This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Jesus arrives in
Jerusalem like a king.

The crowds cheer and lay down
their cloaks as Jesus passes.

His disciples shout and sing that Jesus
is the long-awaited King of Peace.

The Pharisees hurl accusations.

And Jesus weeps for a city he knows
will reject him and the peace he brings.

When Jesus arrives at the temple, he kicks
out the people selling sacrifices and condemns

the religious establishment
for perverting God’s temple.

Jesus, like a conquering king, enters
the temple and establishes new laws.

The religious leaders are furious and
want to destroy Jesus and his reputation.

Three times, they publicly challenge Jesus and his
authority with questions designed to trick him.

But each time they try to undermine him, Jesus
counters with a question or parable that

undermines their legitimacy and
highlights his own.

Jesus’ parable casts the chief priests as murderous
tenants, willing to kill to protect their own interests.

And Jesus’ questions go consistently unanswered
because answering them would either admit

that Jesus was sent from God or reveal
the Pharisees’ ulterior motives.

In fear, Jesus’ enemies withdraw
and refuse to engage him anymore.

But Jesus presses in.

He poses another question about the identity of
the Messiah that they are again unable to answer.

He then attacks the scribes for their flamboyance
while blessing a widow for her poverty.

Jesus isn’t just another revolutionary who
traces his lineage back to King David.

Jesus is God himself.

This is why Jesus asks the scribes how the Christ
can be both David’s son and also David’s Lord.

David was the king, and the
title “Lord” implies superiority.

A king would not call their son “Lord” unless the
son was somehow a greater king than them.

Jesus is asserting that his authority
isn’t just hereditary; it’s divine. Jesus is both
a son of David and the son of God.

This is good news because it means Jesus has
both the authority to overturn the Pharisees’

system of buying and selling sacrifices
and the power to offer a better way.

By his kingly authority, Jesus destroys the
institutions of his enemies and the corrupt

rich. And by his kingly power,
he elevates the humble.

He purchases for the poor a forgiveness
they could never afford and offers it for free.

That’s why Jesus
drove out the sellers.

In his kingdom, access to God and forgiveness
of sin is not bought with money, but like

the woman with the two pennies, by
humbly offering everything we have.

May the Holy Spirit open your
eyes to see the God who is King.

And may you see Jesus as the Son of God
who now sits on a throne above every enemy.