Matthew 21:37 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

NIV: Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

NASB: But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

CSB: Finally, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

NLT: Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, ‘Surely they will respect my son.’

KJV: But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.

NKJV: Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

Isaiah 5:1–7 depicts Israel as a vineyard which fails to produce good fruit, despite the owner's care. As a result, the owner destroys it. Parallel to that, Jesus has been presenting a parable about another vineyard, also representing Israel. This time, the focus is on the men who the landowner charged with caring for the field. The owner rented the well-prepared field (Matthew 21:33–36) to some tenants. Their agreement would have been to give to the landowner a share of each harvest. But when the owner sends servants to collect his share, the tenants beat them and even kill some of them. This parallels Israel's tragic history of prophets being ignored or murdered by religious leaders (Acts 7:52)

Now the owner of the vineyard decides to send his own son to collect the rightly owed crops. He imagines that the tenants will respect his son, though they have killed his servants. Instead, the following verse will show that they see the arrival of the son as an opportunity to defeat the owner of the vineyards once and for all.

Matthew 21:33–46 begins with another vineyard-related parable from Jesus. This one involves tenants who refused to pay the owner His agreed upon share of the crops. Instead, they mistreated and killed the servants he sent and then killed the owner's son. Jesus compares Israel's religious leaders to these tenants, saying the kingdom of God will be taken from them. Jesus identifies Himself in a psalm about a stone rejected by the builders but chosen by the Lord to be the cornerstone. All who reject Him will fall on the cornerstone or have it fall on and crush them.

Jesus fulfills a prophecy from Zechariah about the coming of the king to Jerusalem by riding in on a donkey. The people celebrate and praise Him as the Messiah. Jesus drives the marketers and moneychangers out of the temple and heals some people. He curses a fig tree and tells the disciples nothing will be impossible for them with faith. Jesus forces cowardly and hypocritical religious leaders to back down with a question about John the Baptist. He then exposes their fraudulent spirituality with two parables about vineyards. Jesus applies to Himself a psalm about a rejected stone being made the cornerstone by the Lord.

Matthew 21 finds Jesus arriving near Jerusalem after leaving Jericho in the previous chapter. His triumphal entry is accomplished riding a donkey, and to raucous praise, fulfilling a prophecy about the Messiah. Jesus cleanses the marketplace from the temple, heals, and presents lessons about faith and Israel's failed leadership. This leads into further conversations which Matthew compiles from Jesus' interactions with the Pharisees.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.

Accessed 11/23/2024 6:28:55 AM