Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on the Sunday before his crucifixion. Matthew 21-22 recounts his first few days in Jerusalem by describing three symbolic acts, three parables, and three questions answered by Jesus.
The three symbolic acts were the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the temple, and the cursing of the fig tree. Jesus chose to ride on the donkey’s colt as he journeyed over the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem (after walking for miles from Galilee) to symbolize his identity as the King of Zion, the Son of David, the Christ (Matt. 21:1-11, Zech. 9:9). His hour had come, and it was time for him to unfurl his banner in the presence of his enemies, praised by his disciples and the crowds of pilgrims coming to the city. He then drove out the buyers and sellers from the temple courts to symbolize the coming judgment upon that "den of robbers" (Matt. 21:12-13, Jer. 7:11). He also cursed a fig tree to symbolize judgment upon those who failed to bear fruit (Matt. 21:18-22, 43, Jer. 8:13).
The three parables were those of the two sons, the tenants, and the wedding feast. They were told in response to a challenge to his authority from the chief priests and elders of the people (Matt. 21:23-27). In the first parable (Matt. 21:28-32), a father told two sons to work in the vineyard, and the first son said “I will not” but then changed his mind and went, while the second son said “I will go, sir” but then did not go. In the second parable (Matt. 21:33-46), the tenants of a vineyard beat or killed the landowner's servants and then finally his own son, so that they might have it for themselves; the point being that Jesus would be rejected, like the prophets who proceeded him, yet he would become the cornerstone. Those who were going to cast him out and kill him were going to then be cast out and killed. Jesus, though killed, would return from the dead and give the kingdom to his disciples. In the third parable (Matt. 22:1-14), the king invited guests to a wedding feast for his son, but the guests ignored or killed his servants. Therefore the king sent troops to destroy those murderers and their city (i.e. Jerusalem) and he sent his servants to invite whoever they can find to the feast, filling the wedding hall. But this was a mixed group, good and bad, and so the king inspected the guests and cast out the man not wearing a wedding garment. All three parables stressed the need to be true sons of the kingdom by receiving the gospel of the kingdom.
The three questions posed to him were concerning taxes, the resurrection, and the great commandment. The Pharisees and Sadducees took turns trying to entangle him in his words, but Jesus silenced them by his answers and astonished the crowds by his wisdom. Concerning taxes (Matt. 22:15-22), he pointed to the image on the coins they possessed, saying, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s." They were to give back taxes to the civil government, as was but fair and just, and they were to give back themselves, made in God's image, to God. Concerning the resurrection (Matt. 22:23-33), he answered the conundrum posed to him by noting that procreation, and therefore marriage, would be no longer needed or practiced in the coming age, and he noted that the Sadducees had errored in their denial of the resurrection by not taking into account the Scriptures and the power of God. Concerning the great commandment in the law (Matt. 22:34-40), he quoted two commandments, the one commanding wholehearted love for the Lord your God and the other commanding love for your neighbor as yourself (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18), as the first and second commandments that together summarized the law.
Chapter 22 ends with a final question, a question posed by Jesus himself about whose son the Christ is. Quoting Psalm 110:1, he asked, "If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" (Matt. 22:45). Jesus had presented himself as the son of David and he had been acclaimed by the crowds as such. Now he pointed to the fact that while he was the son of David, he was no mere man. He was greater than David. He is David's Lord and the Son of God. He was the son described in the parables of the tenants and the wedding feast. The eternal Son of God had come in the flesh to his people as their king.
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