Section 48
At last, at the beginning of Act 5, Jesus rides into Jerusalem as King. He goes straight to the temple and starts acting like He owns the place! The religious leaders question His right to do this, but they don’t dare to act against Him yet, because the crowds are following Him. Then Jesus tells a parable that calls out the chief priests, teachers of the law, and elders, and they look for a way to arrest Him.
The religious leaders really don’t want Jesus to be king. The Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar, but Jesus cleverly shows that God is more important than the Roman emperor. Then, another Jewish group, known as the Sadducees, try to catch Jesus out on His belief in resurrection, but they fail as well. Finally, a teacher of the law asks Jesus what’s the most important commandment, and Jesus shows that loving God comes first and loving others as ourselves comes second. But He’s not done.
Jesus shows that the Messiah is greater than King David and that a poor widow’s offering is greater than all the money the rich are giving to the temple. Then, He predicts the destruction of the temple, which takes place in AD 70, and warns His disciples about the day when He will come again in glory to judge.
Jesus is the mighty King. But as we’ll see in Act 6, He’s the King who has come to die.