They are hypocrites because they pretend as though they are more righteous than their ancestors in that they would have revered the prophets and scribes that they prosecuted but fail to realize that they prosecute the prophets and holy men of their time.

Outside they present as Christians but their hearts are not clean.

They are diligent with the "smaller" (but still very important) matters of faith and reject the more damning ones.

They try to find "loopholes" with God by making promises but only on certain objects because they feel it absolves them but it does not. When you make a promise to God, you keep it rather than make excuses.

They go on missonary trips and the people they end up "saving" end up becoming even worse sinners than them

Babbling for show like the pagans

If the Jesus the Messiah was simply David's descendant, then how is it that David himself calls Jesus his lord?

The same concept of summation applies to this law also, If you love your neighbour then you won't lie about them, steal from them etc.

Jesus answered with this because it summed up all the commandments, if you love God with all your heart, soul and mind then you won't worship idols, call his name in vain, lie, steal etc.

They were trying to trap Jesus by having him pick one commandment which would in turn disregard some other commandment which would be blasphemous.

Seeing as the Sadducees only believed in the first 5 books of the Bible, Jesus used a quote from Exodus to answer their question. If after death you no longer cease to exist, then it would make no sense for God to say he IS the God of Abraham, Issac or Jacob. If they were dead then he would say he WAS their God. Thus God is the God of the living not the dead because if they were dead how could he be their God just as if a man had no sons he wouldn't be called a father or if a man had no kingdom with subjects he would not be called a king.

Remember they did not believe in the supernatural. No angels, no resurrection none of that. They only lived by the first five books of Moses which have no mention of resurrection thus they were trying to prove the ridiculousness of this idea by questioning Jesus.

The men were hypocrites in asking because the fact that they already had Caesar's coins right in their pockets was already submission enough.

Jesus shows them that fulfilling your civil obligations does not mean you are turning away from God. "Fear God, honour the king". Yes fear God first but you must also fulfil your obligations to the kingdom of man and hold the two separately.

If the Israelites had feared God originally like they should then they would not have been in this predicament as God would have protected them.

In this time Rome was in control of Israel which was problematic because it challenged the sovereignty of God over Israel. Paying this tax almost represented submission to the pagan Romans. Jesus saying that this is lawful would possibly speak against God but saying it is not would make enemies of the Romans.

We have two options, fall on the stone and allow it to shatter your old life or wait till the stone falls on you on judgement day whereafter you will be punished and condemned.

It was given to disciples and the Church

Psalm 118:22

Priests, Pharisees and obeyers of the word of God in general

God

Jesus

The prophets

Israel was often depicted as God's vineyard in various scriptures (Psalms, Isaiah etc.)

This was a lie, they knew it was from heaven but did not want to admit Jesus was the Messiah

As long as you are following in Jesus' footsteps, it shall be so.

Fig trees bear leaves and fruit at the same time rather than fruit after leaves like some other plants. Thus in the fig tree having no fruit but leaves it was 'all show' and could be considered 'false advertising'. This was a metaphor for those who APPEAR to be Christians but are not truly spiritual. This demonstrated that they have no place in heaven.

Usually Jesus would avoid public commotions due to him not wanting to draw distracting attention from his mission - saving our souls. In this instance he allowed it because it was almost a show that he was not backing down. Previously he predicted that he would be condemned, scourged and led to suffer so seeing him enter into this destiny with such joy and passion was powerful.

Jesus did not stay in Jerusalem because a) it was extremely crowded due to the commotion he caused and he had friends in Bethany and b) He did not want to give the impression that he was going to overthrow Jerusalem as a sort of 'king'

After the bad people were driven out, the needy had room to be healed

Not only the sellers were prosecuted but the buyers too as their purchasing contributed to the problem

Regular coins had to be exchanged for temple coins at a fixed exchange rate as they were not accepted.

At the temple, people would purchase exorbitantly priced pre-approved sacrificial doves as bring your own dove may be burdensome and/or risky as it may bot be approved.

Psalm 8:2 states: Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

They called him this because he was born in Bethlehem, David's City and was indeed a descendant of David fulfilling God's promise to David that one of his descendants would rule forever.

Hosanna means 'save, rescue, saviour'

The people of this time likened Jesus to a king but in a different way, they saw him as the type of king who would slay the Gentiles and save and free them from oppression. Jesus was a King who did free them from oppression but from the oppression that they had brought on themselves through sin, the ultimate wrath of God.

Remember that the people of this time saw kingship as glory, ruling over, bravado etc. but Jesus revealed to us that true kingship is servitude. This, and what they truly NEEDED (salvation from their sins)-not wanted, is something those people did not recognise.

Jeremiah 7:11 states: Has this house, which bears My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.

Jesus is perhaps referencing this

Isaiah 56:7 states: I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.

Jesus is perhaps making reference to this

*palm leaves, they represent victory and triumph, victory of the spirit over the flesh.

This greatly understatted Jesus' life

In Rome, there was a tradition of riding a great white horse after victories in slaying and pillaging your enemies. Jesus directly contradicted this tradition by humbly appearing on a simple colt. He was its direct antipodes. Jesus had no desire for grandeur.

You will be rewarded but do not expect to be rewarded based upon what you deserve, you will be rewarded by God's grace. He will never give us less than we deserve but he may sometimes give us more.

Remember, we are to humble ourselves like children for such like them are greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus was so specific in his prediction. There were so many ways for him to die but he foretold this one and it came exactly true.

During the most important journey of his life, the journey to our salvation, the thing that made Jesus stop, was two blind pitiful men because he was so loving and compassionate. If he hears us crying out to him, Jesus will answer. Sometimes it may not be exactly what we want but it is always what we need because we know not what we ask.

The Gentiles think of leadership and rulership as power, as exercising authority over your people. James and John seem to also subscribe to this ideology. But Jesus says it is not so, James and John are mistaken to ask for rulership in Heaven alongside Jesus. That is because rulership entails servitude, it entails sacrifice and putting your people before yourself. Jesus was and still is king and his life did not entail glory, but the most insufferable death of all.

In the Old Testament, it was widely stated that God has a cup wish contained his wrath, judgment and anger for all those who sinned against him. Jesus was about to drink from this cup so that we would not.

This is the cup that contains all the punishment we should have recived for all the sins we commit, Jesus however took that on and baptized himself, immersed himself in the wine of that cup all for us.

Keep this teaching in mind, seeing as Jesus suffers for our sins, the more sins we commit the more we hurt him. Yes he will forgive us of them, but why would we want to punish him more for something we did.

We never know what we are asking, often times we never know the full story and extent of a situation. Unlike God we are not all knowing and present.

We have to sacrifice! There is nothing worth more than the kingdom of heaven

It is one thing to commit a sin yourself, but to lead someone else to sin is dreadful and even worse is leading a believer to sin.

*Dressing modestly can help prevent our brother and sisters from committing sins of lust.

In Jesus' time children were seen as property, they were greatly overlooked and did not care as a child is less concerned with status and things like that. Therefore we are to humble ourselves as children and not with false deliberate humility, but genuine humility in understanding that we are to serve God and only seek assurance from him alone.

As humans sometimes we may fall into the trap of becoming too attached to our possessions. This may become an obstacle in terms of giving ourselves fully to the Lord. That is why those who do not have much can sometimes be stronger believers because they have nothing to distract them and pull them away from the kingdom, they have not 2 masters to serve. This however does not mean that the rich are doomed, just that they should beware.

This story illustrates why good works alone cannot save you. The rich young ruler was able to obey all the commandments about his fellow man, but unable to obey the most important commandment of all: we should have no other Gods before God. For the ruler he was unable to enter the kingdom because money was revered in his life seeing as how he was unable to give it up.

The drachma tax was for the upkeep of the temple. Sons did not need to pay this tax as the temple was their home, you would not need to pay to see your father. Jesus was a son (a rabbi and Son of God) therefore he was exempt from the tax but Peter was not. Similarly to how Jesus suffered on the cross for sins he did not commit to atone for our sins, he paid this tax he did not owe for Him and Peter.

Be cautious of false teachers as there teachings may appear small and harmless at first but overtime can spread and infect your soul.

The final sign the non-believers will have is when Jesus rises from the dead, if they still do not believe after seeing that and his miracles in person then they will never believe.

The Pharisees may follow all the traditions and appear righteous but clearly they do not care about love and compassion as they are accepting donations to the temple that from people who neglect their parents. If their hearts were in the right place they would care more about those people's parents rather than getting donations.

Jesus called the pharisees out on the fact that they were using a tradition to absolve people from the word of God. You are to honor your father and mother (provide for them, be respectful etc. because they brought you into the world). But the Pharisees say 'Oh if you give us this offering (Corban) it's fine, you don't need to provide for your parents because you're donating to God's temple. This is using tradition to excuse yourself from sin.

Pretending that their law was God's law

This parable is similar to the parable of the hidden treasure, Jesus is the merchant who was seeking us, (the children of God), the pearl and once he found us and saw who's hands we were in, he gave everything to rescue us back.

This parable speaks of how Jesus gave up everything to save us. Similarly to the Parable of the Tares, Jesus is the man (sower in the Tares Parable) and the field is the world and the treasure is us.

Jesus knew how valuable we were so he came down to earth and gave his life for us to save us from damnation. It is to be noted that in the field that the treasure is originally in, it is not valued. The Devil does not care about us but Jesus does.

Resources: 1 Corinthians 6:2 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

There is no action that we can do to be worthy of the kingdom of Heaven, it is only through faith. That is why this specific parable is not about how we must 'give up everything to follow Jesus'. We definitely should still do that, but that salvation would not even be possible without what Jesus did first.

Similar to the parable of the mustard seed, this parable speaks of the great effects seemingly small, insignificant things can have.

Also change in the kingdom of Heaven comes from within not without. When God first changes the heart of a person, and that internal change has external manifestations. Christians within a culture act as agents of change, slowly transforming that culture from within.

Every little thing matters, the small good things you do for the Lord can blossom into beautiful, fruitful results but remember the things that may not seem 'that bad' can multiply and grow also.

Some may ask why does the sower (God/Jesus/the church) waste the seed (the word of God) on soil (people) he knows may not receive it, why not just throw it on the good soil?

Well that's because us, God loves us so much and wants us to be in the kingdom of Heaven so much, he knows that we are never too far gone and that ANYONE can be saved. So us, the church, should not just disregard some people as unrighteous because we never know what seeds may end up taking hold and producing beautiful fruit.

This is the righteous, those who are saved will take the seed and use it to produce love, joy, peace etc.

This person is one who is welcoming to the word of God and wants to accept it but allows the world to steer them off the right path. The life of a Christian is not meant to be easy, you are supposed to face challenges but instead you are to turn to God to overcome those challenges not worldly things. Recall the narrow path/gates.

Remember we have to ponder and reflect on the word of God, we can't just jump 'Lord! Lord!' and expect to be welcomed to the kingdom of Heaven. Recall Jesus' parables about the king who strategised and calculated before going to war.

There are some people who have been taken by 'the evil one' who may never accept God's word or even consider it because they are so captivated by sin

This parable speaks of how the Son of Man sows 'seeds', by spreading the gospel, performing miracles etc. but the Devil comes and sows his seeds also of sin and evil. The servants of God ask him are we supposed to remove those seeds and separate the holy from the unholy but Jesus says no, that is not our place. We are the servants and the onus is not on us to make judgements about who is righteous and who isn't, it's on God, he will make the final judgement not us.

When we are convicted and want to change our sinful ways it is not just a 'one time' thing. Christians have to make the daily effort to repent because idleness is a pathway to destruction. You cannot just stop practicing your sinful ways, you have to replace them with godly ways. Because just being void will allow those sinful ways to come back sevenfold

The impure spirit leaves us yes, but then it goes out seeking a new home and cannot find one thus it returns to us and finds us empty, cleaned up and ready for re-occupation. It even goes as far to bring seven other evil spirits with it to dwell in your heart. Conviction without repentance is dangerous.

Jesus was dead for three days before he rose and ascended to Heaven

Do not test the Lord

Good things cannot come from bad people. In order to produce good works you have to have a complete change of heart.Your words are an overflowing of what is in your heart and will be used to judge you so watch what you say. Do not blaspheme against the Lord.

Again lukewarmness is not permitted, you cannot be indifferent to Jesus, that is just as good as being completely against him. The wilful rejection of the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. If you see Jesus and his works and see no other explanation for his works other than God and still choose to reject him then you commit unforgivable blasphemy

Jesus ties up the 'strong man' Lucifer, and plunders his house for the souls he has captured ie he saves them

The Lord is opening their eyes to the fact that the Messiah is here! He already disproved that Satan is empowering him so by the process of elimination it must be the Holy Spirit thus he must be the Messiah

Jesus is saying that it would not make sense that he is driving out demons by Satan. Why would Satan drive out his own demons? A household divided against itself cannot stand so it makes no sense for him to empower Jesus to drive out demons because that would divide his kingdom

He will be do discrete that not even a reed almost at its breaking point will be broken by him nor a dying flame will he out until he has finished his mission of saving the Isrealites

That is why Jesus did not want people to share his miracles.

He did not want to cause any unnecessary commotion that would distract from his mission of saving sinners

Here Jesus is explaining that the Lord values mercy above burdensome, stress-inducing rules. The Pharisees have lost sight of what God truly wants and that's love and compassion for his people.

Let go of all the burden on your shoulders placed there by the laws of the Pharisees and instead find comfort in Jesus as he is loving and accepting

Remember we are called to be like children in that they are humble and meek and know they now nothing not the 'wise and learned' because those are the proud who think they know everything and do not need Jesus. We are of this world, we cannot know everything.

Those who accept Jesus also accept God and those who accept God accept Jesus as the two are not exclusive of each other

Those who know of Jesus and reject him will have it worse than those who do not know of him

Jesus is saying that here he and John the Baptist are fulfilling the prophecies but the people are rejecting them and casting them off as sinners

Ever since John has began preaching, there have been many new believers eager to join the kingdom of Heaven that it almost seems as if Heaven is under attack

While John the Baptist was a great man, he was still an earthly sinner and even the least 'significant' person in Heaven was still more important than him because the were in Heaven after all!

Even your own family may reject you because you share the word of God

Only through Christ can you accept God

Don't worry about what others say, worry about God because our fellow mortals can only destroy our bodies but God can destroy our bodies and souls

Do not worry about material, worldly things, God will provide. But remember the beatitude - blessed are those who mourn, it did not mean mourn material things like these, it meant mourn your actions in relation to God, ie feeling guilty and worrying when you sin because that will inspire you not to do it again

Jesus was saying that there seemed to be many people eager to join the Kingdom of God but there were too few people to guide them (they were sheep without shepherds). So Jesus told his disciples to pray to God to send more shepherds ('workers')

Jesus hid his miracles because he did not want people to focus on them, he wanted people to focus on his teachings and his sacrifice at the cross

You need not seek gratification from the world for your deeds, have faith that God will reward you in Heaven. Once you begin to seek praise (reward) for your actions from the world, the Lord will not give you any

faith

In Jesus' coming a new covenant has been formed, you cannot apply the laws of the old covenant to the new covenant. There are new practices for this covenant - fasting in awaiting the Lord is one of the old practices because the Lord has arrived

They will fast again when Jesus is gone and they are awaiting his second return

The people fast because they are awaiting the coming of God, Jesus is with them so they need not fast anymore

Remember it is easy to love those who love you and treat those who treat you with respect with respect, as Christians we are to take the narrow gate - the hard path, even tax collectors can love those who love them.

Thus Jesus was showing the people that it is the tax collectors and sinner who are to be embraced the most. You must not shun sinners. You must embrace them so that they will repent and be called to the kingdom of Heaven.

They saw Jesus' work and rejected it, thus they decided to build their house upon sand

You need not worry when you know you have the Lord by your side

Being a Christian is your number 1 priority at all times

The life of a Christian is not meant to be easy, remember seek the narrow gate

God does not accept the lukewarm or hypocrites. You have to actually 'put in the work'

Do onto others as you would have them do onto you, you will be judged by the same standard that you judge others on

Essentially, quality over quantity

Worrying is futile

This means, our soul is dictated by what it is we value, care about and want in life. The things we set our 'eye' on are what will dictate our intentions and whether these intentions are good or bad.

If you value material things the most in your life, then your heart cannot be committed to God.

Do not put your value in material things

Nothing takes precedence over God, in this scenario Jesus was extremely hungry but eating would cause him to sin against God so he did not eat

Essentially, quality over quantity. You do not need to babble on as long as you mean and understand what you say. If you're just talking without any true conviction then it is futile

He was not like the temple leaders who only paid attention to rules and regulations, he had true authority - They would preach through the conviction of others but you can see in how Jesus says "I" and "my" that he is real

Don't be distracted by their appearances, actually listen and ponder what people teach you about the Lord and compare it with scripture.

Remember that Jesus actually wants us to understand what he teaches, not to be overly eager and have completely blind devotion, yes we must have faith and obedience but remember why he teaches in parables, so that he can separate those who are truly listening and thinking from the mindless 'yes men'

Simply, the path to heaven is the narrow gate: it is not easy nor is it meant to be. This analogy also pushes the point that we must keep our sights in the Lord and only the Lord - the path is narrow

The wide gate is the easier path, the one we are not meant to follow. As humans it is our nature to sin, it comes to us very easily thus it is difficult for us to stay righteous so it would mean something is off if the Christian lifestyle is coming easily to us, it would mean we are not truly following that life.

If us mere mortals can provide for those who depend on us, imagine what the Lord can provide for his followers. And if you do not provide for those who depend on you like the Lord does then except that same treatment from the Lord.

Remember we are called to exemplify Jesus so if you do not provide for your brother then do not expect Jesus to provide for you

Jesus was amazed because the centurion a. knew that he was not worthy of the Lord as none of us are, we are all born sinners and b. because the centurion knew that God's word was enough, Jesus did not need to travel to his home, he knew that once Jesus said it is done, it was done

He was especially amazed given that the man was a centurion, they are warriors and killers so for him to have one of the greatest displays of faith was incredible