Bible Study series: Matthew 21:14-17. The Father backed up his Son with divine authority and miracles.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 21:14-17
14 Then the blind and the lame came up to Jesus in the temple, and he healed them. 15 When the chief priests and teachers of the law saw the wonders which he did and the children crying out in the temple and saying: “Hosanna to the son of David!” they became indignant 16 and said to him: “Do you hear what they are saying?” But Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read that
‘out of the mouths of babies and nursing infants you have prepared for yourself praise’?” [Ps. 8:3].
17 And leaving them, he went outside the city into Bethany and spent the night there. (Matt. 21:14-17)
Comments:
This is the third of four signs that the Messiah has come in town, the holy city: (1) Triumphal entry; (2) cleansing of the temple; (3) healing the blind and lame; (4) destruction of a fruitless tree. They are about his rightful place as King and Messiah over Jerusalem and the temple, which are about to reject him.
This pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or section reveals that Jesus performs the signs of the Messiah, and the children recognize him, while the religious authorities do not.
14:
“The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, although Jewish teachers did not require such people to make the journey to the temple … and at least some traditions excluded them from the temple … This exclusion presumably related to purity laws prohibiting the entrance of those with physical abnormalities. Even under Levitical regulations, member of the priestly families could not enter the sanctuary as priests if they were blind or lame (Lev. 21:17-18); that some carried such rules further by the time of Jesus is likely” (Keener, p. 502).
See my nontechnical commentary on Lev. 21:
Rules for Priests in Leviticus 21-22 from a NT Perspective
“healed”: the verb is therapeuō (pronounced thair-ah-pew-oh, our word therapy is related to it), and it means to “make whole, restore, heal, cure, care for.” This is the last mention of Jesus’s healing ministry in Matthew’s Gospel. And he did it in the temple site. Carson says it probably happened in the Court of the Gentiles, where the lame and blind and other disabled were allowed to go, but not in the temple proper. Jesus healed them (and cleansed the temple), and by doing so he demonstrated to everyone that something greater than the temple is here (Matt. 12:6).
Renewalists value healing, and some have a healing ministry. Healing the blind is another level. It happens, but not as often as one would hope. The lame? Healing evangelists have photos and film clips of piles of crutches and wheel chairs. No, this is not fake. Just because the reader may not believe in healing and just because some healing evangelists have pulled some tricky stunts does not mean God has ceased doing this wonderful benefit to humanity.
As noted the signs of the Messiah and the son of David is the deaf hearing, the blind seeing and the lame leaping. As I noted at Matt. 11:5:
One sign of the Messianic Age was the healing of diseases and broken bodies. Is. 35 describes this age. After God comes with a vengeance to rescue his people, these things will happen:
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Is. 35:5-6).
Is. 26:19 says of the Messianic Age: “But your dead will live, LORD, their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout with joy” (Is. 26:19, NIV).
The phrase “in that day” refers to the age that the Messiah ushers in: “In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll and out of gloom and darkness the eyes will see” (Is. 29:18, NIV).
The Lord’s Chosen Servant will do many things. Here are some: “I am the LORD: I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for my people, a light for the nations, to open they eyes that are blind, to bring the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness” (Is. 42:6-7, ESV). Is. 42:18 connects hearing and seeing with walking in God’s ways, and deafness and blindness with national judgment. As for leprosy, Jesus referred to the time when Elijah the prophet healed Namaan the Syrian of his skin disease, and the return of Elijah was a sign that the Messiah was here (Mal. 4:5-6; Luke 9:28-36).
The list of miracles is people-centered. Jesus did not perform miracles in the sky. He was interested in helping people. The list is scattered in Isaiah: 35:5-6; 26:19; 29:18-19; 61:1. Healing points to the Messianic Age, ushered in by the Messiah himself. Jesus was not going to reform Judaism, like the Reformers intended to reform Catholicism (and soon abandoned the notion). No, Jesus was going higher and farther. He was ushering a New Age, but this New Age was going to take time and expand gradually. It was going to be as small as the mustard seed at first but grow big enough for birds to light in its branches (Matt. 13:31). He was no Messiah riding on a white horse with a sword in his hand, shouting “I defeat the Romans with the sword of God!” as he stormed Jerusalem with a large army behind him. He intended, instead, to restore people’s minds and bodies and deliver them from evil spirits and teach them what life in the kingdom looked like.
What Are Signs and Wonders and Miracles?
15-16:
“chief priests”:
“teachers of the law”: Some translations say “scribes.”
You can learn more about them at this link:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
Both groups were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (David E. Garland, Luke: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Zondervan, 2011], p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7, ESV). Overdoing righteousness damages one’s relationship with God and others.
These two groups objected to the title “son of David” (see v. 9) and the adulation of the children. When Jesus accepted their praise, he also proved his Messiahship. Healing and accepting praise once again shows us that he believed in his divine nature.
We have some irony here. Irony means that you think you know something, but in reality you don’t. All of Job and his comforters thought they knew the ways of God, but when God showed up and gave a long sermon, all of the humans discovered that they did not know what they had been talking about. The religious leaders were supposed to know more than children, but the children correctly praised the rightful Messiah and called him by his rightful title. Also, v. 14 says that Jesus healed the blind and the lame, the sign of the Messiah. How many of the blind and lame did the chief priests and teachers of the law heal? None. They had religion down pat. But what about really reaching out to people as Jesus the Messiah did?
Therefore, they were the victims of their own ignorance which they mistakenly interpreted as “knowledge.” These “ignorant” children knew better than they did. Irony.
See my posts on praise:
Bible Basics about Praise and Worship
If the children could recognize and praise Jesus, then these religious leaders should recognize and praise him, too (Keener, p. 593), the argument from the lesser (children) to the greater (leaders).
17:
Bethany: it’s about 1.5 miles (3 km) east of Jerusalem. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived there (Luke 10:38-42 and John 11:1). Simon the leper also lived there (Matt. 26:6). Jesus had to escape from the hustle and bustle of the city and take a breather from ministry. It’s a good idea to spend some time alone or with close friends after a hard day of work. Things are about to get really intense, and he needed to withdraw.
GrowApp for Matt. 21:14-17
1. Talk about praise in your life. The crowds said he was a prophet, which is true but not the whole truth. He was more than a prophet. Is your praise built on who God really is, or do you have a shortsighted view of him?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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