Matthew chapter 22
The Parable of the Wedding Banquet is a very interesting one, and is full of action. There are several references which need to be identified and addressed from this parable.
Firstly and most obviously, the King represents God.
The King invites guests to attent His Son's wedding feast. Thes guests (the Jews) however, repeatedly refuse the invitation of the King until He sends His army to destroy them. Jerusalem was destroyed in the First Jewish-Roman War in 66-73 AD, but more seriously Jesus declared the Jews spiritually blinded for not recognising Him as the Messiah.
Then the King orders anyone found to be invited as a replacement for the guests who ignored His invitation. These secondary guests are the Gentiles, who recieved the gospel after Jesus was resurrected and once the Jews had rejected Him. These guests are both good and bad, signifying that they have no merit as to why they have been invited to the feast, they are there because of the invitation not because they deserve to be.
Now once the party is going a man is found without proper wedding garments, because of this he is bound and thrown into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is important too to note that it was custom for the King to provide robes for his guests to wear at a feast. Now these wedding garments represent the righteousness provided for Christians by the sacrifice of Jesus. (Isaiah 61:10) Now this man who was not clothed in wedding clothes had responded to the King's invitation but had not been prepared, he was one of the people Jesus spoke about when He said "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" Although this man had come to the banquet he was not properly attired, he had not responded to the invitation corretly, and was thown out into the darkness containing weeping and gnashing of teeth, a common phrase indicating Hell.
This parable ends with Jesus saying "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
The great commission for all Christians is to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mark 16:15) So many will be 'invited' by the preaching of the Gospel (indeed all of creation should be invited) into the outward communion of the Church of Christ; but few, comparatively, are 'chosen' to dwell with God In glory, because they are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Righteousness which is only provided only for His children. Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
This method of inviting many and only selecting a few can be seen in the practices of the Roman custom of raising their militia. All citizens were mustered, but only those who were found in healthy and capable fighting condition were chosen to serve. Since we are saved by His Grace alone, then it sould not come as a surprise that simply 'responding' to the gospel is not enough to secure salvation. Jesus must also clothe us in the righteousness only His sacrifice can provide.
In Verses 15-22, some Pharisees and Herodians ask Jesus about paying Taxes to Caesar. According to many interpreters the Herodians were courtiers or soldiers of Herod Antipas (The son of Herod the Great) but more probably the Herodians were a public political party, who were and had been sincerely friendly to Herod the Great (The Herod who tried to kill Jesus as a baby) and to his dynasty.
The Jews were required to pay annually a large sum of money to the Roman government as an acknowledgment of their subjection. About twenty years before this, Judas (not the famous one) of Galilee had stirred up the people to resist this tribute, and the mass of the Jews was bitterly opposed to it. So the Pharisees thought they had Jesus trapped, if He said the tax should be payed then the Jews would lessen their support of Him, if He said the tax should not be paid then there were political representatives of Rome there to arrest Him. Jesus asks for a denarius, the little silver coin had the head of the emperor stamped upon it.
Jesus answes them by saying "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's..." Each nation uses its own currency. If the Jews had not been under Roman rule, they would not have been using Roman money; but the coin which they brought to Jesus was simple evidence that Roman sovereignty was established in their land, and that tribute to it was therefore just; for whoever uses Caesar's coin must also pay Caesar's tribute. This part of the answer satisfied the Herodians; and the last part "and to God what is God's" satisfied the people. Jesus in effect said that the payment of Caesar's tax was not inconsistent with honouring God above all else. God was no longer, as He had been in the Old Testament, the civil ruler of his people. Thus the payment of tribute to a country's ruler is in no sense incompatible with his service, but is actually a Christian duty (Romans 13:1-7). Anyway, religious tributes had been paid in shekels or old Jewish coin, but the tribute to Rome was paid in Roman coin of which the denarius was a sample.
The obvious hypocrisy when the Saducees ask about is that Marriage at the Resurrection they don't believe in the resurrection, but they ask the question as if they do. They have manufactured a dilemma they felt that not even God could sort out if He wanted to. When Jesus points out the flaw in their reasoning, it becomes very clear to us that we must be very careful when people build theology based on man's reasoning rather than on the words of God. Jesus quotes from Exodus 3:6, which was written after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had physically died. The crux of this argument is that God refers to them in the present tense, not the past tense. In God's eyes these men are alive because He already sees them as resurrected. Furthermore, if these men were gone forever, then they would have no God since they would no longer exist. If death were the end then we would have little use for God's laws, and He would have little use for us. But God intended for us to live forever with Him, and He has the power to make this happen.
Again seeking to test Jesus and trap Him within His own words one of the Pharisees asks which is The Greatest Commandment. In effect he is asking "What is the core of our religion and law?" Jesus again answers with scripture, this time Deuteronomy 6:5 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Interestingly the word 'mind' here is different to the word translated as 'strength' in Deuteronomy. Mark 12:30 records Jesus quoting Deuteronomy correctly though. However in Luke 10:27 the word 'mind' is used. So two out of the three Gospels which have this conversation recorded use the word 'mind' so it is probably safe to assume it is the word Jesus used and 'strength' probably comes from Mark's familiarity with the scripture causing a misrepresentation of what Jesus said. We are not simply to love God, but are to love Him with all our Heart, Soul and Mind. As well as being a poetic way to say "Love God with all you are" the three terms represent three different aspects of our makeup. The Heart represents our emotions and passions, but our emotions can be blind and ficle. The Soul represents our eternal and innermost being, our spirit or essence and part of ouselves we do not control. The Mind represents our intellect and our will, the part of us which we can exert controll over. Our Minds can be influenced by our Hearts but are not controlled by them.
We are to love God with all our Soul, in spirit and in truth for all eternity.
We are to love God with all our Heart, to be emotionally driven to be close to God and enjoy and be thankful for His presence.
We are to love God with all our Mind, even at times when we may not feel like loving God or may not 'like' Him, we are to decide to love and serve Him and grow in the wisdom of His Word.
Finally Jesus asked the Pharisees "Whose Son is the Christ?" to test them. They correctly answer "The son of David" as this is a title reseved for the Messiah and Jesus was a decendant of David according to both Joseph's and Mary's lineage. (see Why is it important that Mary is Jesus mother?)The Pharisees were incorrect though as they were expecting the Messiah to be an Earthly King and be Great because he was of the line of David. Jesus however points out that the opposite is true. The line of David is in fact great because the Messiah would come from it, the Messiah is God made Flesh, Jesus. However, Jesus is not great because He is of the line of David.
Firstly and most obviously, the King represents God.
The King invites guests to attent His Son's wedding feast. Thes guests (the Jews) however, repeatedly refuse the invitation of the King until He sends His army to destroy them. Jerusalem was destroyed in the First Jewish-Roman War in 66-73 AD, but more seriously Jesus declared the Jews spiritually blinded for not recognising Him as the Messiah.
Then the King orders anyone found to be invited as a replacement for the guests who ignored His invitation. These secondary guests are the Gentiles, who recieved the gospel after Jesus was resurrected and once the Jews had rejected Him. These guests are both good and bad, signifying that they have no merit as to why they have been invited to the feast, they are there because of the invitation not because they deserve to be.
Now once the party is going a man is found without proper wedding garments, because of this he is bound and thrown into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is important too to note that it was custom for the King to provide robes for his guests to wear at a feast. Now these wedding garments represent the righteousness provided for Christians by the sacrifice of Jesus. (Isaiah 61:10) Now this man who was not clothed in wedding clothes had responded to the King's invitation but had not been prepared, he was one of the people Jesus spoke about when He said "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" Although this man had come to the banquet he was not properly attired, he had not responded to the invitation corretly, and was thown out into the darkness containing weeping and gnashing of teeth, a common phrase indicating Hell.
This parable ends with Jesus saying "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
The great commission for all Christians is to "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mark 16:15) So many will be 'invited' by the preaching of the Gospel (indeed all of creation should be invited) into the outward communion of the Church of Christ; but few, comparatively, are 'chosen' to dwell with God In glory, because they are not clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Righteousness which is only provided only for His children. Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)
This method of inviting many and only selecting a few can be seen in the practices of the Roman custom of raising their militia. All citizens were mustered, but only those who were found in healthy and capable fighting condition were chosen to serve. Since we are saved by His Grace alone, then it sould not come as a surprise that simply 'responding' to the gospel is not enough to secure salvation. Jesus must also clothe us in the righteousness only His sacrifice can provide.
In Verses 15-22, some Pharisees and Herodians ask Jesus about paying Taxes to Caesar. According to many interpreters the Herodians were courtiers or soldiers of Herod Antipas (The son of Herod the Great) but more probably the Herodians were a public political party, who were and had been sincerely friendly to Herod the Great (The Herod who tried to kill Jesus as a baby) and to his dynasty.
The Jews were required to pay annually a large sum of money to the Roman government as an acknowledgment of their subjection. About twenty years before this, Judas (not the famous one) of Galilee had stirred up the people to resist this tribute, and the mass of the Jews was bitterly opposed to it. So the Pharisees thought they had Jesus trapped, if He said the tax should be payed then the Jews would lessen their support of Him, if He said the tax should not be paid then there were political representatives of Rome there to arrest Him. Jesus asks for a denarius, the little silver coin had the head of the emperor stamped upon it.
Jesus answes them by saying "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's..." Each nation uses its own currency. If the Jews had not been under Roman rule, they would not have been using Roman money; but the coin which they brought to Jesus was simple evidence that Roman sovereignty was established in their land, and that tribute to it was therefore just; for whoever uses Caesar's coin must also pay Caesar's tribute. This part of the answer satisfied the Herodians; and the last part "and to God what is God's" satisfied the people. Jesus in effect said that the payment of Caesar's tax was not inconsistent with honouring God above all else. God was no longer, as He had been in the Old Testament, the civil ruler of his people. Thus the payment of tribute to a country's ruler is in no sense incompatible with his service, but is actually a Christian duty (Romans 13:1-7). Anyway, religious tributes had been paid in shekels or old Jewish coin, but the tribute to Rome was paid in Roman coin of which the denarius was a sample.
The obvious hypocrisy when the Saducees ask about is that Marriage at the Resurrection they don't believe in the resurrection, but they ask the question as if they do. They have manufactured a dilemma they felt that not even God could sort out if He wanted to. When Jesus points out the flaw in their reasoning, it becomes very clear to us that we must be very careful when people build theology based on man's reasoning rather than on the words of God. Jesus quotes from Exodus 3:6, which was written after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had physically died. The crux of this argument is that God refers to them in the present tense, not the past tense. In God's eyes these men are alive because He already sees them as resurrected. Furthermore, if these men were gone forever, then they would have no God since they would no longer exist. If death were the end then we would have little use for God's laws, and He would have little use for us. But God intended for us to live forever with Him, and He has the power to make this happen.
Again seeking to test Jesus and trap Him within His own words one of the Pharisees asks which is The Greatest Commandment. In effect he is asking "What is the core of our religion and law?" Jesus again answers with scripture, this time Deuteronomy 6:5 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Interestingly the word 'mind' here is different to the word translated as 'strength' in Deuteronomy. Mark 12:30 records Jesus quoting Deuteronomy correctly though. However in Luke 10:27 the word 'mind' is used. So two out of the three Gospels which have this conversation recorded use the word 'mind' so it is probably safe to assume it is the word Jesus used and 'strength' probably comes from Mark's familiarity with the scripture causing a misrepresentation of what Jesus said. We are not simply to love God, but are to love Him with all our Heart, Soul and Mind. As well as being a poetic way to say "Love God with all you are" the three terms represent three different aspects of our makeup. The Heart represents our emotions and passions, but our emotions can be blind and ficle. The Soul represents our eternal and innermost being, our spirit or essence and part of ouselves we do not control. The Mind represents our intellect and our will, the part of us which we can exert controll over. Our Minds can be influenced by our Hearts but are not controlled by them.
We are to love God with all our Soul, in spirit and in truth for all eternity.
We are to love God with all our Heart, to be emotionally driven to be close to God and enjoy and be thankful for His presence.
We are to love God with all our Mind, even at times when we may not feel like loving God or may not 'like' Him, we are to decide to love and serve Him and grow in the wisdom of His Word.
Finally Jesus asked the Pharisees "Whose Son is the Christ?" to test them. They correctly answer "The son of David" as this is a title reseved for the Messiah and Jesus was a decendant of David according to both Joseph's and Mary's lineage. (see Why is it important that Mary is Jesus mother?)The Pharisees were incorrect though as they were expecting the Messiah to be an Earthly King and be Great because he was of the line of David. Jesus however points out that the opposite is true. The line of David is in fact great because the Messiah would come from it, the Messiah is God made Flesh, Jesus. However, Jesus is not great because He is of the line of David.
posted by Modern Day Magi @ 12:07 am
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