LOVE

AUGUST 19, 2009 WEDNESDAY SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 22

TEXT http://net.bible.org/bible.php?book=Mat&chapter=22

MESSAGE

“The Story of Choosing”

Jesus continued his teaching with another story what the kingdom of heaven could be compared to. In the story, a king in putting on a wedding banquet for his son sends his servants to tell those who had been invited that the time had come to celebrate, but none of them came, even though he sent his servants out a second time, all of those who had been invited made up excuses for why they wouldn’t be coming to wedding banquet – some were more interested in making money than attending a celebration and the evil ones were so upset they had been bothered by the king about the celebration in the first place that they killed his servants who came to remind them the second time. This made the king so angry that he sent his soldiers out to kill those who had killed his servants and to destroy their city. After this he told his remaining servants that the invited guests had not been worthy of attending the celebration and that they were to go out and find anyone that would come whether they were good or bad to fill the banquet hall. However, when the king arrived at the celebration he spotted a man who was not wearing the clothes for celebrating the wedding he had his servants distribute to those who accepted his invitation to come. And, so he asked him how he had made it into the celebration without wedding clothes, but the man had no response. The king then told his attendants to tie the man up as tight as they could and do to him what had been done to the other evil men who had murdered his servants because he had been an invited guest who had twice refused to come, while those in the wedding clothes of celebration had chosen to come.

“Stunned”

After hearing this story, the Pharisees and supporters of Herod Antipas tried to set Jesus up and trap him with a question that no matter which way he answered it, he would be in trouble. Deceitfully asking him whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus, called them hypocrites and asked them to show him a coin. He went on to ask whose image and words were on the front and back of the coin and they told him they were Caesar’s. He then told them to give to Caesar what is due to him and to God what is due to him, which startled them so much they went away.

“Oh, Brother!”

Later that day, the Sadducees (who don’t even believe in the resurrection in the first place) asked Jesus about a portion of Mosaic law called levirate (or brother-in-law) marriage, wherein the brother-in-law steps in for his brother as a husband to his dead brother’s wife if he dies without children, so that his name can continue and so that his wife will have children to take care of her in her old age and won’t end up a beggar. Their preposterous question was that if a man died without children and all seven of his brothers successively took their place as called for by law but died before any children were born, whose wife would the women be in the resurrection (that they didn’t even believe in!)? Jesus answered by telling them how deceived they were because they didn’t know the scriptures or the power of God because in the resurrection, people, like angels do not marry. He went on to tell them that if they understood what God was really saying (as recorded in Exodus 3:6) when he said “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” they would know that “I am” doesn’t mean “I was” the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and they are dead and gone, but instead that “I am” means that God is the God of the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who are alive and with him in heaven. Hearing this the crowds were simply amazed.

“Not Who, But What’s the Greatest”

Despite having been stunned by Jesus themselves, after hearing Jesus had now made the Sadducees speechless, the Pharisees had one of their religious law experts try to test his knowledge and comprehension of the entirety of Scripture by asking him which commandment in the law was the greatest. Quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, Jesus responded by saying the first and greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And, the second is like it, “Love your neighbor ass yourself.” He told them that these two commandments form the basis for everything else in Scripture.

“Son & Lord”

While still there, Jesus asked the Pharisees a question about whose son the Christ (or Messiah) was and they responded by saying he was the son of David. Jesus then asked them if the Christ was the son of David, how David speaking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Psalms (110:1) would call his own son, “Lord?” He then quoted David’s words from the Psalm to them saying, “God said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” When he asked them if David called his son Lord, how it was possible for him to be his son, no one said a word and after this they lost their courage to challenge and provoke him.

TEACHING

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a wedding banquet celebration hosted by a king for his son, but some of the invited guests are too busy making money so they don’t go or and the rest of the invited guests don’t want to be bothered with a wedding celebration in honor of the king’s son so they murder the kings servants the second time he sends them out to let them know everything is ready and they are waiting for them to arrive. Angered by this, the king sends his soldiers to destroy both the murders and the town they live in and sends out more servants, this time to find more worthy guests who will come to the celebration because they want to, regardless of whether they’ve been good or bad. Despite this, when the king entered the celebration he noticed someone in attendance who had originally been invited but who had twice failed to come when his servants announced that everything was in order for the wedding celebration in honor of his son to begin. Knowing what had happened to the invited guests who hadn’t responded to the king’s invitation and had murdered the king’s servants, he had come only out of fear of what the king might do to him if he didn’t show; he hadn’t come because he genuinely wanted to pay honor to the him and his son. He was there for selfish reasons. Realizing this, the king had his guards tie him up tightly so they could remove him from the celebration and destroy him like they had those who had murdered his servants, because like them, he had not chosen to come to the celebration of his son when asked like all of the others in attendance.

Hearing this story describing them as the invited guests, who by refusing to Honor God’s Son as the Christ, will be left out of the Kingdom of Heaven, The Pharisees and supporters of King Herod try to deceived Jesus with a question where they can get him into trouble by the either/or answer he has to give. They ask Jesus whether it is lawful for Jews to pay taxes to Rome who occupies and controls their country – thinking they will either discredit him with the Jewish people if he supports paying the tax or they will turn him for rebellion if supports tax evasion. Jesus asks them for a Roman coin with the image of Caesar on one side and the words son of the divine Augustus on the other side and tells them to give to Caesar what is due to him and to God what is due to him – not only a both/and answer but one in which he contrasts the image of Caesar, with the image of God and Caesar as the son of the divine Augustus, with Himself as the Son of God. His answer shocked the Pharisees so much that they went left.

Later the Sadducees took a turn at questioning Jesus, but showed their ignorance and how they had run out of questions to ask when even though it was well known they didn’t believe in the resurrection from the dead, they asked Jesus an outlandish question about who would be a husband to a woman in the resurrection after she died, when she technically had eight husbands during her lifetime because her original husband and all seven of his brothers who stood in for him as a husband under the levirate (brother-in-law) marriage law died before any children were born to them. [The levirate marriage law was to help continue the husband’s name if he died without children and to help protect his wife so that she would have children to care and look after her in old age so she would not need to beg.] Jesus responded by telling the Sadducees that not only didn’t they know Scripture, they had no idea of how powerful God was because if they did, they would know nothing is impossible for God including raising people from the dead. He went on to describe that in the resurrection people are like angels with respect to relationship, in their resurrected state people are psychospiritually whole at that point such that the “one flesh” union of marriage is no longer an issue and their relationships are like that of the angels. Furthermore, he quoted from Exodus where it records God as saying “I am” the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, making the distinction for them that he does not say that he “was” their God, meaning that they no longer exist, that they have died and are no more. Hearing Jesus explain what God was really saying about the resurrection in Exodus like this amazed the people gathered around him.

Not willing to say die, despite being stunned by Jesus’ answer about paying taxes to Caesar and despite the Sadducees being left speechless by Jesus’ interpretation of the what God said with respect to the resurrection in Exodus, the Pharisees put their best religious law expert up to testing Jesus’ knowledge and understanding of everything in Scripture by asking him what the greatest commandment was. He told them that everything is God’s Word is based on and held together by two commandments which are really one and the same. First, he quoted from the Book of Deuteronomy (6:5) that first and greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Then he quoted from Leviticus (19:18) that the second was “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

And, the way they were really the same is that if you aren’t able to love your neighbor as yourself, then you aren’t loving God with all of who you are. In fact, the man in Jesus story who was thrown out of the wedding banquet celebration, was thrown out because instead of loving God with all of his being, he feared God with all of his being because of how selfish he was – he only thought of himself, not the king, the king’s son, not the king’s servants and not all of those who had prepared the celebration for him to come to. And the reason for his fear showed.

Jesus then took the opportunity to ask the Pharisees a question about whose son the Messiah was and when they answered him that the Messiah was the son of David he asked them a further question about how it was possible for this to be the case since in the Psalms, David speaks under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and refers to his son as “my Lord.” In questioning the Pharisees in this way, Jesus was really making a statement to them that he, as the Messiah, was both God and man. In response, no one said a word. This statement by Jesus put an end to the Pharisees and Sadducees challenges against him.

HEALING

Our Father, Your Kingdom has come, Your Son was here and gave his life as a ransom, and we have been invited to accept Him as the Christ, the Son of the Living God – the God who continues to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Resurrected.

Our Father, Forgive us when we don’t respond with the praise, glory and honor that
You as Father, Your Son, and the Holy Spirit are due. Forgive us when we get preoccupied with our fields and our business and our busyness and spend more of our time with our coins, then in celebration with You for who You are and for what You have done in creating us in Your image and for the Your Word that has Liberated us from Sin through Your Son.

Our Father, Transform our hearts, minds, and souls from our selfish ways to that of love. Help us to accept and grow in Your Love by spending time in celebration with You, so that we are able to love others as selfishly as we seem to love ourselves, and are able to celebrate with them too.

Our Father, We too come away stunned, startled, and silenced by Your powerful Word. Your Word created, Your Word became flesh, Your Word resurrects, Your Word transform us.

You are amazing God!

In Jesus Name, Amen

SONG 'Your Love Oh Lord' by Acquire the Fire @imeem http://x.imeem.com/wyGMC3taME