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            The chapter begins with the parable of the wedding dinner. Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven to the likes of a king who arranged a marriage for his son. He sent out his servants to call those whom he had invited to the wedding, and they would not come. Again, he sent out other servants to tell them again but this time include all of the great things that would be at the wedding (a feast with fatted cattle and oxen) yet they still wouldn’t come. Instead, they made light of the situation going to their farm or business instead. The rest seized his servants, treated them badly and then killed them. When he king heard about it he was furious. He sent out his army and had them destroy the murderes and burn their city. The king then told his other servants that the wedding is ready but the guests were not worthy so instead go to the highways and as many as you can find, invite them to the wedding. So all they could find, good and bad, were invited and the wedding hall was filled.

            The king then noticed that one of the guests didnt have on a wedding garment. He told his servants to take that man and bind him hand and foot and take him away. He then says that many are called, but few are chosen.

            The original invited guests who refused to come represent the jews, Gods people. After they refused to come, the king (God) then sent out his servants to go get others both good and bad (gentiles). When the guests arrived they had to wear their wedding attire. This was customary in those days, if someone had a wedding it could last up to a week and garments would be required of the guests to be dressed for the occasion. At some weddings the garments would be there available, others you would need your own. Regardless, if you went to a wedding in normal clothes you were asked to leave. In the parable there was one guests who showed up in his regular attire to the banquet. The banquet in this parable represents Jesus, the attire represent the righteousness we receive in Christ Jesus when we get born again. There is only one way to the father, through Jesus. The guest at the party came through the wrong door, wasn’t clothed in proper attire (didnt receive Jesus) and for that he was spit out. This represents that we don’t work our way into heaven, our service has nothing to do with it, it is all about Jesus and our relationship with Him. You can’t sneak your way into heaven and go around Jesus, you will be cast out. The parable ends with ‘many are called but few are chosen.’ Meaning many in fact all are invited, but only few accept the invitation.

            The pharisees didn’t like this parable, so they chose to try to plot against Him. They sent to Him their disciples with the Herodian’s and tried to trick Him in His talk. They began to talk smoothly to Him saying things like, ‘we know that you are true and teach the way of God’ but Jesus knows our hearts and minds and our intents. They then persuaded to ask Him then if they were to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Jesus knew what they were saying, He asked them why they were testing Him and called them hypocrites. He then took a denarius and asked the crowd whose face was on it. They responded that Caesar’s face was upon the denarius. Jesus then told them to render to Caesar what was Caesars and to God the things that are God’s. They were amazed by Him and His response, they turned around and walked away.

            The same day, the Sadducees then came testing Jesus. They didnt believe in resurrection so they came to Him basically asking that if a man died and his wife remarried with the mans brother, who would she be wed too when she dies and they are in heaven? They were trying to trick Jesus and get Him to somehow announce what they believed that there wasn’t resurrection, but Jesus knew better and knew scripture. He simply replied, “You are mistaken, not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. FOr in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? God is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.” When they heard His response, they were astonished.

            When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees they chose to test Him further. One of them, a lawyer, asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus answered that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself.

            Jesus then asked the pharisees a question that they could not answer. He asked them about the Christ, whose Son is He? They responded with David. Jesus then said that that couldn’t be, because in scripture David says ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand,’ how could call Him Lord if He is His Son? No one was able to answer Him and no one else questioned Him after that.

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            The chapter begins with Jesus fulfilling the prophecy to the people of Jerusalem, letting them know their king is coming to them, humble, riding on a donkey. Jesus sent two of His disciples to go ahead into town before Him to grab a donkey that would be there. As Jesus rode the donkey into town everyone cheered and praised God for the Son of David.

            Jesus then entered the temple where he saw people selling and buying animals to sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the tables of the ones selling the doves. He shouted to them that the temple was to be a house of prayer, and they have turned it into a den of thieves. Churches are not supposed to be all about money and making a profit, they are to be a house where people can come to be guided in knowing God on a personal level. That doesn’t mean your church can’t sell books written by your pastor or items like that. It just means the churches sole purpose, what it is known for, should be to aid people in knowing God better, in having a relationship with Jesus and offering prayer when needed. It is to be a place of worship of God, not money. Churches should be a place where likeminded people can go to have fellowship and together worship God, not items.

            The blind and the lame came into the temple and Jesus healed them. The leading priests and teachers of religious law saw these miracles and praised Jesus as the Son of David. The leaders on the other hand were indignant. They didn’t agree and asked Jesus if He was aware of what they were all saying about Him, even the children. Jesus answered with scripture, reminding them that the scriptures say that they have taught children and infants to give you praise. He then returned to Bethany for the night. Jesus didn’t argue with people when they disagreed with Him, He gave them the word to stand on and that was it. We often feel like we need to persuade others into agreeing with us when we should follow suit. We need to give the word as our example and our belief and that is it, we should feel the need to debate with people on issues.

            Jesus then curses a fig tree, He was hungry and saw that the tree wasn’t producing any figs so He cursed it. Immediately the tree withered and His disciples were amazed, they wanted to know how He did that. He told them that if they have faith they can do that too and so much more. If they have faith they could move a mountain, literally. If you have faith, you will receive it. We need to strive for faith like this, and this is attained by having a relationship with Jesus. You can read your bible a million times, which would be great, but you still need to know Jesus. The more we know Jesus the more faith we will have.

            When Jesus returned to the temple He began teaching and the leading priests and elders came up to Him demanding to know on what authority He was doing these things. Jesus said He would answer if first they could answer a question. He wanted them to answer if John the Baptist’s authority come from Heaven or merely man himself? They knew it was a way to get them to admit to their faults. Had they said Heaven Jesus would want to know why they didn’t believe John then. If they said merely man then they would be mobbed because everyone knew and believed John was a prophet. So they replied that they didn’t know, to which Jesus then said He won’t tell them by what authority He does things. Their pride prevented them from admitting that the things John did was by the authority in Heaven. Imagine how the conversation could have gone had they admitted they knew Johns authority was from heaven, repented for not believing John and actually softening their hearts to God. Pride doesn’t deserve a place in our hearts.

            Jesus shares the parable of the two sons. A man tells his older son to go work in the vineyard, the boy says no but then later changes his mind and goes to work. The second boy is told to go and he says yes sir but lies and doesn’t go to work. Which of the two boys obeyed their father? Corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God first. For John the Baptist showed the right way but they didn’t believe him like the tax collectors and prostitutes did. When they say this they still refused to repent when they knew they were in the wrong.

            Jesus then shares the parable of the evil farmers. A landowner plants a vineyard then leases the land to to tenant farmers and he moves away to another country. At harvest time he sends his servants to go get his portion of the grape juice and the tenant farmers stoned and killed them. So the landowner sends more servants and the same thing happens. Then the landowner sense his son thinking they would surely respect his son. Instead, the tenant farmers killed the son in hopes to overtake the property altogether. Jesus then asks the leading priest and Pharisees what they thought would happen when the landowner returns, they didn’t realized Jesus was talking about them as the tenant farmers. They said that the landowner would kill all the tenant farmers and basically try again with more trusting tenant farmers. Jesus then declared the scriptures that the stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone, which is the Lords doing. The kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to a nation that would produce the proper fruit. They then realized Jesus was referring to them as the tenant farmers and they wanted to arrest Him for this. However, they know the crowds were in His favor and they wouldn’t be able to outnumber Him with the crowds.

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            The chapter begins with the parable of the vineyard workers. Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers to tend to his vineyard. He agreed to pay them the normal daily wages and sent them out to work. At 9am in the morning he went to the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing, so he hired them and told them he would pay whatever was right at the end of the day. At noon he did the same thing, and at three he did the same thing. At 5pm he went to town again and saw some others standing and not doing anything. He asked why they went working and they replied that no-one had hired them. So he told them to go and work with the others.

            That evening the landowner goes to pay the workers, starting with the last workers first. The group who started work at 5pm received the same days wages as the ones who started early in the morning. When the ones who had worked a full day in the heat heard that they received the same amount as the ones who barely worked that day, they were upset. They thought it was unfair and protested this. The landowner replied that he paid them what they had a greed too which was fair, and if he wants to pay the other men the same amount with his money he has the right to do so. The ones who had worked all day were jealous, they compared what they got to others. Had there been no other works that day, the ones who worked a full day and received a full days wages would have been happy with the set upon agreed price. They were only upset when they saw what the others got. We are not to compare ourselves to others, we are not to be jealous on what others get. Those who are last now will be first in the kingdom of Heaven, and those who are first will be last. There is nothing we can do work our way into the Kingdom of Heaven, we don’t get in by our works. We will never be deserving of it. In the parable it wasn’t about how hard they worked, they were all offered the same offer, and they all accepted the invitation.

            Jesus then predicts His death again to His disciples. When He preached this they weren’t able to understand and fathom what He was saying. They didn’t seem to comprehend Him saying He will be raised again on the third day. They couldn’t get past the fact that He said He was going to be killed. They didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet to help them fully fathom it all. They were still trying to get it on their own fleshly merit.

            The mother of James and John then comes to Jesus and asks Him if He can make sure that they sit beside Him in the Kingdom. Jesus replied letting her know that she has no idea what she is asking or talking about. She was thinking worldly and fleshly with this request, wanting her boys to be in high authority above others as if they were managers or supervisors. Jesus tells her that it is up to God to say who those places are for. The other disciples heard this and were indignant with the request that was made. Jesus explains to them that among them it will not be viewed like that, they will not be in high power positions. They will be servants and slaves because Jesus came to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.

            Jesus and His disciples then left the town of Jericho and a large crowd followed behind. Two blind men were sitting beside the road and when they heard Jesus was coming they began shouting for Him. The crowd yelled at the blind men to be quiet. Instead of that shutting them up, they only began to yell louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

            When Jesus heard them He stopped and asked what they wanted Him to do to for them. They replied that they wanted to see, feeling bad for them Jesus touched their eyes and they could see! Jesus saw them, had compassion for them and healed them. When we see people who are in need of healing or need, we too should feel compassion for them. When we feel compassion towards someone while we pray for them it is meaningful and internally we are having a heart cry moment for them. Our spirit is communication with the Holy Spirit how much we love them and how much they need help. We need to have compassion for others. After the two blind men were healed they followed Jesus.