã, voltando para a cidade, teve fome;

19E, avistando uma figueira perto do caminho, dirigiu-se a ella, e não achou n'ella senão folhas. E disse-lhe: Nunca mais nasça fructo de ti. E a figueira seccou immediatamente.

20E os discipulos, vendo isto, maravilharam-se, dizendo: Como seccou immediatamente a figueira?

21Jesus, porém, respondendo, disse-lhes: Em verdade vos digo que, se tiverdes fé e não duvidardes, não só fareis isto á figueira, mas até, se a este monte disserdes: Ergue-te e precipita-te no mar, assim será feito;

22E tudo o que pedirdes na oração, crendo, o recebereis.

23E, chegando ao templo, acercaram-se d'elle, estando já ensinando, os principes dos sacerdotes e os anciãos do povo, dizendo: Com que auctoridade fazes isto? e quem te deu essa auctoridade?

24E Jesus, respondendo, disse-lhes: Eu tambem vos perguntarei uma coisa; se m'a disserdes, tambem eu vos direi com que auctoridade faço isto.

25O baptismo de João d'onde era? Do céu, ou dos homens? E pensavam entre si, dizendo: Se dissermos: Do céu, elle nos dirá: Então porque não o crestes?

26E, se dissermos: Dos homens, tememos o povo, porque todos consideram João como propheta.

27E, respondendo a Jesus, disseram: Não sabemos. Elle disse-lhes: Nem eu vos digo com que auctoridade faço isto.

28Mas que vos parece? Um homem tinha dois filhos, e, dirigindo-se ao primeiro, disse: Filho, vae trabalhar hoje na minha vinha.

29Elle, porém, respondendo, disse: Não quero. Mas depois, arrependendo-se, foi.

30E, dirigindo-se ao segundo, fallou-lhe de egual modo; e, respondendo elle, disse: Eu vou, senhor; e não foi.

31Qual dos dois fez a vontade do pae? Disseram-lhe elles: O primeiro. Disse-lhes Jesus: Em verdade vos digo que os publicanos e as meretrizes vos precedem no reino de Deus.

32Porque João veiu a vós no caminho de justiça, e não o crestes, mas os publicanos e as meretrizes o creram: vós, porém, vendo isto, nem depois vos arrependestes para o crer.

33Ouvi ainda outra parabola: Houve um homem, pae de familia, que plantou uma vinha, e circumdou-a de um vallado, e construiu n'ella um lagar, e edificou uma torre, e arrendou-a a uns lavradores, e ausentou-se para longe:

34E, chegando o tempo dos fructos, enviou os seus servos aos lavradores, para receberem os seus fructos.

35E os lavradores, apoderando-se dos servos, feriram um, mataram outro, e apedrejaram outro.

36Depois enviou outros servos, em maior numero do que os primeiros; e fizeram-lhes o mesmo;

37E por ultimo enviou-lhes seu filho, dizendo: Terão respeito a meu filho.

38Mas os lavradores, vendo o filho, disseram entre si: Este é o herdeiro; vinde, matemol-o, e apoderemo-nos da sua herança.

39E, lançando mão d'elle, o arrastaram para fóra da vinha, e o mataram.

40Quando pois vier o senhor da vinha, que fará áquelles lavradores?

41Dizem-lhe elles: Dará affrontosa morte aos maus, e arrendará a vinha a outros lavradores, que a seus tempos lhe dêem os fructos.

42Diz-lhes Jesus: Nunca lestes nas Escripturas: A pedra, que os edificadores rejeitaram, essa foi posta por cabeça do angulo: pelo Senhor foi feito isto, e é maravilhoso aos nossos olhos?

43Portanto eu vos digo que o reino de Deus vos será tirado, e será dado a gente que dê os seus fructos.

44E quem cair sobre esta pedra despedaçar-se-ha; e sobre quem ella cair esmagal-o-ha.

45E os principes dos sacerdotes e os phariseos, ouvindo estas palavras, entenderam que fallava d'elles;

46E, pretendendo prendel-o, receiaram o povo, porquanto o tinham por propheta.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a young donkey, hailed by the crowd, drives the merchants out of the temple, curses a fruitless fig tree, and confronts the religious leaders with the parable of the wicked tenants.

Explanation

Jesus's entry into Jerusalem on a young donkey fulfills a prophecy of Zechariah about a gentle king coming to the city, in contrast to the image of conquerors arriving on war horses. The expulsion of the merchants from the temple was a symbolic prophetic act, denouncing that the court set aside for the prayer of the Gentiles had become a place of commerce and financial exploitation. The fruitless fig tree, despite having leaves (a misleading sign of productivity), functions as a symbol of outward religiosity without real fruit, a direct criticism of the religious leadership of the time. The parable of the tenants who kill the servants and the vineyard owner's son directly foreshadows the rejection and death of Jesus at the hands of Israel's own religious leaders.

Fun facts

  • 'Hosanna' is a Hebrew word that originally meant a cry for help ('save, I pray'), but by Jesus's time it was already used as a festive shout of praise, especially during the Feast of Tabernacles.
  • The leaves on the fig tree out of season drew attention because, in that region, leaves usually appeared together with the first fruit — a fig tree with leaves alone deceptively signaled a productive tree that in fact was not.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Mateus 21:1Bethphage and the Mount of Olives lay very close to Jerusalem, on the eastern side of the city — the starting point of the triumphal entry Jesus is about to make.
  2. Mateus 21:2Asking for a donkey and a colt together reflects the custom of the time of letting the young animal stay with its mother, especially if the adult animal had never been ridden before.
  3. Mateus 21:3The instruction to say that ‘the Lord hath need of them’ suggests an arrangement already made with the owner of the animals, or an authority Jesus expected to be recognized without resistance.
  4. Mateus 21:4Introduces another fulfillment-of-prophecy formula, typical of Matthew, setting up the quote from Zechariah that appears in the next verse.
  5. Mateus 21:5Entering riding on a donkey — and not a horse, the war animal of armies — was a public sign that this king was arriving in peace, not to conquer by force. The quote comes from the prophet Zechariah, and the detail of two animals reflects a common Hebrew way of repeating the same idea with different words within the same prophecy.
  6. Mateus 21:6The disciples follow the instruction exactly as given, without question — a pattern of simple obedience that comes up repeatedly in the preparations for important events in the Gospel.
  7. Mateus 21:7Placing their own cloaks over the animals, in the absence of a formal saddle, was an improvised but available way to prepare a mount for a solemn entrance.
  8. Mateus 21:8Spreading garments and branches on the road were gestures of honor reserved for kings and figures of great importance — a direct parallel to Old Testament accounts of the acclamation of new kings.
  9. Mateus 21:9‘Hosanna’ comes from Hebrew and literally means ‘save, please’ — a cry of appeal that, over time, also became a word of acclamation, similar to the way we shout ‘hooray!’ today in a sense that’s no longer a literal request. The crowd is using it as both a cry for help and a royal greeting at the same time.
  10. Mateus 21:10‘All the city was moved’ suggests a widespread reaction throughout Jerusalem, not limited to the crowd already following Jesus — the entry drew attention even from those who didn’t know who He was.
  11. Mateus 21:11The crowd’s answer, calling Jesus a ‘prophet,’ is more cautious than the shouts of ‘Son of David’ in verse 9 — suggesting differing opinions within the city itself about who He really was.
  12. Mateus 21:12The money changers exchanged Roman coins, bearing the emperor’s image, for currency accepted to pay the temple tax, and also sold the animals required for sacrifices — a necessary service for those coming from far away. The problem is that it had become a profitable business inside the one part of the temple open to non-Jews, and it’s this use of the sacred space as a marketplace that Jesus confronts.
  13. Mateus 21:13The quote combines Isaiah, about the house of prayer, with Jeremiah, about the den of thieves — Jesus uses two prophetic texts to justify the act of driving out the sellers from the temple.
  14. Mateus 21:14Healing the blind and the lame right inside the temple, immediately after driving out the merchants, contrasts the commercial activity Jesus rejected with the kind of activity He considered appropriate for that space.
  15. Mateus 21:15The religious leaders’ indignation focuses both on the miracles and on the children shouting the same messianic title used at the triumphal entry — to them, this ongoing acclamation was cause for alarm, not celebration.
  16. Mateus 21:16Jesus answers by quoting a psalm that speaks of praise coming even from little children — defending the acclamation the religious leaders wanted silenced as something already foretold in Scripture.
  17. Mateus 21:17Bethany was just a few miles from Jerusalem, and it was where Jesus had close friends, including Lazarus, Martha, and Mary — a safe place to spend the night during this tense week in the capital.
  18. Mateus 21:18Jesus’ hunger as He returns to the city in the morning sets up the episode of the fig tree that follows right after, linking an ordinary physical detail to a larger symbolic sign.
  19. Mateus 21:19The text notes it wasn’t yet the season for figs, which puzzles many readers as to why Jesus would expect fruit there. Fig trees in the region usually bring edible buds along with their first leaves, before the main harvest — a tree full of leaves with no sign of those buds was, in practice, a tree that wasn’t going to bear fruit that year.
  20. Mateus 21:20The disciples’ astonished reaction, focused on the physical aspect of the miracle, how quickly the tree withered, sets up the teaching on faith Jesus gives in response, going beyond mere curiosity about the tree.
  21. Mateus 21:21Jesus uses the episode of the fig tree to teach about faith without doubt, going to the extreme of mentioning moving a mountain into the sea — an image of physical impossibility used to illustrate the reach of genuine faith.
  22. Mateus 21:22Directly links the doubt-free faith mentioned in the previous verse to the effectiveness of prayer — a broad promise that other New Testament texts balance with the idea of asking according to God’s will.
  23. Mateus 21:23Teaching in the temple without the formal credentials of a recognized rabbi bothered the religious authorities, who directly challenge the source of Jesus’ authority to act that way.
  24. Mateus 21:24Jesus answers the challenge with a counter-question, a common tactic among teachers of the time in public debates — His answer depends on the answer the leaders give first.
  25. Mateus 21:25The question about the origin of John’s baptism puts the leaders in a calculated dilemma: acknowledging divine authority in John would mean admitting they should have already believed him.
  26. Mateus 21:26The other side of the dilemma is just as risky: denying that John had divine authority would put them in direct conflict with popular opinion, which saw John as a genuine prophet.
  27. Mateus 21:27The leaders’ refusal to answer, out of fear of both alternatives, lets Jesus also refuse to answer their original question about His own authority.
  28. Mateus 21:28Introduces the parable of the two sons, told specifically for the same religious leaders who had just tried to corner Jesus with the question about authority.
  29. Mateus 21:29The first son initially refuses but changes his mind and obeys in practice — an image of genuine repentance shown through action, even after an initial wrong answer.
  30. Mateus 21:30The second son agrees verbally right away but doesn’t follow through — an image of the appearance of obedience with no real substance behind it.
  31. Mateus 21:31Jesus’ answer is shocking to the religious leaders: tax collectors and prostitutes, socially despised, are compared to the first son, who did the father’s will despite his initial refusal.
  32. Mateus 21:32Jesus links the parable directly to the real situation: tax collectors and prostitutes accepted John the Baptist’s message, while the religious leaders, who seemed closer to God, rejected the same message.
  33. Mateus 21:33It was common, at the time, for an absentee owner to lease his land to local farmers, who tended the vineyard and handed over part of the harvest as payment. The hedge, the winepress, and the watchtower were normal investments for someone preparing a vineyard to produce for many years.
  34. Mateus 21:34Sending servants to collect the fruit was normal practice among landowners who leased land to local farmers, who owed part of the harvest as payment for the use of the vineyard.
  35. Mateus 21:35The escalating violence against the servants sent — beating, killing, stoning — describes a calculated rebellion by the tenants against the landowner’s legitimate authority.
  36. Mateus 21:36The owner responds to the violence by sending even more servants, instead of retaliating immediately — a pattern of patience that continues right up to the point of final decision in the next verse.
  37. Mateus 21:37Sending his own son last is a risky escalation based on the expectation that the tenants would respect that family relationship more than they had respected the earlier servants.
  38. Mateus 21:38The tenants’ plan reveals their true intention from the start: it wasn’t just about resisting payment, but seizing illegitimate possession of the vineyard itself, eliminating whoever had a legitimate claim to it.
  39. Mateus 21:39Killing the son ‘outside the vineyard’ may echo Jesus’ own fate, crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem — a detail that reinforces reading the parable as a prediction of the rejection He Himself would suffer.
  40. Mateus 21:40Jesus asks the question directly to the very religious leaders listening to Him, leading them to pronounce the verdict on the parable themselves before realizing they were talking about themselves.
  41. Mateus 21:41The leaders respond with a harsh judgment, not yet realizing they were describing the very fate awaiting them for rejecting the son in the parable.
  42. Mateus 21:42The ‘head of the corner’ was the most important stone in an ancient building, placed at the corner of the foundation to align and support the two walls that met there, and it had to be cut with near-perfect precision. Jesus quotes a well-known psalm to say that something discarded by the builders turned out to be exactly that essential piece of the structure.
  43. Mateus 21:43Jesus applies the parable’s conclusion directly: responsibility for the kingdom would pass to another group, a community capable of producing the fruit the current religious leaders weren’t producing.
  44. Mateus 21:44The image of the stone that shatters whoever falls on it, and crushes whoever it falls on, describes two kinds of judgment: stumbling through initial rejection, or being completely destroyed by the final judgment.
  45. Mateus 21:45The religious leaders themselves understand, without Jesus needing to say it directly, that the parable of the wicked tenants was about them.
  46. Mateus 21:46Fear of the crowd’s reaction, who saw Jesus as a prophet, prevents an immediate arrest — the same kind of political calculation that had already protected John the Baptist for a while before his own arrest.

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