When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. Matthew 21:45
Once again the night before Jesus and the twelve went back to Bethany. On their way back to Jerusalem, they saw the Fig tree had withered and was dying and of course Peter was the one to call it out. Yesterday He taught the hindrance of religious hypocrisy of making it look like you’re trusting God and believing how much He loves us unconditionally, but they were trying to show how much we loves Him by their works to earn His love..
But today, Jesus took the opportunity to teach about trust and prayer by saying that if we ask in prayer and believe in our hearts that we already have what we asked for, we will receive it. He also reminded them the importance of forgiveness, for it releases us to freely receive.
Once in Jerusalem the religious leaders began questioning Jesus’ authority. But Jesus turned the tables on them by asking them a question and challenging them that if they could answer His question, then He would answer theirs. So He asked, was John’s baptism from heaven or men? Of course He placed them in a no win situation. If they said heaven, then why didn’t they believe John? If they said from men, then they feared the people because they thought John was a prophet. So their answer was, “we don’t know.” And they kept looking for ways to trip Him up, but found none.
Then one of them asked a final question, which was the most important Commandment and Jesus answered, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and the second to love your neighbor as yourself. Then He asked them, what did they think about the Messiah and whose son he was. They said the “son of David” but Jess quoted Psalm 110:1 and asked if David call him Lord, how could he then be his son? After that no one dared to ask Him any more questions.
Scripture Reading– Matthew 21:12– 22:40
Something to consider: What did you learn about Jesus that you never saw before?
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