This week’s reading: Matthew 22:1-46
Hi Friends,
This week, we will be talking about those who were more consumed with proving Jesus wrong, than actually listening to Him and being open to Who He is and what He was trying to teach them. We begin with the very sobering Parable of the Wedding Feast which sets up our theme for the three religious groups of the days of Jesus who refused to accept any “wedding garments” from Him. More on that below. We are in the Gospel of Matthew reading all of chapter 22, that is verse 1 through 46. Now listen to these powerful words:
“Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodian’s. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, ‘You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.’ They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, ‘Whose portrait is this? And who’s inscription?’ ‘Caesars,’ they replied. Then he said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what is God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.” Mt 22:15-22 NIV
A sad ending. Jesus continues speaking to the crowd that had gathered around Him, which included the religious of His day. He shares another parable which clearly warns them, and now us, against refusing the invitation of God for Salvation. Jesus describes a king who has prepared a wedding feast for all his guests. This, of course, is referring to how the Father had already planned to offer up His Son as His Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (Jn 3:19) It is only by the Grace of the Father, through the sacrifice of the Son and in the union of the Holy Spirit, that any human will be able to attend this Eternal Wedding Feast. Entering Heaven has nothing to do with what you and I can do, but everything to do with what God has already prepared for us to receive. Just like the wedding guests had to accept the invitation of this king, so too each human must come to terms with God’s Provision for Salvation, and either receive it gratefully, OR refuse it Pridefully. We know what happens in this story, right? The first group of people to be invited want nothing to do with the king’s invitation. They would rather live their own lives, their own wretched way, than to surrender and submit to the rightful authority of the king…and so they lose the offering to enter in. This spoke of the Jews in the Times of Jesus, but it speaks to each individual heart now. And least we think no Jew will be in Heaven, please go read Romans 9 and 10, and understand that God is a God of Justice. Those from “every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues,” (Rev 7:9) whose hearts are for Him, will be with Him forever. But while Jesus walked this earth, there was a closing of opportunity for the Jews who had hardened their hearts against Him and refused to come to His Wedding Feast. But this opened the door of opportunity for us Gentiles to be invited in their place. We are the ragamuffins that the servants went out and gathered, both good and bad, so that we could join Jesus and be saved, praise God! But how about this one man who was found not wearing any wedding garments? What do we say about him? The first thing we must note is that, in ancient times, the king would have provided the proper clothing for his guests to wear at the celebration. In doing so, it pointed to the magnificence of the host. Let me review the symbolism thus far so we clearly understand what Jesus is saying here. God, of course, is the King Who has prepared The Way for us to enter the Wedding Feast, which is Heaven. In doing so, He has provided for our “robes of righteousness” by sacrificing His one and only Begotten Son in our place. (Isa 61:10) This righteousness, that we are now clothed in, does NOT point to our attributes, but to His great Grace and Mercy and Love and Goodness and so on. The fact that believers are saved is not a depiction of our holiness, but of His. That this Immaculate God would even want us sinners, and former enemies of God (Ro 5:10), with Him for just a moment would be amazing…but that He desires we will be with Him forever? Again, Salvation points to the magnificence of our King, not to us. So back to this one guy who is trying to enjoy the Wedding Feast all on his own effort. Trying to claim he is worthy apart from the Grace of the King. Basically refusing to adhere to the rules set by the King and continuing to just do his own thing, his own way. This is simply NOT acceptable, my Friends! Once we have been saved by Grace, we must learn to live by Grace. This means, not only answering the Call to Salvation, but also Sanctification and Service. We must live a life that reflects we have been given these new robes of righteousness and that we are very different than who we use to be, and certainly different that the rest of the fallen world. We are never better than any one else, but for sure we should be different than everyone else, including our former condition. There will be so many people in the End of Times that will be like this man dressed in his Prideful rags trying to claim he is worthy to be at the Wedding Feast without accepting the King’s Provision. And as a result, there will be many disappointed individuals, much like these religious who were listening to Jesus, but refusing to follow Him. And because they chose to lean on their own self-righteousness, refusing the invitation, they try to trap Jesus so they can be rid of Him instead.
What belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God? The first set of accusers come to Jesus from the combination of Pharisee disciples and the Herodians. That last group had assimilated to the current regime and believed that the Jews should be in submission to the Emperor. So it should not surprise us that they try to entrap Jesus by talking about paying taxes to Caesar. Since the Romans were the enemies of the Jews, they were counting on Jesus revolting against the Roman laws. They pretend to honor Jesus, while trying to discredit Him, as they ask for His opinion on whether the Jews should pay the government tax or not. Jesus, of course, reads their hypocritical hearts and astounds them all with His simple, yet profound answer. It is the famous, “Give to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what is God’s.” (Mt 22:21) So what is Jesus saying here? He is trying to make a huge distinction between this life and the next. Jesus is stating that God’s Kingdom is not of this world. We are free to follow the laws of the government, and should do so, as long as it does not go against the Law of God. Paying taxes is a duty of every citizen, so it does not interfere whatsoever with worshipping God; this was true to them then, and it is true to us now. Whether we agree with the current party in office or not, we honor God when we obey their human laws. It is God Who allows them to be in office, by the way. (Ro 13:1) Again, so long as we are not forced to go against the Law of God, give to the world what belongs to the world. But the problem is we must also give to God what is due Him too. We are to obey the laws of the land, but also God’s Laws. Just because we pay our taxes, for instance, does not give us the right not to follow God’s Law about tithing. We are commanded to tithe, yet how many who claim to be Christians do this? The reality is, if we cry over this 10% and refuse to follow God’s command, we are the ones who miss out on the blessings God would give us in return. Whether dollar for dollar, or even better, dollar for immense peace, joy and holiness, somehow God will more than repay our faithful obedience. We never to obey to get something FROM God, but rather to attempt to GIVE something back to Him, in awe of all He has already granted us. We obey because we love Him. We obey because we are grateful to Him. We obey because we desire to please Him. But this Christian obedience, that is due God, is not only about our tithes. Our very lives should be His. That means if He calls us to do something, even something inconvenient, something that will take great time and effort and resources, we should quickly respond, “Yes, Lord!” Our lives, our possessions, our time, talents and treasures… all of it my Friends, even every breath we breathe belongs to Him. We are all merely stewards who should be grateful for everything God has blessed us with. All things come from Him and we should use it all for His Glory. But do we “render unto God what is God’s”? These religious admire what Jesus is saying, so much so that it leaves them speechless, but they would never believe and follow what He said. They do not give to God their very hearts, which is the most important thing He wants from us. Instead, they will be like that man without the proper wedding garments, and they will be thrown out of the Wedding Feast, unless they repent. Will we be like these prideful, lost religious or will we turn to God and obey the words of Jesus?
Heaven is like nothing you and I could imagine. Next comes a group of Sadducees to test Jesus. Again trying to trap Him, to discredit Him, they present Jesus with an elaborate scenario. One of the things the Bible makes clear is that this group of religious do not believe in the resurrection, and thus, the hereafter. They thought any talk of a resurrection was a lie and had to be invalidated since, per their understanding, Scripture did not speak of such a thing. Thus their over the top story. They say according to the Law of Moses, a woman ends up marrying seven different brothers, who one by one die after each marriage, and then she dies herself. So when she enters Heaven, they ask, whose wife will she be? They had made it a point to stress that she had no children with any of them just so that Jesus would not say, “Well, she will be the wife of the husband that gave her the offspring.” These Sadducees have made the plot of this story sound so absurd that they almost pat themselves on their own backs thinking, for sure, they confounded this Teacher’s Wisdom now! The response of Jesus is priceless. First He says these “learned men” that they are in error. That they do not know Scripture nor the power of God. How in Heaven, no one will be in marriage, nor will they ever die again, because they will be like the angels. In other words, we cannot even imagine what living in Heaven will be like. This might lead us to ask so many questions here like, will I recognize my spouse in Eternity? But the quick answer is: no one knows. Whatever it will be like, we can be assured that we will want for nothing and everything will be fulfilling so, do the answers really matter? Heaven is beyond our human understanding. Next, Jesus points this religious group to the Scriptures they should know. They placed their Faith in only the first Five Books of Moses, and as I mentioned above, they claimed the resurrection was not spoken of at all, in any of those books, so it cannot be truth. Jesus calmly points them to Exodus 3:6 which per Jesus says, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” He is emphasizing that God IS, not WAS their God, or said differently, these saints are still alive because God continues to be their God. In Luke Jesus says, “But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” (Lk 20: 37-38) If there was no resurrection, no way that the soul and spirit live on even after this temporary body dies off, then Moses would not have spoken this way, is the point Jesus is making. And this is from the Scriptures this group professes to understand, and had used to formulate their doctrine! Here’s a reality for us to take away, no one person knows all the depths of Scripture. We are children who are still learning. To assume we know the totality of what God is saying in His Word is both arrogant and dangerous. Yes, there are things that are clear, yet there is so much that we still cannot comprehend, especially when we are talking about what Heaven will be like. To be like these Sadducees who disregarded anyone else’s belief about eternity, and especially that of Jesus, can lead to us turning from God, instead of following Him more closely. Humility must be our heart attitude when approaching the Bible. Our reality is, we will not know everything this side of Heaven, but we can trust the One Who does know it all. Read, study and apply God’s Word in your life with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit, while learning all we are able to learn, but then we must choose to live by Faith on those things that will always simply be unknown to us. That is the point of living by Faith, not sight, isn’t it? (2Co 5:7) We will not fully grasp God and His incomprehensible plan. Whatever God’s way is, we can trust Him that it is what is best for us and those around us. Why? Because God loves us. This is the basis of Life and what will lead us to obey God’s commandments, more and more.
All commandments come down to this one. After this challenge, the Pharisees are not yet ready to give up on trying to snare Jesus with His words. Next, an expert in the law steps up to try his best. Thinking that he certainly knows the Law backwards and forwards, he proudly asks Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Mt 22:36) The answer Jesus gives is, once again, simple and powerful. He points to Love as being the whole point to the Law. First, we are to Love God with every part of our being: our spirit which is our heart, our soul, especially our mind, and Mark adds our strength. (Mk 12:30) There is no higher calling than this, my Friends. If we will focus all our energy, efforts and desires in loving God as best as our level of maturity allows, the rest will automatically come. We will seek to fulfill the second most important command, to love our neighbors as ourselves, because loving God leads to gratefully obeying God, which leads to loving those He places along our path. It all comes down to Love…but not the way you and I love, the way God loves. (1Co 13) This is a selfless kind of love that empties itself of any self-importance and seeks only that which is the best for the one they claim to love. This love does not mean we will be permissive, condoning all the sin we humans are prone to enter into head first. No. This does mean we will point them to Christ. That we will speak truth in grace to them. That we will not condone, and will definitely not celebrate, any sin they choose to embrace. This type of Love is beyond our ability to portray apart from the help, direction and empowerment of God. It flows from Him, to us, then through us. This is why that first greatest command is essential. The sad thing is that these religious were as far from fulfilling either of these greatest commandments as any human could possibly be…but sadder still, they thought that they were following them. They thought they were honoring God by persecuting Jesus, His Son. God was in the Flesh right before their very eyes, but their eyes were so focused on their own self-righteousness that they missed Him. They refused the first round of invitations into the Wedding Feast and all their effort to follow all the rules and regulations, including those they had added to God’s Word, became their downfall instead of a cause to gain honor. Oh my Friends, I do hope none of us follow in their soiled and wicked shoes.
Whose Son is the Christ? As the conversation continues, this time it is the Pharisees themselves who are questioned by Jesus. Jesus asks them “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They give the earthly minded answer, “The son of David.” I believe Jesus is trying to get them to delve into Scripture to see it from a larger viewpoint, from the eyes of God instead of man. So Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1 attempting to expand their hearts and minds. If Scripture says that David was calling the true King, the Messiah, his Lord, then David could not be saying this Anointed One would be his son, for which father would call his own flesh and blood by such a high and mighty title? No, the Messiah, this long awaited King of kings must be the Son of God. Again, Jesus is revealing that these religious did not grasp the fullness of God’s Word, nor the identification of Who Jesus is. What we can take away is that it is good to be challenged by God’s Word. As a matter of fact, if you sit, week after week, in church service and are not convicted or led to want to search the Bible for yourself, you might want to question whether you are growing in Christ, or if you have become stale and complacent. We were created in the Image of God, to be like Him. The Downfall caused every human to fall from that high standard and filled each of us with our own set of vices, flaws, weaknesses and false identity markers. The whole point to Salvation is to set right what went horribly wrong back then. First we are to be reconciled with God, united in Christ through the Holy Spirit. That is the purpose of Salvation; it transforms our spirt from death to Life. But then we are to work with God, allowing Him to transform us back into that original design. This is Sanctification which will lead to Service, where we love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. If we are not doing this, do we know Who Jesus is? Has He made any impact on our lives at all? Is He our Savior and Lord? Or are we like these religious who made up their minds beforehand, and refused to step out of their own little preconceived notions of Who their King should be, and thereby, missed their Messiah who stood right in front of them? It is in God’s Word where we begin to know Who the Son of God is and who we are in light of Him. I love God’s Word because it continues to reveal to me who I am right now, on the way to who I am becoming, all the while being embraced, supported and led by the God Who loves me more than my heart and mind can comprehend. It is my sincere hope to encourage you to continually fall in love with the Bible, to seek God so He can lead you into all Truth, and to follow Him as closely as humanly possible. This continues to be the longing of my heart, and the more I grow in Christ, the more my life gets more freeing and fulfilling. Want that too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
