11
Jesus went into Jerusalem
And you can read this story in Matthew 21:1-11 in Luke 19:28-40 and in John 12:12-19
1 When Jesus and his followers got near to Jerusalem they stopped on the side of a hill called The Mount of Olives. There were 2 towns there and they were called Bethany and Beth-far-gee (Bethphage). Jesus told 2 of his followers to go into one of those towns. 2 He said, “When you get there, you will see a donkey tied to a post. Nobody has ever sat on that donkey before, but I want you to untie it and bring it to me. 3 If somebody wants to know why you are taking that donkey, you can say, ‘The Lord needs it for a while, but don't worry, later on he will send it back to you.’ ”
4 The 2 men went into the town. They found the donkey tied up outside the door of a house, and they started to untie it. 5 Some people standing there said to them, “What are you doing? Why are you untying that young donkey?” 6 Jesus' followers said, “The Lord needs it for a while, but don't worry, later on he will send it back to you.” So the people let the followers take the donkey away.
7 The men took the young donkey back to Jesus and put their coats onto the donkey's back. Then Jesus sat on the donkey and started to ride into Jerusalem. 8 A lot of people put their coats down on the road in front of the donkey, and other people cut leaves from trees and put them on the road too.+ 9 Some of the people walked in front of Jesus, and some people walked behind him.
They shouted,
“Say good things about the God who will save us. The man that came from God is strong and powerful.
10 God's nation is coming and it will be strong and powerful again like it was in King David's time.
Yes, say good things about the God who lives in heaven. He will save us.” +
11 Jesus went into Jerusalem and walked into the Jewish ceremony house called the Temple to have a good look at what was going on in there. But it was late and the sun was starting to go down, so Jesus left Jerusalem, and went back to Bethany with his 12 followers.
Jesus cursed a fruit tree
And you can read this story in Matthew 21:18-19
12 The next morning, Jesus was hungry. He left Bethany and started to walk back to Jerusalem with his followers. 13 As they walked along, Jesus saw a fruit tree in front of him and so he went to see if there was any fruit. But it was the wrong time of year, and so he did not find any fruit, he just found leaves. 14 His followers heard him say to the fruit tree, “No-one will ever eat any fruit from you again.”
Jesus forced some people out of the Temple
And you can read this story in Matthew 21:12-17 in Luke 19:45-48 and in John 2:13-22
15 Jesus and his followers went back to Jerusalem and walked into the Temple yard. In the yard there were people buying and selling animals and birds that were going to be killed and used in the Temple ceremonies. There were other men too that swapped Roman money for Temple money so that people could pay their Temple tax. Those men were called money changers. Jesus forced them out of the yard and pushed over their tables and chairs. 16 He would not let anyone use the Temple yard as a shop.
17 Then Jesus started to teach the people. He said, “A long time ago God told 2 men to write down these words in his book. They wrote,
‘I want my house to be a place where people from every tribe can come and pray.’+ But you have made my house to be like a place where robbers hide.”+
18 When the Chief Priests (Jewish ceremony leaders) and the law teachers heard what Jesus said, they were very angry. They started to think about how they could kill Jesus but they were frightened of him. They could see how happy and excited the people were when Jesus was teaching them.
19 Later that day, when the sun started to go down, Jesus and his followers left Jerusalem and went back to Bethany.
The fruit tree died
And you can read this story in Matthew 21:20-22
20 In the morning, Jesus and his followers walked past the fruit tree again. They saw that it was dead right down to the ground. 21 Peter remembered the words Jesus said to the fruit tree the day before. So he said, “Teacher, that tree you cursed is already dead.”
22 Jesus said, “You should really trust God. 23 I tell you, someone might ask God to make this big hill jump into the sea. That person must not say, ‘Might be God will do it.’ That person has to truly believe with all their heart that God will do it and God will force that hill to jump into the sea.+
24 So if you ask God for anything, you have to believe that God will give it to you.
25-26 And when you are praying, if someone has done something bad to you, you have to forgive them. If you forgive that person, your father in heaven will forgive you for all the bad things you have done.”+*
The Jewish leaders asked Jesus a question
And you can read this story in Matthew 21:23-27 and in Luke 20:1-8
27 When Jesus and his followers got to Jerusalem, they walked into the Temple yard again. Some of the Chief Priests, law teachers and Jewish elders walked up to Jesus. 28 They said, “Who told you to force all those people out of this yard? Who said that you are allowed to do that?”
29 Jesus said to them, “First, you answer my question. If you answer my question, then I will tell you who said that I was allowed to force those men out of the yard. 30 This is my question. Who told John to do that washing ceremony called baptism in the Jordan River? Did someone here on earth tell John to do that, or did God tell him to do it?”
31 Those Jewish leaders talked together to work out their answer. They said to each other, “If we say that God told John to baptise people, then we will be in trouble. Jesus will say to us, ‘If God told John to baptise people, why didn't you listen to him?’ 32 And if we say that someone here on earth told John to baptise people, we will still be in trouble.” All the people believed that God sent John and so those Jewish leaders were frightened of them.
33 The Jewish leaders went back to Jesus and said, “We do not know who told John to baptise people in the river.”
Then Jesus said, “You don't want to answer me, and so I don't want to answer you. I will not tell you who said that I can do these things.”
+ 11:8 Matthew 21:8; John 12:13 + 11:10 Psalms 118:25-26 + 11:17 Isaiah 56:7 + 11:17 Jeremiah 7:11 + 11:23 Matthew 17:20; 1 Corinthians 13:2 + 11:25-26 Matthew 6:14-15 * 11:25-26 Some other Bibles have these words as well. “But if you don't forgive other people, then your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins. He will not forgive you for the bad things you have done.”