Today I read Matthew 21, which begins the last week of the Savior's life. This chapter starts out with the Savior sending two of His disciples into town to go and fetch a colt, according to the Joseph Smith translation, or an ass according to the King James' version. They then bring it back to the Lord and sit Him upon it and then He rides into the city of Jerusalem while the people lay palm fronds and other leaves and their clothes in front of Him for Him to ride over, thus fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah.
As usual, the Pharisees have a fit when they see the people revering the Savior and tell Him that He should stop them. Also as usual, He quotes scriptures to them so that they will understand that He cannot stop the people from recognizing who He is, and frankly at this point, He does not care. At this point in His life, the Savior has come into His glory and there are few things left to do before fulfilling His final mission. Matthew does not record the first instance, but the Savior actually cleanses the temple twice in His lifetime. The first time, He refers to the temple as His Father's house. However, this time, He refers to the temple as His house. I think it's after the Mount of Transfiguration that He comes into His glory and refers to the temple as His house.
You would think, after 3 years, that the Pharisees would be tired of trying to trick Jesus and trap Him in His words. But it would seem, like some people I have met in my life, they are just not happy unless their plans are dumped on their heads and they land on their faces in front of the people, who they fear to offend. It's just so funny to me that Jesus is SO much smarter than the Pharisees but they keep trying anyway. In this chapter, they want to know where Jesus got His authority to preach and perform miracles from. So Jesus states that He will answer them if they will answer His question of whether or not the baptism of John was divine or made up.
As usual, their fear of losing their power and upsetting the people is their downfall. They know that if they say it was divine that Jesus will rebuke them for not believing in it and being baptized, but they knew that it they said it was made up, that the general people would get upset because the people all believed that John was a prophet. So, they thought they had come up with the perfect answer and instead just plead ignorance. Which is not a bad answer considering their predicament, however, since they could not, or rather would not answer His question, Jesus declines to answer theirs. It is so funny how every time they try and trap Him, all He does is turn it right back on their heads and trap them instead.
The Pharisees were not stupid men. They know the scriptures and despite being a little overzealous, they understand Jesus' parables and when He is referring to them. Jesus gives them the parable of the unjust husbandmen who of course, represent the kingdom of the Jews. The Pharisees recognize at the end that the parable is about them and are quite upset about it, but once again they are afraid of upsetting the people and so they do nothing to Him. Now, the JST continues the story just a bit by stating that His Apostles came to Him and asked about the parable He just spake unto the Pharisees and Jesus reveals that the Kingdom of Heaven will pass from the Jews to the Gentiles. But it will not reside with the Gentiles forever since they too will be destroyed at His Second Coming. It is interesting that the Lord reveals to them that He will give His Kingdom to Gentiles here, but when Peter receives his vision later in the book of Acts to take the Gospel to the Gentiles there is resistance. Of course the Apostles were also flat out told that the Savior would be crucified and resurrected 3 days later and did not understand that either so I guess it is not all that strange.
I wonder if it was hard for Jesus, to have no one understand you like that. He had no one to confide in or rely on except for His Father in Heaven and the Holy Ghost. When He tells His earthly friends what is going to happen they do not understand, either because they choose not to, or because they are still expecting a military Savior. That is a very lonely place to be when you feel no one understands what you are being asked to do. I remember when I was preparing for a mission and I was very sad because I knew that despite their protests to the contrary, that my serving a mission would mean losing all my friends. I would come home a very different person and 2 years with virtually no contact would allow us all to drift apart quite a bit. Everyone around me told me I was worried for nothing that it would not happen that way. Unfortunately, I was right. I came home and while 90% of the friends I had left behind were still there, it was very, very different and we all eventually drifted apart again. Now, some I still keep in touch with but partly we drifted apart because we were all teenagers then with no responsibilities. Life happens when you grow up and now I have a wife and a daughter. Even if I were still in Kentucky where most of them reside, I would not really have the time to be with them like before.
Now that is a very weak comparison to make with the Savior and how no one seems to want to believe Him when He tells them He will be killed soon, but it's the only one from my personal life I can really make. I'm sure it must have been lonely for Him. Luckily, for us, because He has trod that wine press alone, He knows how to comfort us in our times of loneliness. We can turn to Him because He does know what we are going through, perhaps He is the only one who does. It is a comfort though that at least someone understands. And the best part is, He is never too busy to listen. All you have to do is pray. Until tomorrow.
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