Matthew 21
v.13
“It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’ “
v.15-16
But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. 16”Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?”
Jesus’ reply to the complaint of the chief priests and elders derives from Psalm 8:2 and accents the unlikely source of praise for Israel’s Messiah: not from the leaders of Israel, but rather from children and even infants.
Jesus’ answer is a masterstroke and simultaneously accomplishes three things. (1) It provides some kind of biblical basis for letting the children go on with their exuberant praise and thus stifles, for the moment, the objections of the temple leaders. (2) Thoughtful persons, reflecting on the incident later (especially after the Resurrection), perceive that Jesus was saying much more. The children’s “Hosannas” are not being directed to God but to the Son of David, the Messiah. Jesus is therefore not only acknowledging his messiahship but justifying the praise of the children by applying himself a passage of Scripture applicable only to God (Ps 8 was no considered a messianic psalm). (3) The quotation confirms that the humble perceive spiritual truths more readily than the sophisticated (cf. 19:13-15).
v.19
Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
Jesus’ cursing of this tree is another symbolic action, corresponding to his action of judgment upon the temple (21:12). The fruitlessness of this tree is an analogy to the temple that should be bearing fruit (prayer and worship [21:13–16]) but whose purpose is being obscured by commerce.
v.21
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.
That this story of the fig tree points back to Jesus’ judgment upon the temple is confirmed by this reference to a mountain. As they return to Jerusalem from Bethany, the obvious referent of “this mountain” would be the Temple Mount itself, further underscoring its coming judgment.
v.22
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
v.32
For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
v.43
“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.