Matthew 22:1-14
“Your Invited”
Intro
In this parable, Jesus answers a question of the heart. Verse 46 says that upon hearing the two parables, they understood their failure and “sought to lay hands on Him.” That is to say they wanted to kill him. Why? Because Jesus had dealt with authority and responsibility in the Kingdom of God, and they saw themselves on the wrong side of the story. In this parable, Jesus again speaks of the kingdom of heaven, but instead of responsibility, He deals with the privilege associated with it.
When you really think about it, life boils down to making the right choices. Now some folks would argue that you have to be given the opportunities before you can make the right choice, but what is certain is that, as far as heaven is concerned, everyone is given the opportunity. Under the heading “The Top 12 Truths That Children Have Learned” come these 5 wise choices:
2.) When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let mom brush your hair.
3.) You can’t trust dogs to watch your food.
4.) Don’t sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
5.) Don’t wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
Vs 1-3 Not Willing To Come
Vs. 1 Now the leaders were still upset at Jesus’ words concerning their responsibility to God’s vineyard when Jesus wanted to show them that the kingdom of heaven is not just about responsibility; it is about privilege. Jesus is going to show us that going to heaven is a choice, but more than that, it is made not upon our sacrifice but rather His.
Now the first thing that you will notice in the comparison of these parables is that we have switched story lines. In the first two parables, Jesus used the word picture of workers in a vineyard. He did so to illustrate responsibility and authority, for that had been their question in verse 23. Now this parable deals with an invitation to a celebration.
Why the change? Well, I think that these religious folks were missing the point of the kingdom. They thought of the kingdom in terms of theirs and what they did; hence, they were threatened by our Lord’s graciousness. They emphasized the outward above the inward. So now Jesus tells us this story of a three-fold invitation to a wedding feast.
Now you need to understand that, unlike our culture, the Jewish culture centered around celebrations. I mean, these folks knew how to party. In fact, the wedding celebration lasted 1 week, and it was full of singing, eating, and dancing. Sounds like a party to me!
May I just take a moment to say that I think you folks are a lot like the Jewish culture, for truly you all like to get together to eat and fellowship. I pray that we never lose the joy of just wanting to be together. Last week one of the couples that visited came up to me and said, “Man, what a great group of people that go to Calvary Chapel; we have not stopped talking to people since we walked in the doors.” I always want to maintain a celebration-type attitude here, and I thank you for keeping me in that place!
Now here are the principal people of the story: A king is having a wedding for His son, and servants are sent ahead of time to invite certain folks to the celebration.
Clearly, this is a picture of the nation of Israel and their rejection of Jesus. Israel was the first to be invited to the banquet. What is interesting to me is why anyone would turn down this invitation. I mean, if I invite you to come over to my house and put you to work, then you probably won’t come back the next time I come calling on you, but that’s not the case here. So what’s the practical point?
First of all, if you are not a believer this morning, you need to stop thinking about what you will have to give up if you become a Christian and start realizing what you are already giving up because you are not! You are being invited to a party, and everything you need is provided.
Second, if you are a believer, may I ask you how you see your relationship with Jesus? I mean, what is the “Kingdom of Heaven” to you? Is it a stuffed shirt list of does and don’ts? Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like, “A forty-hour work week in a job that you can’t stand!” No!, but that’s how a lot of us act.
He says it’s like a wedding celebration. Now, be careful, folks. The wedding is supposed to be just the beginning, and marriage makes it better! So many people would say, “It’s not the church I don’t like; it’s the people.” I came across this the other day. It’s called the “Senility Prayer.” God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.
So what is the “kingdom of heaven”? Well, Rom. 14:17 tells us, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” It’s like a wedding feast, a life filled with gladness, song, joy, and celebration. Does that characterize your life in Jesus? It ought too! And you know that it is not conditional upon circumstances or situations.
Now notice the wording here, “and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.” The words “to call those who were invited” are literally “to call the called.” There was a second call to those who were already invited to the celebration. A kind of RSVP No look at the response; they were not willing to come.
“Come on, we are celebrating, having a party at no cost to you; just come.” That is what Jesus did to the lost sheep of Israel; His was a call to the called, but they would not come. A few days later Jesus would stand outside the city and say, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” So the first reaction to the invitation is indifference.
How about you? Are you ignoring God’s invitation to celebrate with Him? Don’t you know that, as Rom. 2:4 says, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
Vs. 4-7 Angry About Being Invited
Vs. 4-5 Here then is the second invitation. The first thing you notice is that the time of the celebration is at hand. The sacrifice has been prepared, and the meal is ready. The King had done everything to prepare for the joy, peace, and gladness. This represents the time after the crucifixion. A time when God empowered the disciples, and they went back out and told Israel to come on into the feast. You will notice that the response is individual now. So here we are looking not at Israel’s rejection, but that of individuals rejection. Now notice the responses to the invitation:
Vs. 5: “They made light of it.” That is, they neglected or were unconcerned with it. In the first call they were indifferent; here they were neglectful. It is not that they would not agree with the truth; it is that they just put it off or make light of it. Do you see the progression of unbelief?
Vs. 5: “..went their ways.” Here we see that the response was that they saw the things of the world greater than the privilege of celebrating with God. It was their way! “Hey, I want to do my own thing, man, my own way!” Prov 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Vs. 5: “went to his farm.” Here it was the world system. Vs. 5 “to his business.” Here we see that it was the world’s goods.
Those are the things that cause neglect, folks—being too caught up in the world system or the world’s goods to realize what you’re missing out on!
Vs. 6, “And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.” Here then is the third response to the invitation: hostility towards the person offering it. The words mean to insult or to treat in an arrogant, spiteful manner. Think of this: why would you make fun of someone who has sacrificed their life so that you may have peace, joy, and righteousness? But you know that is the progression.
Vs. 7 Now look at what the Lord does with those that so respond. He judges them! Folks, either you will enjoy the benefits of the party of the Lord or you will be judged. And you know what? Some 40 years later, this very thing happened to Israel as the Roman General Titus came into the city.
Vs. 8-14 Dressed For The Party
Vs. 8-10 Here then is the response to the rejection of Israel: God send His servant out to those who are not worthy. Folks, that is you and me. And where does He find us? Highways, and the invitation is to all, both bad and good. That is to say, by the world’s standards, by God’s standards, there are none that are righteous. All were admitted to the banquet; there was no discrimination; the invitation was to all. Before the invitation was just to the Jew, the only way you could get the invitation was by becoming a Jew.
Vs. 11-14 Here we have a guy who came but was not dressed rightly. There are interesting words here to describe why he was not dressed right. In verse 11, the word “not” having a wedding garment on describes the simple observation that the guy was not wearing a wedding garment, but in verse 12, when the King questions him on it, a different word is used.
The word “without” means that the guy did not know one at his own discretion. It is not that he did not have one; it is rather that he did not want to have one. So when the king questions the guy, he is speechless. You see, there was a white robe that a king would provide for all the invited guests.
They did not have to provide it for themselves; it was given to them; all they had to do was show up with it on. Folks, you cannot come to the party dressed in anything other than the righteousness of Christ. You better not reject God’s righteousness, for if you do, you are going to get kicked out of the party!
Hosea 2:19-20 says, “I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving kindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the LORD.” Hey folks, the Lord has chosen us all; we are called, but only those wearing the robe of Jesus are going to be there. Isa. 61:10 says, “I am overwhelmed with joy in the LORD, my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels.”
So how about you? Do you realize you have an invitation to the greatest party the world has ever seen? It is a great time. Won’t you please come, but make sure you are warring His righteousness!
Matthew 22:15-33
“Death & Taxes”
Vs. 15-22 Show Me The Money
Vs. 23-33 God of the Living
Intro
After Jesus’ words in parables about the need for a relationship with God, not just religion, the religious folks come back to Jesus with a few questions of their own. These questions were intended to entrap Jesus. Interesting the timing of this section with the time of year. Most of us just sent off our taxes and will have to wait to work through June to pay for next year. It seems that there are few subjects that will get people more upset than these two that we will look at this morning. I saw a report on the news that close to 6% of the I.R.S. fails to file their taxes on time.
It reminds me of a story I heard a while back. I seems that there was a young man who wanted $100 really bad for something that he wanted to buy. He asked his parents, and they suggested that he pray about it. So for two weeks the little guy prayed, but nothing happened. Finally, he decided to write God a letter again asking for the $100. When the postal authorities got the letter addressed to God, USA, they forwarded it to the President of America.
The president was so impressed and amused by the letter that he instructed his secretary to send a check for $5, thinking that to this little guy $5 was a lot of money. Well, when the boy got the check from the president, he was thrilled and set down to write a thank-you note at his parents request. “Dear God, thank you very much for sending the money to me. However, God, I noticed that for some reason you had to send the money through the President, and like my dad always says, That jerk deducted $95 in taxes!”
Vs. 15-22 Show Me The Money
Vs. 15-17 This question was one with political implications, and as everyone knows, politics makes for strange bedfellows. It seems that Jesus’ parables on judgment did have an effect on the religious folks, but it was not in causing them to repent; instead, it angered them.
It is interesting to look at their series of load questions from a prophetic perspective. In Ex. 12:3-6, we are told how the priests of Israel were to examine the Passover lamb before it was to be sacrificed. In a few days from this time, as Jesus was in the temple,
He would be sacrificed as the Lamb of God. So here they are, the priests, examining the Passover Lamb, “Jesus,” to see if He had any blemishes, and then we are told three times in this chapter that they “marveled at His words,” “astonished at His teaching,” and were “not able to answer Him a word nor ask Him any more questions.” It sounds as if they found that Jesus was without a spot or blemish!
Vs. 16 The Pharisees and Herodians were enemies. The Pharisees opposed the Roman tax because they did not like submitting to any foreign power, especially to a Caesar who was revered as a god. The Herodians, on the other hand, were a political party centered around Herod; they were in favor of the taxes because it was Rome that kept Herod in power, not to mention that they received income from them. The Herods were not popular with the people, yet religiously they were still Jewish.
Herod the Great had died in 4 B.C., and the Romans divided his kingdom into three parts, giving a part to each of three of his sons. One son, Herod Antipas, had been given the area that included Galilee. Judea, with its capital Jerusalem, was given to Archelaus.
Archelau’s rule only lasted 9 years because he was so oppressive that revolts started happening, so Caesar removed and installed Judea as a Roman province governed by someone he would appoint (Pontius Pilate). From that time on, the people of Judea had to pay their taxes to the Roman emperor Caesar.
Israel had long ago been conquered and forced to pay tribute to foreign powers, but there was a new thought in the land that paying any tribute to a Gentile ruler was an act of treason because God alone was King of Israel. You see Israel had required a 1/10 offering to maintain the temple, which came from the produce of the land. The Roman tax came from the produce of the land as well.
So as you can see, this question was a no-win type of question. It also shows us the great lengthens to which Jesus’ enemies were willing to compromise to get rid of Him. Folks, it seems today you can be into anything, no matter how weird, but man, if you dare to become a Christian, the whole world will be against you.
Now you will see that the self-righteous Pharisees sent their disciples to Jesus, for they themselves would not be seen with the Herodians. The religiously political with the politically religious.
Next, you see how they start their entrapment with flattery. Folks watch out when those who don’t like you start to praise you. A person with strong convictions always has more to fear from flattery than opposition. Challenge, blame, and oppose a man with convictions, and he will stand upon those convictions to death.
Ah, but praise that man; tell him he is all that, and he will let down his guard. What this shows me is that I must not stand upon my convictions, but rather I must stand upon the rock of faith, for it is the only thing that does not care for any man’s opinions!
Vs. 17 So here they think that they have Jesus. If He said, “Yes, pay taxes to Caesar.” That would cause all of Israel to hate him. Yet if He said, “No, don’t pay taxes to Caesar,” that would cause Rome to arrest him for tax evasion and political rebellion. Can you just see these men there grinning ear to ear? What fascinates me is not only the answer He gives, but the speed in which He delivers it.
When Jesus in 21:25–27 had questioned them concerning John the Baptist, they took a time out, huddled together, and still could not come up with the right answer. Here Jesus gives them an answer straight away!
Vs. 18-22 Now look at Jesus. He knows that their flattery is bogus. That got me thinking, “How many times do I try to con God into something?” Lord, great and awesome, Holy Lord. You always do right by me, so how about giving me the winning numbers to the lottery?
You know I will give it all to you!” Why do you test me, hypocrites? Folks, we can’t trick God into something, and personally, we ought to be very glad about that. I mean, what would the world be like if our children could trick us into doing whatever they wanted? Scary!
Vs. 19 So Jesus just asks to see the money. Now the fact that they had a Roman coin with the face of Caesar on it tells you something: that Israel, whether or not they liked it, was subject to Roman sovereignty. If God was over everyone and everything, then God was allowing even this for a reason.
Second, the fact that they had the coin showed they were indeed enjoying the benefits of Roman occupation.
Vs 20-22 So here we have Jesus two-fold response:
Vs. 20-21a “Since you have the coin and are using it, then give it back to Caesar for what he requires.” The word “render” means to give something back to its original owner. Folks, we as Christians ought to be the best citizens that our country has; it’s the very least that should be said of us. Look at what Rom. 13:1-2 says: “Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there.
All governments have been placed in power by God. So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow.” Furthermore, 1 Tim. 2:1-2 says that we should “plead for God’s mercy upon them and give thanks… to pray this way for kings and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity… for it is good and pleases God our Savior.” Hey, we accept all the advantages the authorities placed over us; should we then refuse to pay for its maintenance? Folks, we have a moral obligation. Paying the Roman taxes was not a gift; it was a payment of a debt that Israel was using.
Vs. 21b Here then Jesus gives the second part of His answer, “Give back to God (the original owner) the things that are His.”
In this part of the answer, we are given the secret of how to do the first part. When you are giving back to the government, you are also giving back to the Lord, who put all governments in power. Yet don’t forget that you represent another kingdom. If we would always give God all that belongs to Him, we would never need to be concerned about what we give to Caesar. 1 Cor. 4:7b says, “What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?”
Folks, all that we have has come from the Lord. It is when our attitude changes to the fact that what we have comes from our own effort that we get into a tense overgiving! The reality is that our relationship with the Lord ought to affect our relationship towards the country and its citizens towards Him in a way that no laws can, for we operate under the laws of grace.
Vs. 23-33 God of the Living
Vs. 23-28 The Sadducees were the intellectual materialists of the day. They only accepted the first 5 books of the O.T. (Torah). Notice that their question starts off with what “Moses” said, for they did not at all believe there was a spirit world, especially the resurrection.
So they would get together and debate the Pharisees on the resurrection, arguing from the Torah and asking that they prove the resurrection for only those first 5 books; the Pharisees were not very successful at doing so, and there was a great rift between the two groups.
So here they give this hypothetical illustration based upon a “levirate marriage.” You ask, What’s a “levirate marriage”? Well, it’s one that you leave right where you found it! OK, I’m sorry! It means husband’s brother.
The purpose of this custom was to preserve a man’s name by giving him an inheritance. Now today this would not be necessary, but back then land and property were tied to having a male heir, and not having an heir meant that your land possessions would not get passed on to the serving family.
The point of their question is to discredit the resurrection by pointing out how difficult it would be for this woman to have a husband. Perhaps today we would use an organ transplant. “If a person dies & his heart goes to another person, his cornea goes to someone else & his kidneys to yet another in the resurrection, who gets the organs?”
Now if I were Jesus, I would have been a bit flippant with these guys and said any woman who has gone through six of my brothers in heaven, any one of them can have her, for she was not good luck for me! But that is not what Jesus says.
Vs. 29-33 Here he tells them that they are in error because they have two problems:
Don’t know the scriptures: Folks, that is the number one problem we have today in the church: people are ignorant of the Word of God. 1 Tim 2:15 says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Don’t know the power of God. Simply put, they tried to put God into their world. J.W’s do this. They can’t figure out the trinity; they say it can’t be. Hey, we don’t need to show the word trinity in the Bible; all we need to do is show how there is one God who exists in three persons. I can’t fully understand it, but I can show you in the word the proof of this.
Vs. 30 Here Jesus deals with the marriage part of it and says that there won’t be marriage in heaven. First, He tells them that their hypothetical illustration is flawed because that can never happen in heaven. Let’s be careful here and take a look at what and why.
First notice that He says we will be like angels, not that we will be angels. A lot of weird stuff has come through the misunderstanding of this verse. So forget all the Hollywood movies where people become angels. Simply put, we would be in no need of sex.
Why no marriage? Well, because the primary reason for marriage in this life was to bring forth a family in the safety and security of love between a husband and wife. In the resurrection we will never die, nor will we have children, so no marriage. God’s purpose in marriage is to bring together two lives in love so that children may be produced in a loving, secure relationship built around the Lordship of Jesus.
In heaven we will have new glorious bodies; this earthly tent will be dissolved, so don’t worry about all of your organs and such; he is going to give you a knew heavenly body not built with hands but eternal.
Vs. 31-32 Here Jesus deals with the resurrection. Notice that He does so in two ways.
First, He takes them to what God says. They quoted an obscure law from Moses as proof against the resurrection, and He brings them to the Word of God.
Next, He quotes them out of the Torah. Notice how Jesus does this. He brings them to the context. God never said to Moses that He WAS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You say, “Yes, He did.” Look again; you won’t find the word “was.” He says, “I am” the God. You get it? If they had died and that was all, then it would have been WAS.
My grandfather passed away on Wednesday; he was my grandfather, but that relationship will only be a memory because death has put it to an end. Now that I pray, it is only for a brief time because we shall be together for eternity.
May I just say what a great comfort this truth is! Paul said in Rom. 8:38-39 “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from His love. Death can’t and life can’t. The angels can’t and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” May we be astonished at this teaching today and every day!
Matthew 22:34-46
“Law & Order”
Vs. 34-40 The Principal In Law Is To Love
Vs. 41-46 What Do You Think Of Jesus?
Intro
Jesus had answered two difficult questions: The first of which dealt with the relationship between religion and government, and Jesus said that our lives don’t belong to us; they belong to God; therefore, serve the Lord, and by doing so, you will serve the government. Next, He dealt with the question concerning this physical life and the next life, to which He responded that God is not the God of the dead but the living. When people die, they don’t all go to heaven. You say,
What do you mean? Well, heaven is not the place for the dead; it is a place for the living where there will be no more death. Jesus said that He came to give life and that more abundantly. Heaven and God are not for the dead but the living! This week He will deal with another tough question about what ought to be governing our lives. Then Jesus will come back with the greatest question ever asked.
I get a lot of folks asking me some very important questions, most of which are very serious. Man, am I ever thankful to the Holy Spirit who brings His word into remembrance? I came across these true stories of questions asked some professionals:
First there was this woman who called a travel agent to ask about a special offer on a Hawaii vacation. After hearing the price, the woman asked if it would be any cheaper to fly to California and then take a train to Hawaii. Then at a court proceeding, a lawyer asked a doctor, “How many autopsies have you performed on dead people?”
The doctor replied, “All of my autopsies have been performed on dead people.” “Do you recall the time of the autopsy?” “Yes, it was around 8:30 pm.” “And was Mr. Dennington dead at the time?” “No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was cutting his chest open!” It sounds like these folks could have been religious!
Vs. 34-40 The Principal In Law Is To Love
Vs. 34-36 The Pharisees probably enjoyed Jesus mailing the Sadducees, for these two were at odds against each other over the supernatural, specifically the resurrection. It appears that they had been watching and listening to Jesus’ answers, then huddled together to see what they could come up with. A kind of stump the Rabbi time.
Vs. 35 Yet with that said, we are told in Mark’s account that this guy was sincere. Now a lawyer didn’t mean the same as it does today. The idea was not that of a litigator but rather an expert in the Mosaic law. It was their job to make distinctions between one requirement and another. They had been debating this amongst themselves for 100’s of years. In fact, they had documented some 613 commandments in the law: 248 were positive (things that you should do) and 365 were negative (things that you should not do).
Since no one could hope to know, let alone obey, all of these commandments, it was the job of the Scribes or lawyers to divide these commandments into groups. There were the heavy or important commandments and the light or unimportant ones. So a person could focus on the heavy ones and not worry about the light ones.
Now, of coarse, this approach goes against the word; James says, “And the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as the person who has broken all of God’s laws. For the same God who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” So if you murder someone, you have broken the entire law, even if you do not commit adultery.”
Vs. 36 The question in light of the language is really, “Jesus, which one of the 613 commandments of the Law comes first with you?” This guy was trying to see how Jesus would divide the law as to what was most important. Perhaps the others were hoping that in so doing Jesus would neglect an area of the law by promoting another.
There was a popular school of opinion that taught that the 3rd commandment was the greatest and that all the others were minor ones. The 3rd commandment is “Do not misuse the name of the LORD, your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” So as long as you were OK in that one, then you were fine.
Now a lot of folks today are trying to maintain some outward form of religion, and they are all worried about conforming to the outward man. So they say things like, “I don’t drink or cuss; therefore, I’m not a sinner.” Well, let’s see what Jesus considers to be the most important law.
Vs. 37-40 Here Jesus quotes from the Shema (Sha-ma) from Deut. 6:4-5. This was kind of the Jewish statement of faith. They would recite it every day. The word Shema means “to hear,” because the confession starts out, “Hear, O Israel…” and goes on to say, “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
Now the Shema was so important to the Jew’s that they would write it out and put them in small little boxes by their front doors. They would also put this passage of scripture in a small leather pouch and attach it to their foreheads so that they would always keep it before their minds.
It is interesting that Jesus does not go to the Commandments and which one is the most important as far as our obedience. Instead, he goes to the confession of faith and shares what the principal motivation ought to be in the law: love! Do you all see that? The lawyer asked Jesus which one of the 613 laws comes first, and Jesus says, “Loving the Lord your God, with every fiber of your being!” Look carefully at this now, for Jesus is not talking about the kind of love that is infatuation; He is not saying that you ought to have tingly feelings about Him.
No, He is saying that the motivation behind obedience is that of devotion. Where there is this kind of love, there will always be obedience and service. I saw a young man on TV that was in the H.S. in Littleton. When the shots rang, he told his sister to lay on the ground, and he put his body over the top of her to shield the bullets from her and her friend.
Now that is the kind of love that we are talking about here. True love involves every part of us, not just our emotions. So the principal of the law is to love, and the first one you are to love is the Lord. Agustine said, “If you love God like this, then you can do as you please.” Folks, we must have a loving relationship with God first.
Vs. 39-40 Here then Jesus tells them that the expression of their love of God will be seen in how they treat their fellow man. That is what John tells us in 1 John 4:20. “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates another Christian, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen?”
Again, Paul tells us in Rom. 13:8-10, “Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting—and any other commandment—are all summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God’s requirements.” Folks, if we have a right relationship to God, then we will have no problems obeying any of His commandments.
Finally, Jesus says that it is upon these two that everything else hangs. If you first love the Lord the way you ought to, then you will love mankind the way you should. Man is this ever simple; we make Christianity so difficult. Folks, it’s first about maintaining a loving relationship with the Lord, and as we do so, that love is going to just spill out everywhere upon everyone, and we are going to treat them as we would want to be treated.
Vs. 41-46 What Do You Think Of Jesus?
Vs. 41-42a Now Jesus is going to ask them a question. Notice this is different from what Jesus had asked His followers back in chapter 16. There He asked, “Who do you say I am?” He is not asking them what they think of Him; rather, He is asking them, “What’s your opinion about the Messiah? Who’s son is He?” Now we see here that He is still talking to the same group of people who were not interested in Him, so Jesus asks them an indirect question to get them to a personal decision.
Vs. 42b These men were trained experts in the law; they knew the answer. “He is the son of David.” They could have given the proper scriptural references if Jesus had asked for them. Now that is the answer that Jesus wanted them to give; He knew that this is what they would say, and it is true.
Vs. 43-45 Jesus asks them another question out of Psalm 110:1. Now I want you to notice several things that Jesus affirms here:
First, Jesus says that David wrote this psalm. So people claim that he didn’t, but clearly Jesus says that he did.
Second, Jesus affirms that scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit. 2 Tim. 3:16 tells us that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.”
Lastly, Jesus tells us that it was written about the Messiah. So what?
Well, you will notice here is in Psalm 110:1, which reads in the Hebrew “The LORD said to my Lord…” The words for LORD are all in caps. That’s because it stands for the consonants YHVH or the word Jehovah. While in the second use of the word Lord only the L is in caps, that’s because there the word Lord is Adonai.
Every scholar interpreted this as speaking about the Messiah because only He could set at the right hand of God. Yet if the Messiah was David’s son, then how could He be David’s Lord? Now the OT promised that God would exalt a descendant of David and give him an everlasting rule. Yet in Jewish thought, a descendent was always considered inferior to his ancestor.
Yet here David, inspired by the Holy Spirit, reverses the order and calls his own descendant Lord. David is saying that his heir will be greater than himself. Is that not what Jesus said? Jesus always said that He was the Son of God. So Jesus was not only fully man (Son of David), but He was also fully God (Son of God). Folks, Jesus is only our Savior if He is both.
Now here is the interesting thing. When this passage is translated into Greek from the Hebrew, the word for Lord is the same; it is the word “Kurios,” which is always used to translate the word Jehovah, not Adonai. So here the translation would read Jehovah said to Jehovah. The point of the conversation here would not be between God and David’s heir (Jesus the Son of David), but rather between God the Father and God the Son!
Vs. 46 Lastly, we see that they were not able to answer the question. These men prided themselves on their deep understanding of the Word, and they were stumped. They were so blinded by their own pride that they “would” not see the truth, and He was standing right before them. Many people say today if I could just see Jesus, then I would believe. Really? How about it, “What do you think of Jesus?” Is He just a man, or is He both God and man? Careful how you answer that question because it has eternal consequences.