Sometimes I get carried away. I like to see relationships in scripture and compare one passage to another. I like to imagine what a particular disciple was thinking, maybe add some faces to the crowd, fill in some details in the Bible verse I’m looking at.

Before you know it, a simple Bible study can become a complicated task.

And with all the books on Bible study and all the really good authors out there, and the speakers, and the pastors, all those people who can dig so deeply into scripture, it’s no wonder that people expect Bible study to be strenuous work.

But it isn’t. Not always. It can’t be. It has to be simple.

You may have to dig a bit to understand what a passage is trying to say, but even then, you have to take a deep breath, step back, and make it simple again.

Because Bible study is a conversation. God talks to you, and you talk back to God. Bible study and prayer. They are two sides of one conversation. 

You might hear people talk about praying scripture back to God. They let the words that they find in the Bible make their way into their prayers.

If they read Psalm 23, the one that starts out the Lord is my shepherd, then they might pray like this:

God, thank you for being my good shepherd. Lead me to a place of quiet water today.

It’s fairly simple.

Here in Matthew 21 and 22, you’ll find some very interesting events. Jesus comes into town, and the crowds line the street and wave palm branches in the air. He enters the temple and disrupts the businesses that had taken up shop in the temple courtyard. People question the authority of Jesus. He tells a parable about two brothers and another parable about murderous tenants in a vineyard. There is a parable about a wedding banquet and a discussion about the greatest commandment.

And most of these stories are fairly easy. Just look at the scripture and draw a conclusion.

So we’ll do that together, briefly, and then we’ll try another step, the one that brings us closer to that conversation with God.

Start with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, there at the beginning of chapter twenty-one. The people at the side of the road expected the arrival of the messiah. They didn’t know exactly what to expect, but they had a song of praise for Jesus, and they weren’t afraid to sing it out in public.

There. That’s an overview. It’s very basic, but we don’t need any more than that at the moment.

Now, what does that mean to me? What does it say to you?

This isn’t school, so we aren’t looking for a detailed analysis of the passage. This is somebody talking to us, like close friends chatting over a cup of coffee.

If someone told you about Jesus coming to town, and people lining the streets, what would you think of? If you were there, what would you think? What would you say?

What is our praise? What does it sound like? What do we see in Jesus that is worthy of praise?

When we see Jesus, what name do we choose? Son of David? Prince of Peace? Teacher? Healer? Savior?

Here’s a quick reminder. We might see Jesus in a different way each day. One day we need a healer, the next day we need a teacher. One day we rest in the one source of peace in this world, the Prince of Peace. Each day is different, but in every case, the answer is Jesus.

This is the bridge from scripture to prayer.

A picture of praise in the streets of Jerusalem takes me to the question, what is Jesus to me? And that leads me to pray:

Thank you, Lord, for the peace that you have given me.

Thank you, Lord, for a savior … for a king … for a healer.

Lord, teach me more about you, so that my praise continues, no matter what might happen around me.

Prayer and Bible study don’t have to be two separate steps. One leads to the other, and the other leads you back again to the one. You can even pray as you study.

What is this all about, Lord? Do I really understand who Jesus is? Maybe you could help me see just a little more clearly what it meant for him to go to the cross.

This might not be the most spectacular prayer in the world, but prayer wasn’t ever intended to be spectacular. It was meant to be conversation. Sometimes serious and sometimes casual, but always conversation.

To be honest, there is a wealth of information in this passage, and we have gone through it very lightly. I can explore this scripture in great detail, but in the end, it has to become simple again. It has to come back to me.

God is trying to tell me something, and I have to see what that something is.

I have to ask, what is God saying to me, today.

You can go on and read about Jesus in the temple. He apparently turned tables upside down, sending money and merchandise and vendors in all directions.

There is a lot of background to explore from the Old Testament, or from the life and culture of Jesus’ day. Most of the businesses were worship-related. People bought sheep, traded money, all to acquire something that met the official regulations for an offering.

People couldn’t bring a sheep from their own flocks, because it wasn’t authorized by the temple inspectors. They couldn’t give the money in their pockets, because the temple only accepted temple money.

And at every exchange, whether money or animals, the temple apparently took a profit.

So the problem was not that someone had brought businesses into the temple. The problem was that the temple had become a business. And a bad one.

Interesting, but for me it all comes down to one simple, simple point.

Jesus said that his house should be a house of prayer.

For me to take the next step in my Bible study, for me to begin to talk with God, I only have to know this much.

His house should be a house of prayer.

My house, then, should also be filled with prayer. I’m going to use the word house in a different way, but I think it’s fair. After all, the Holy Spirit lives in me.

My life, then, should be characterized by prayer.

My church, then, should be a place where people pray.

How can I do that? How can I make prayer more important in my life or my church?

My father-in-law once told me that the more he tried to study prayer, the less he prayed. The more he taught the church about prayer, the less they prayed. So the best way to learn to pray, he said, was to pray. Don’t analyze it. Just do it.  

So maybe a good way to react to this passage would be—to pray. Talk to God. Conversation.

Very simple.

Two sons were asked to do some work in their father’s vineyards. One said yes and did nothing. One said no, but changed his mind and went to work.

It’s a parable. It talks about obedience. I don’t care who Jesus told the parable to, or which two brothers he was talking about.

For me, it’s more simple than that.

I have to ask about my own obedience. Am I doing what God asks me, or am I just saying the right things and doing nothing?

There is another parable right after the story of the two sons. A landowner wants the rent that is due to him, but the people running the farm—or the vineyard—refuse to pay him anything. The rebellion is so great that it becomes violent.

This is a very deep story with a meaning that affects the future of Israel as a nation. It could be the story of the church, in some ways and at some times.

But for my conversation with God, I don’t want to talk about Israel or the history of the church. If you want to wrestle with that, you will find some very cool things here.

By the way, Jeff covered this passage very nicely in his background study.

But remember, after all that study, you still come back to a conversation. For the sake of my conversation with God, what simple question affects me the most?

Am I giving back to God the loyalty that he deserves? Do I respect his authority in my life? Is there something that I need to give to him, much like the tenants in the vineyard should have provided?

What does God require of me? Do I pay him that?

The answer to this one is a little more complicated, because if you ask God what is due him, the answer may have something to say about where your life goes from this day on.

In other words, you might not answer this question just by looking in a book. You have to talk to God. Which brings us back to the definition of prayer, by the way.

A conversation with God.

Simple.

Let’s do one more, briefly. The parable of the wedding banquet, in the first part of chapter twenty-two.

It’s a story of excuses, and because of those excuses, a lot of people miss out on the greatest opportunity of their lives. The story is interesting, but the reality is even better.

The wedding banquet is life, to put it simply. It is the promise of eternity spent with God, and it is offered free to those who will simply come.

The alternative is terrible, but people are making the lamest excuses, simply because they don’t want to be bothered.

What does it mean to me?

It’s simple. God is extending a most indescribably wonderful invitation to life like we have never known.

Take it.

Let that thought become your prayer for the rest of the day. Let your conversation with God reflect the offer of life that goes on forever, an offer that is free to anyone who will accept it.

Let it be a simple truth, and let it be yours.

When God invites, come.

That’s it. That’s the point. Nothing more. Just come.

Well, maybe there’s one more thing. You can bring a friend.