Matthew 21

Significance of Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem

• Unity with the kings of Israel• Fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah• To show he was not a military leader• To show humility

• How did the people react to his entry?• When do we celebrate this in the Church

year?• What part of this passage do we say in mass

on a regular basis?

Passover lamb

• Taken into Jerusalem at the same time as Jesus coming into Jerusalem

Cleansing the Temple

• Cheating• House of prayer for all nations• If you were a Sadducee in charge of the

Temple, how would you feel about Jesus?

Parable of the Tenants

• Tenants=Jews• Son=Jesus

Kingdom of God (MT 22:1-14)

How does Jesus compare Heaven to a Wedding feast?

Greatest Commandment (MT 22:37-39)

• Love God• Love neighbor

• How does this commandment relate to the 10 Commandments?

• Are you better at loving God or loving your neighbor???

Pharisees

• Focus on law instead of Love• Practiced exclusion instead of inclusion• How does Jesus feel about them?• If you were a Pharisee, how would you feel

about Jesus?

Lament over Jerusalem (MT 23:37-39)

• What is meant by Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem?

• How does Jerusalem respond?

Apocalyptic literature

• A biblical style of writing that was developed during the exile

• Gives hope to the persecuted and was highly symbolic

Parousia

• The glorious return and appearance of Jesus as judge of the living and dead at the end of time (2nd coming)

Great Tribulation

• Generation=40 years• 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem• End of Jewish world (Temple was a microcosm

of the world)• Foreshadowed the end of the world

Matthew 25

• 10 Virgins• Talents• Judgment of the nations

Matthew 26

• 30 pieces of silver=price for a slave• Betrayed by Judas Iscariot

Passover

• Why do you think Jesus would choose a Passover as his last meal?

4 cups at a Passover meal

• Cup of solemn blessing (followed by bitter herbs that symbolized the bitterness of captivity in Egypt)

• Passover story cup (Passover story of Exodus was read, PS 113 sung)

• Cup of Blessing (After the main meal eaten)• Cup of Consummation (PS 114-118 sung and the

Passover came to its climax when the 4th cup was drunk)

Last Supper

• Apostles realized what Jesus meant when he said they would have to eat his body and drink his blood.

• After the Last Supper, Jesus and his Apostles went to the Mt. of Olives (Garden of Gethsemane). Judas did not go.

Sanhedrin

• Jewish governing council

Caiaphas

• High priest

Blasphemy

• Jesus is accused of Blasphemy (the crime of profaning God, claiming to be God or have God-like characteristics.)

Peter’s denial

• 3 times• Charcoal fire in John’s gospel

Death sentence

• Sanhedrin did not have authority to issue a death sentence

• Only Rome could issue a death sentence

Matthew 27

27: 1-10. How is Judas’ response to sin different than Peter’s?

Pilate

• Governor of Judea