On their way to Jerusalem, near Bethphage at Mount Olives Jesus sent to disciples into the village to appropriate an ass and a colt for the lord’s use. And if anyone asks, tell them the Lord needs them and that person, presumable the owner of said ass, will send the animal strait away. You see JC needed the ass and colt, to fulfill a prophesy about the King coming to the people all meek and sitting on an ass and colt, the foal of an ass. That’s very specific. But shouldn’t that come about a little more naturally than that? Oh well. I guess JC can steal and ass and colt if he wants he’s the son of god. That’s not something Satan would do….
So the disciples went and brought back the ass and the colt and dressed them up in their clothes, wait what? It says “and put on them their clothes” well, whatever, JC got on the ass. So a big group of followers spread out their clothes and branches from the trees, I’m guessing palms. And the crowd made a kind of parade or something and cried out “Woo hoo! Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Yay!”
Well the city of Jerusalem was all who is this cuy with the huge enterage? And the crowd wasn’t afraid to tell them, JC in the house! Holla! Yo, this is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee!
JC heads into the temple of God and gets all pissed off. He casts out all of the people who bought and sold stuff in the temple and turned over the moneychangers tables and the seats of the folks who sell the doves! JC! And he tells them, My house is the house of prayer and you’ve made it into a den of thieves!
The blind and lame no doubt coming to investigate the ruckus come into the temple and JC totally heals them. The chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful thing he did, no doubt the healing, because I don’t think throwing tables over and kicking people out is all that wonderful, and they heard the children crying “Hosanna to the Son of Davit!” To say they weren’t pleases would be an understatement. They asked JC if he heard what they were saying. JC was all , yeah haven’t you ever read out of the mouth of babes you have perfect praise? Way to make friend s JC. And he left them to go to Bethany, to lodge. Get your mind out of the gutter, it’s a place not a girl.
The next morning he returned to the city pretty hungry. And I think this made him a little cranky. That of his imminent death mounting. Because he saw a fig tree in the way, and it didn’t have any fruit, only leaves, and he said to it, let no fruit ever grow on you ever! And the fig tree just withered away. Nice JC really nice. So the disciples saw it and they thought wow, he really withered that fig tree so quickly! JC tells them, if you faith and you don’t doublt, you can do this to the fig trees, and you can move a mountain into the ocean! Do it JC! Do it! And if you pray for it, it will happen.
When he came to the temple, the chief priests and the elders asked him who gave him the authority to teach and do these things? JC answers with a riddle. I will ask you one thing, and if you answer me, I’ll tell you by authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from, heaven or of man?
Oh snap, they thought, we better get this right. If we say from heaven, he’s going to ask why we don’t believe in him? But if we say of men, the people will be pissed because they think John the B was a prophet. So they tell JC they couldn’t tell. Wrong answer, he tells them that he won’t tell them by what authority I do these things.
But what do you think. A man has two sons, and he tells the first to work in the vineyard. Well the son says, no he wouldn’t but he repented and went. The man goes to his second son and tells him the same, but the second son says yes right away. So which did the will of their father?
They answered the first. Wrong answer, JC tells them that the publicans and the harlots will get into heaven before they do. Because John came before me, and you didn’t believe in him, but the publicans and the harlots did, and even when you had seen it, you didn’t repent afterwards. You could have believed him.
Hear another parable. Oh joy. There was the owner of a house who planted a vineyard, and dug a winepress, built a tower and left the house steward in charge as he went far away. When the fruit grew ripe, he sent his servants to the steward to receive the fruit. And the steward took his servants and beat on, killed another, and stoned a third. WTF! Again he sent other servants to the steward for fruit and it happened again. Finally he sends his son because he thinks the steward will respect him. When the steward sees the son, the heir, he thinks, let’s kill him and take his inheritance. So they caught him, cast him out of the vineyard and killed him! So when the owner comes home, what do you think he will do to the steward?
They say to him, he’ll destroy that wicked man and hire a new steward to collect his fruit.
JC asks them, did you never read the scriptures? The stone that the builder rejects becomes the head of the corner. It’s the Lords doing isn’t it marvelous? The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to the people who will bring out the fruit. And if you fall on this stone, you will be broken and ground into powder.
The chief priest and Pharisees had heard his parables and they understood that this was about them. And they wanted to lay hand on him as it were. But they feared his follows who thought JC was a prophet.
Okay first off, that parable was disturbing. Second, what was that bit about the stone. Had we talked about a stone? It seemed random to me. And lastly, JC is getting snippy. I think he’s starting to really fear is death, and he’s starting to crack a bit from the pressure. How unpleasant for everyone involved.
Ugh, the closer JC gets to death the more unbearable he becomes. That whole vineyard parable really bugged me.
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