Passion/Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1-14
RLD
Step I - (Initial) Acquaintance
A. Comparison of English or other published translations
NRSV
1 Jesus sent two disciples
3 he will send them immediately
9 Hosanna in the highest heaven
14 came to him in the Temple and he cured them
CEV
1 and sent two of them on ahead
3 he will let you have the donkeys
9 Hooray for God in heaven above
14 came to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them
Peterson
1 Jesus sent two disciples
3 he will send them with you
9 Hosanna in highest heaven
14 Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came
to Jesus and he healed them.
B. Greek/Hebrew Textual Criticism
I do not find any significant variants.
C. One's Own Rough Translation
1 And when they came near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, to the
mountain of the olives, then Jesus commissioned two disciples,
2 saying to them, ""Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you
will find an ass having been tied, and a colt with her; loosening bring
to me.
3 and if anyone to you says anything, you shall say that their Lord has
need, and immediately he will commission them.
4 Now this has happened that might be fulfilled the thing spoken through
the prophet, saying,
5 ""Y''all tell the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to y''all,
meek and having mounted on an ass and on a colt son of an ass.
6 And going the disciples and doing as directed them Jesus
7 they brought the ass and the colt, and put on them the garments, and
he sat on them.
8 And the very large crowd threw their garments in the road, and others
cut branches from the trees and threw in the road.
9 and the crowds going before him and the ones following said, ""Hosanna
to the son of David; blessed the one coming in the name of the Lord;
Hosanna in the highest.
10 and entering him into Jerusalem was shaken all the city saying, ""Who
is this?""
11 And the crowds said, ""This is the prophet Jesus the one from Nazareth
of Galilee.
12 And entered Jesus into the Temple and cast out all those selling and
buying in the Temple, and the tables of the money changers he overthrew,
and the seats of those selling the doves.
13 And he says to them, ""It has been written, My house a house of prayer
shall be called, but y''all it have made a den of robbers.
14 And came to him blind and lame in the Temple, and he healed them.
Step II - Disposition
A. Genre - How the text says what it says
This is a narrative of the public acceptance of Jesus as a person of
significance in Jerusalem. The scriptural references inserted by the
author make a claim of kingship, a claim not specifically made by the
crowd.
This narrative shows three key actions taken by Jesus. First, there is
his prophetically symbolic way of entering into Jerusalem. Second, is
his clearing of the Temple. Third, is the healing of the blind and
lame. Each of these actions has an explicit prophetic warrant, if we
count the earlier quote in Matthew 11.5.
B. Personal Interaction - Questions and observations
1 and 3 The verb apesteilen/apostelei is used for the disciples and the
donkeys
8 Who were the people in this crowd? How did they know of Jesus?
8 What was the significance of the cut branches and cloaks?
9 What does Hosanna mean and why would people say it at this event?
10 What is the significance of the city being shaken (eseisthe)?
Matthew 2.3 has the whole city troubled when the magi arrive, but the
earth-quake verb is not used.
14 How did the blind and lame know to come to Jesus? Was it legal to
have them in the Temple? How significant is it that they were healed
""in the Temple?""
C. Organization - Where the elements of "B" are located
Step III - Composition
A. Immediate Context - preceding/following pericope
The kephalaia suggest reading Mt. 21:1-14 as one reading. This includes
Jesus entering the Temple and driving out the money changers. My
inclination is to include verse 15 as well, in which Jesus heals the
blind and the lame. This seems to complete the purpose of Jesus coming
into Jerusalem.
Immediately after this the chief priests and scribes become angry and
Jesus leaves the city.
Chapter 20 includes the parable of Jesus about the unexpected payment
of workers, the request from the mother of the sons of Zebedee for her
sons to sit at each side of Jesus in the kingdom, and the healing of the
two blind men outside of Jericho.
B. Organization of the Compositional Whole
Matthew can be organized into five teaching discourses interspersed
with narrative material:
Introduction - Son of David and Son of God
Discourse 1 - Sermon on the Mount (4:23-7.29)
Healings and controversies (8:1-9.34)
Discourse 2 - Missionary instructions (9.35-10.42)
Conflict intensifies (11.1-12.50)
Discourse 3 - Parables of the kingdom (13.1-53)
Opposition and acceptance (13.54-17.27)
Discourse 4 - The Church community (18.1-35)
The authority of Jesus (19.1-22.46)
Discourse 5 - Judgments present and future (23.1-25.46)
Passion and crucifixion (26.1-27.66)
Resurrection (28.1-20)
This passage fits into the establishment of Jesus'' authority. He is
welcomed as a king by the people of Jerusalem, as they quote from the
prophets, then he reestablishes the holiness of the Temple, and finally
he heals (as in Mt. 11.5) in the Temple.
C. Issues of Authorship
Of the four gospel writers only Matthew mentions the city shaking while
the people ask ""Who is this?"" This question is characteristic of Mark''s
gospel, but Mark does not ask it at this point in his gospel. Matthew
is also unique in presenting the answer to this question, ""This is the
prophet Jesus . . ."" The answer shows some understanding of Jesus, but
illustrates that the crowd does not yet comprehend who Jesus is.
Matthew is also the only gospel writer who mentions Jesus healing in
the Temple after he clears it of money changers. This is one of the
reasons I choose to extend the reading to include verse 14.
From this unique material we may gain some insight into Matthew''s
thinking. Jesus ""shakes things up"" but although people cannot ignore
him, they do not completely understand him. This is as true of the
disciples in other pericopes as it is of the crowds in this one.
Matthew also has a particular understanding of the proper worship of
God. In verse 13 he says the Temple is meant to be a house of prayer,
then in verse 14 he uses the Temple as a place to bring physical healing
to the blind and lame. Matthew seems to connect the physical and
spiritual realms.
Step IV - Context
A. Primitive Christianity
The Eusebian canon helps to sort out some of this material:
Verses 9, 12 and 13 appear in all four gospels.
Verses 1-3 and 6-8 appear in all three synoptic gospels.
Verses 4-5 are in that rare category of things appearing only in Mt and
Jn.
Verse 10-11 and 14 are unique to Matthew.
Rev 11.13 a great earthquake
Matthew has earthquakes three times around Jesus'' resurrection: 27.51;
27.54; 28.2.
Healing is a characteristic of the Messiah, according to Matthew 11.5.
B. Old Testament and Judaism
These references are all from the margins of the Nestle Greek NT.
1 Zch 14.3-5 - Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those
nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will
stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the
east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to
west by a
very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the
north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley
of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel;
yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of
Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the
holy ones with Him!
5 Isa 62.10-12 - Go through, go through the gates,
Clear the way for the people;
Build up, build up the highway,
Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples.
Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth,
Say to the daughter of Zion, "Lo, your salvation comes;
Behold His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him."
And they will call them, "The holy people,
The redeemed of the LORD"; And you will be called, "Sought out, a city
not forsaken."
5 Zch 9.9 - 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.
8 2 Kings 9.12-14 - They said, "It is a lie, tell us now." And he said,
"Thus and thus he said to me, 'Thus says the LORD, "I have anointed you
king over Israel.""'
Then they hurried and each man took his garment and placed it under him
on the bare steps, and blew the trumpet, saying, "Jehu is king!"
9 Ps 118.25-6 - O LORD, do save, we beseech You;
O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD;
We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.
9 Ps 148.1-3 - Praise the LORD !
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon . . .
9 Job 16.19-20 - "Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
And my advocate is on high.
"My friends are my scoffers;
My eye weeps to God.
12 Zch 14.21 - Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy
to the LORD of hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them
and boil in them. And there will no
longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts in that day.
12 PsSal 17.30 -
13 Isa 56.6-8 - This is an interesting reference to foreigners and
worship of the LORD
"Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
To minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD,
To be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath
And holds fast My covenant;
Even those I will bring to My holy mountain
And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My
altar;
The Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares,
"Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered."
13 Jer 7.10-12 - This is a threat of destruction for Jerusalem
Then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name,
and say, 'We are delivered!'--that you may do all these abominations?
"Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in
your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," declares the LORD.
"But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell
at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My
people Israel
14 2 Sam 5.7-9 - Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion,
that is the city of David.
David said on that day, "Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him
reach the lame and the blind, who are hated by David's soul, through the
water tunnel."
Therefore they say, "The blind or the lame shall not come into the
house."
So David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. . .
C. Hellenistic World
I found a very useful tool for searching for particular Greek words
used in the context of ancient hellenistic writings. The website is the
Perseus project. The address below allows you to type in a Greek word
and it searches for that word in its library:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/vor?lang=greek
I searched for the word ""seismon"" and received 130 documents, which
were displayed for my convenience in Greek or English. This site makes
it easy to browse through each work to explore more of the context
around the word of interest.
Note that Diodorus says that earthquakes can be from natural causes or
divine causes. He seems to favor divine causes. The exerpt from
Xenophon also attributes the earthquake to the gods. However, there
were many references to earthquakes with no mention of divine cause that
I could find.
Diodorus Siculus, Library, 15.48 - 16.61 (1st c. BCE)
""These disasters have been the subject of much discussion. Natural
scientists make it their endeavour to attribute responsibility in such
cases not to divine providence, but to certain natural circumstances
determined by necessary causes, whereas those who are disposed to
venerate the divine power assign certain plausible reasons for the
occurrence, alleging that the disaster was occasioned by the anger of
the gods at those who had committed sacrilege. This question I too shall
endeavour to deal with in detail in a special chapter of my history. .
.""
"". . . Now the participants in the sacrilege met in this fashion with
their just retribution from the deity. And the most renowned cities
because of their part in the outrage were later defeated in war by
Antipater,1 and lost at one and the same time their leadership and their
freedom. ""
Xenophon, Hellenica, 3.3.1 (5th c. BCE)
But Poseidon showed that you are entirely in the wrong, for he drove
your father out of her chamber into the open by an earthquake. And time
also, which is said to be the truest witness, gave testimony that the
god was right; for you were born in the tenth month from the time when
he fled from the chamber.
Step V - Distillation
A. Summary of Salient Features
Focus (What does the text say to its listeners?):
As God brings new and good things into the world, excitement will
build. But this human excitement is not to be trusted. Instead, those
who have studied God''s work in the past will recognize the signs that
God''s will is being accomplished.
B. Smooth Translation
1 And when they came near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, to the
Mount of Olives, then Jesus commissioned two disciples,
2 saying to them, ""Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you
will find an ass which has been tied, and a colt with her; loose them
and bring them to me.
3 and if anyone says anything to you, you shall say that their Lord has
need, and immediately he will commission them.
4 Now this happened that the saying of the propeht might be fulfilled,
saying,
5 ""Y''all tell the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you all,
meek and mounted on an donkey, on a colt son of an donkey.
6 And the disciples went and did as Jesus directed them.
7 They brought the ass and the colt, and put on them thire garments, and
he sat on them.
8 And the very large crowd threw their garments in the road, and others
cut branches from the trees and threw them in the road.
9 and the crowds going before him and the ones following said, ""Hosanna
to the son of David; blessed is the one who comes in the name of the
Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
10 and as he entered into Jerusalem, all the city was shaken, saying,
""Who is this?""
11 And the crowds said, ""This is the prophet Jesus, the one from
Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus entered into the Temple and cast out all those selling and
buying in the Temple, and the tables of the money changers he overthrew,
and the seats of those selling the doves.
13 And he said to them, ""It has been written, My house shall be called a
house of prayer, but y''all have made it a den of robbers.
14 And the blind and lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them.
C. Hermeneutical Bridge
What is important to Matthew is not simply what happens as Jesus enters
Jerusalem. He is interested in how God is working in these events, and
what direction God is leading. Thus Matthew reports on the healing in
the Temple, a sign of God''s love, after Jesus clears the Temple of money
changers. It is not enough to clear our lives of the bad influences, we
must plant something new and good in the spaces we clear of the weeds.
Step VI - Contemporary Address
A. Description of Audience
Palm Sunday in a distant suburban congregation.
B. Intended Goals for the Address
Function (How does the text affect its listeners?) Matthew not only
reports on the public celebration of Jesus, he interprets these events
in accordance with God''s scriptural assurances of justice and peace. We
can do the same in our lives, if we allow God''s concerns for a just
society to guide our thinking.