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Matthew 21:1. And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, Matthew 21:2. saying to them, Go to the village that is right in front of you; and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie, bring to Me; Matthew 21:3. and if anyone says anything to you, answer that the Lord needs them; and he will send them forthwith. Matthew 21:4. Nevertheless, this happened, so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet (Isa.62:11; Zech.9:9), who says: Matthew 21:5. Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your king comes to you meek, sitting on a donkey and the colt of a donkey. The Lord sat on a donkey not for any other need, but solely to fulfill the prophecy and together to show us how modestly we need to ride, for He rode not on a horse, but modestly on a colt. He fulfills the prophecy both in the historical and in the mysterious sense: in the historical sense, through the fact that he visibly sat on a donkey, and in the allegorical sense, by sitting on a donkey’s foal, that is, on a new, unbridled and rebellious people, the pagans. The donkey and the ass were tied by the bonds of their sins. Two were sent to resolve this: Paul to the pagans, and Peter to the circumcision, that is, the Jews. And to this day there are two who free us from sins - the Apostle and the Gospel. Christ walks meekly, for at His first coming He appeared not to judge the world, but to save. Other kings of the Jews were predatory and unjust, but Christ is a meek King. Matthew 21:6. The disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them: Matthew 21:7. They brought a donkey and a colt and put their clothes on them, and He sat on top of them. Luke and Mark speak only of a colt, but Matthew speaks of a donkey and a colt. There is no contradiction between them, for when the colt was led away, its mother followed it. Jesus sat on them, that is, not on two animals, but on garments. Or: first He sat on a donkey, and then on a colt, since at first He stayed in the Jewish synagogue, and then He chose a faithful people from among the pagans. Matthew 21:8. Many people spread their clothes along the road; and others cut branches from trees and spread them along the road; Matthew 21:9. The people who preceded and accompanied exclaimed: Hosanna ******** to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! As for the direct, historical meaning, laying out clothes expresses great honor, and wearing cut branches is a manifestation of triumph. In the mysterious sense, understand this: the Lord sat down when the apostles spread their clothes, that is, virtues, to Him. If the soul is not adorned with apostolic virtues, the Lord will not sit on it. Those who preceded are the prophets who lived before the incarnation of Christ, and the accompanying ones are the martyrs and teachers who lived after the incarnation. They spread their clothes over Christ, that is, they subjugate the flesh to the spirit, since the body is clothing, the covering of the soul. They spread out their bodies on the path, that is, in Christ. “I am the way,” He says (John 14:6). Whoever does not lay down his flesh, that is, does not humiliate it, while remaining on the path in Christ, but deviates into heresy, the Lord will not sit on him. “Hosanna” - according to some, means “song” or “psalm”, and, according to others, which is more correct, “save” us. The Lord is called the Coming One, because the Jews were expecting His coming. So John says: “Are you the one who is coming?” (Luke 7:20), that is, He whose coming is expected. In addition, the Lord is called the Coming One because every day one can expect His second coming. Therefore, each of us must expect the end of the age, the coming of the Lord, and prepare for it. Matthew 21:10. And when He entered Jerusalem, the whole city began to stir and said: Who is this? Matthew 21:11. And the people said: This is Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. The simple-minded and simple people did not envy Christ, but at the same time they did not have a proper understanding of Him. That is why the people in this case call Him Prophet. The people did not say: this is the Prophet, but: the Prophet, that is, exactly the one expected. Matthew 21:12. And Jesus entered the church of God and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the church, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves, Matthew 21:13. and spoke to them; It is written, “My house will be called a house of prayer.” and you made it a den of robbers. As the lord of the house, that is, the church, the Lord drove out the merchants, showing that what belongs to the Father belongs to Him. He did this, on the one hand, having concern for the splendor of the church, and on the other, indicating the abolition of sacrifices, for, having expelled the bulls and doves, he expressed that what was needed was not the kind of sacrifice that consisted of slaughtering animals, but prayer was needed. He says: “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves,” for in dens of thieves there are murders and bloodshed. Or He called the church a den of thieves because they bought and sold there; and covetousness is the passion of robbers. Traders are the same as our money changers. Doves are sold by those who sell church degrees: they sell the grace of the Holy Spirit, who once appeared in the form of a dove. They are expelled from the church because they are unworthy of the priesthood. Be careful not to turn the church of God, that is, your thoughts, into a den of thieves, that is, demons. Our mind will become a den if we allow materially inclined thoughts about selling, buying, and self-interest, so that we begin to collect even the smallest coins. In the same way, we will make ourselves a den of thieves if we sell and buy doves, that is, we will lose the spiritual guidance and reasoning that we have. Matthew 21:14. And the lame and the blind came to Him in the church, and He healed them. By healing the sick, He shows that He is God and that He did well in driving out the unworthy from the church. It is also indicated here that after the expulsion of the Jews, tied to the law and the slaughter of animals, the lame and blind of the pagans were accepted and healed by Him. Matthew 21:15. When the high priests and scribes saw the miracles that He performed, and the children shouting in the church and saying: Hosanna to the Son of David! were indignant Matthew 21:16. and they said to Him, Do you hear what they say? Jesus says to them: Yes! Have you never read: from the mouths of babes and sucklings You have ordained praise? The Pharisees, seeing how the children praise Christ with the song of David, which the prophet apparently refers to God, are tormented with envy and reproach Him for allowing what applies to God to be applied to Him. But the Lord, protecting the children, says: yes! Not only do I not command them to be silent, but I also bring the prophet as a witness, and I expose either ignorance or envy in you; Haven’t you read: “From the mouths of babes and sucklings You have made praise”? “Arranged” means: You have made harmonious and perfect praise. Although, by their age, children are considered imperfect, they did not say this on their own: no, they entrusted their lips to the Holy Spirit, they were His instruments. That is why it is said: “from the mouths of babies,” because it indicates that the words did not flow from the minds of children, but only from lips moved by Divine grace. This signified that Christ would be praised by infants and the foolish, that is, by the pagans. This was also a consolation for the apostles; although they are simpletons, the word will be given to them. So you too, if you are as gentle as a baby, and if you feed on spiritual milk - the word of God, you will prove worthy to praise God. Matthew 21:17. And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there. The Lord moves away from them as unworthy and goes to Bethany. The word means “house of obedience.” This means that He passes from those who are disobedient to those who obey Him and dwells with them, as it is said: “I will dwell in them and walk in them” (2 Cor. 6:16). Matthew 21:18. In the morning, returning to the city, he became hungry; Matthew 21:19. and seeing a fig tree along the road, he approached it and, finding nothing on it except some leaves, said to it: Let there be no fruit from you henceforth forever. And the fig tree immediately withered. Matthew 21:20. Seeing this, the disciples were surprised and said: How did the fig tree immediately wither? The Lord often worked miracles, and His miracles were always beneficial. He had not previously performed a single miracle to punish anyone. In view of this, so that no one might think that He cannot punish, the Lord shows such punitive power here, but as a lover of mankind, He does not show it in public, but on a tree, just as before on a herd of pigs. He withers up the tree to teach people reason. The disciples are amazed - and thoroughly. This tree is very succulent; the miracle is all the more revealed because the tree dried up instantly. The fig tree means the Jewish synagogue, which has only leaves, that is, an ostentatious letter, but has no spiritual fruit. Likewise, every person devoted to the pleasures of this life is like this fig tree: he does not have spiritual fruit for the hungry Jesus, but only leaves, a temporary and transitory appearance. Such a person will hear a curse on himself; for it is said: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the fire.” He will also be dried up: during his torment in the flame, even his tongue will dry out, like the rich man of the Gospel. Matthew 21:21. Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” it will happen. Matthew 21:22. and whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive. Great is this promise of Christ given to the disciples: we can even move mountains if we do not think, that is, if we doubt, and whatever we ask, without any doubt, believing in the power of God, we will receive. Someone will ask: what if I ask for something harmful and at the same time unreasonably believe that God will give it to me, will I really receive this harmful thing? And how can a man-loving God fulfill a request for something that is harmful to me? Listen. Firstly, when you hear about faith, you should understand not unreasonable, but true, as well as prayer, of course, asking for something useful, as the Lord taught us in the words: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” and so on (Matthew 6:13). And then pay attention to the expression “do not doubt.” Whoever is united with God, so that he is one with Him and never moves away from Him, how can he ask something harmful? Thus, if we are inseparable from God and inseparable from Him, then we will ask only for what is useful and we will receive. Matthew 21:23. And when He came into the church and taught, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him and said: By what authority are You doing this? and who gave you such power? Matthew 21:24. Jesus answered and said to them: I will also ask you one thing; If you tell Me about this, then I will tell you by what authority I do this; Matthew 21:25. Where did John's baptism come from: from heaven or from men? They reasoned among themselves: if we say: from heaven, then He will tell us: why didn’t you believe him? Matthew 21:26. And if we say: from men, we are afraid of the people, for everyone reveres John as a prophet. Matthew 21:27. And they answered Jesus: We do not know. He also said to them: And I will not tell you by what authority I do this. The teachers of the law, jealous of His power with which He expelled the merchants from the church, approach Him with the following question: Who are you that you expel the merchants from the church? Did you do this with the authority of the priest? But you do not have the priesthood. Or are you acting like a king? But You are not a king. Yes, even if You were a king, even then you could not act like this: and the kings in the church do not have the power to give orders. So His enemies asked the Lord with the following goal: if He says: “I do this with My authority,” they can slander Him as a rebel arrogating power to himself; if He says: “I do this according to the authority God has given Me,” they will turn away from Him the people who glorified Him as God - they will discover before the people that He is not God and acts like a servant, by virtue of the authority of God. How does Christ, Wisdom Herself, answer them? He “catches the wise in their deceit” (1 Cor. 3:19). He asks them in the same way about John, so that if they say: “John’s preaching was from heaven,” he would convict them of fighting against God, as those who did not accept it, and if they say, “from men,” then they would be in danger from the people, since everyone revered John as a prophet. By this the Lord teaches that one should not answer questions with malicious intent. He Himself did not give an answer to the insidious question of the Jews, although He would not have found it difficult to answer. Here we learn from the example of Christ that we should not boast. Although the Lord could have said by what authority He acts this way, He still did not say so that it would not seem that He was glorifying Himself. Matthew 21:28. What do you think? One man had two sons; and he, approaching the first, said: son! Go today and work in my vineyard. Matthew 21:29. But he answered: I don’t want to; and then, repenting, he left. Matthew 21:30. And going up to the other, he said the same thing. This one said in response: I’m coming, sir; and didn't go. Matthew 21:31. Which of the two fulfilled the will of the father? They tell him: first. Jesus said to them: Truly I say to you, tax collectors and harlots are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you, Matthew 21:32. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; But you, having seen this, did not repent afterwards to believe him. The Lord brings here two kinds of people, some of whom first made a promise - such were the Jews, who once said: “We will do everything that God has said and will be obedient,” and others are people who initially did not submit, such as harlots and tax collectors, as well as pagans; all these people at first did not obey the will of God, but in the end they repented and obeyed. Notice here the wisdom of Christ: He did not first say to the Pharisees: “publicans and sinners are better than you all,” no, He first caught them. They themselves admitted that of the two sons, the more obedient was the one who actually fulfilled the will of his father. When they admitted this, the Lord added: “John came by the way of righteousness,” that is, he lived impeccably; you cannot say that his life was in any way reprehensible. However, while the harlots listened to him, you did not; That’s why they precede you, that is, they enter the Kingdom of God first. Try, too, having believed, to enter at least after them. If you do not believe, then you will not enter at all. And now many make a vow to God and the Father to become monks or priests, but after the vow they do not maintain zeal, while others did not make a vow about the monastic or priestly life, but spend their lives as monks or priests; so they turn out to be obedient children, since they fulfill the will of the Father, although they did not promise anything. Matthew 21:33. Listen to another parable. There was a certain owner of a house who planted a vineyard, surrounded it with a fence, dug a winepress in it, built a tower and, having given it to the vinedressers, went away. The Lord also tells them another parable in order to show that they, having been honored with immeasurable care for themselves, still have not corrected themselves. The man “master of the house” is the Lord, called man because of His love for mankind. The vineyard is the Jewish people, planted by God in the Promised Land, as it is said: “I brought them in, plant them in Your Holy Mountain” (Ex. 15:17). The fence means either the law that did not allow the Jews to merge with the pagans through marriage, or the holy angels who protected Israel. The winepress is an altar; tower - church; vinedressers - teachers of the people, Pharisees and scribes. God the Lord of the House went away when he stopped speaking to the Jews in the pillar of cloud; or removal signifies God's long-suffering. God, as it were, goes to sleep or withdraws when he endures for a long time and does not immediately punish us for our unrighteous deeds. Matthew 21:34. When the time for fruit approached, he sent his servants to the vinedressers to take their fruit; Matthew 21:35. the winegrowers seized his servants, beat some, killed others, and stoned others. Matthew 21:36–37. Again he sent other servants, more than before; and they did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying: They will be ashamed of my son. Matthew 21:38. But the vinedressers, seeing their son, said to each other: This is the heir; Let's go, kill him and take possession of his inheritance. Matthew 21:39. And they seized him, took him out of the vineyard and killed him. The time of fruits came during the time of the prophets. The sent slaves are prophets who were variously insulted by the winegrowers, that is, contemporary prophets are false prophets and false teachers, unworthy leaders of the people. They beat some, as, for example, King Zedekiah hit the prophet Micah on the cheek; others were killed: for example, Zechariah was killed between the church and the altar; others were stoned, such as Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, the high priest. Finally, the Son of God was sent, appearing in the flesh. God said: “They will be ashamed of My Son” not because he did not foresee the murder of the Son, but wanting to express what was about to happen. He says: although the wicked killed the slaves, they must at least honor the dignity of the Son. But the vinedressers, when they saw the Son, said, “This is the heir: let’s go and kill him.” So the same Jews who said: “This is Christ,” they crucified Him. “They took him out of the vineyard and killed him” - this means: Christ was put to death outside the city. But, as we said that a people is called a vineyard, the Pharisees, the evil winegrowers, killed the Son of the Lord outside the vineyard and in this sense, that is, against the desire of the simple-minded people. Matthew 21:40. So, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with these vinedressers? Matthew 21:41. They say to Him: These evildoers will be put to an evil death, and the vineyard will be given to other vinedressers, who will give him the fruit in their own time. When will he come? The second coming? You can, of course, understand it that way. But it is better to understand it this way: The Lord of the vineyard is God the Father; He sent His Son, whom the Jews killed. When He comes, that is, when He looks at the iniquity committed by the leaders, then “he will put these evildoers to an evil death,” and he will send Roman troops against them. He will give His vineyard to other vinedressers, that is, to the apostles and Christian teachers. By vineyard you can also understand Divine Scripture: in it the fence is a letter; a dug grindstone - depth of spirit; tower - sublime theological teaching. This Scripture was first entrusted to the evil vinedressers - the Pharisees and scribes, but then God handed it over to us, who diligently cultivate it. And in this sense, the Pharisees killed the Lord outside the vineyard, that is, contrary to what the Old Testament Scripture said about Christ. Matthew 21:42. Jesus says to them: Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner”? “This is from the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes”? (Ps. 118:22–23) Matthew 21:43. Therefore I tell you that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people bearing the fruits thereof; Matthew 21:44. and whoever falls on this stone will be broken; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him. He calls Himself a stone, and the builders are the Jewish teachers, who rejected Him as obscene, saying: “You are a Samaritan, and... you have a demon” (John 8:48). But He, having risen from the dead, was placed at the head of the corner, that is, He became the Head of the church, uniting Jews and pagans with one faith. Just as a stone placed at an angle in a building simultaneously supports one and the other wall, so Christ united everyone with one faith. This corner is marvelous, and from the Lord, for the church, which contains and unites us through faith, is of Divine origin; it is worthy of great surprise due to its magnificent design. This corner is marvelous in the sense that the word of Christ is confirmed and witnessed by miracles, so that the structure of the church is wonderful. The Kingdom of God, that is, closeness to God, was taken away from the Jews and transferred to those who believed. The Jews, having stumbled over a stone, that is, having been offended by Christ, will be crushed at the second coming, although now they are already crushed by it, that is, scattered throughout the earth, as we see with the unfortunate Jews. This means “crush”, that is, scatter them. Matthew 21:45. And when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them, Matthew 21:46. and they tried to seize Him, but they were afraid of the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet. And here, notice how the people, simple and unsophisticated, follow the truth, while the teachers of the law plot evil. Jews to this day strive to accept Jesus, but cannot believe in Him. They will accept the Antichrist and worship him, but Christ will not be accepted by them, that is, known.