5. The desire of it was mentioned by Him as the proof of the nation Israel's rejection of Him. The next passage I would revert to is-" When the husbandmen saw the son they said.... This is the heir; come, 'let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and 'cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him." (Matt. 21:3838But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. (Matthew 21:38); compare Mark 12:7, 87But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. 8And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. (Mark 12:7‑8); Luke 20:14, 1514But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. 15So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? (Luke 20:14‑15).)
Having arrived at Jerusalem, in the appointed way (chap. 21:9), riding on an ass, He was received there with shoutings, and "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" was rightly among the cries. But a little onward it appears that though the right words were used, they were wrongly used by them, for they used them only in a subordinate sense; for the words in their full import pointed out Jesus as Jehovah of Hosts-and so shall they hereafter he used; but they used them of Him simply as " the prophet of Nazareth," sent by God, and so came in His name, instead of Jehovah Himself, personally present in His own character and name.
He purges the temple (ver. 12); heals the sick in it (ver. 14); and when the chief priests begrudge Him even the lower title of Son of David (ver. 15), He will not sleep in the city, but retires from it. (Ver. 17.) On the morrow in the fruitless rig tree, He typically curses Israel (ver. 19); meets and confounds the foolish question put in the temple, " By what authority doest thou these things?" &c.; and then in parables shows, first, the hypocrisy of the religion around Him (ver. 28); and then, secondly, its selfish independence and direct opposition to God in the parable whence I have quoted. (Ver. 33.)
0 what an awful picture is this of the character of those who have the form of godliness but deny the power of it! And how beautifully does it present the implicit obedience and self-renouncing devotedness of Him who was the true servant of God.