Matthew 22:15-22

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty. His surgery is today…!

“Notice what you notice.” Paying taxes to Caesar… The Pharisees have been watching Jesus closely, trying to trip Him up and find ways to accuse Him so the people might turn against Him. Having failed at every attempt, they now enlist some Herodians (supporters of Roman rule) to try to trap Him in a no-win situation. First they used flattery, maybe to catch Him off guard, then they figured they had Him with their key question about paying taxes to Caesar.

So often Jesus fails to answer their questions directly. Often He answers one of their questions by replying back with His own question to them (Matthew 21:25). At other times He points out some error in their question, as in “You are wrong…” (Matthew 22:29). This time He simply asks for the coin that is used to pay the poll tax, again not answering their question directly, but then re-directing a question back to them. That’s genius!!

I think there’s a lesson here for us – to be careful how we answer questions when we are dealing with non-believers. We need to test whether their questions are genuine desires to learn truth or mean-spirited attempts to find fault, as in “If God exists why did He allow the Holocaust?” We need to find good re-directs to answer those challenges. But not to worry – the Holy Spirit is there to guide us into all truth! Glory!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 20:9-19

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I saw two items in Luke’s account of the Parable of the (Wicked) Tenants that were different from Matthew and Mark. First, in Matthew and Mark the tenants (vinedressers) killed one of the servants who was sent to collect the fruit of the harvest. In Luke, none of the servants were killed.

Second, in Luke, Jesus’ listeners (presumably the Jewish leaders) responded “Certainly not!” when Jesus suggests that the owner of the vineyard will kill those wicked tenants and hand the vineyard over to others. What a strange response to a man simply telling a parable!! Anyone is allowed to tell a story and finish it however he or she desires. But the response by the Jewish leaders proves the point made in all three Synoptic accounts, that the Jewish leaders understood that Jesus had spoken this parable against them! Luke’s quoting the Jewish leaders makes that point absolutely clear.

Slava Bohu!

Mark 12:1-12

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” We are back to the Parable of the Tenants, after having Matthew’s Parable of the Wedding Feast in between. I think I’ll rearrange these readings for the next time we do this (next year?) so that we have all three Synoptic accounts of this parable back to back.

One item that I noted in Matthew’s account was that Jesus asked His listeners for a response to His parable, as to what the owner of the vineyard would do to the tenants. In Mark He does not ask for their reply – He simply provides the owner’s action as part of His parable. Different, but not a big item…

My Study Bible pointed out two items that I had not considered. First it says, “The parable exposed the planned attempt on Jesus’ life…”. Although that item is clearly contained in the parable, I had not thought of this fact – that Jesus knew the Jewish leaders’ plans and forthright told them that He knew!! Yet He continues day by day directly in their presence in the temple. He knew that His time had come!

Second, my Study Bible pointed out that “Jewish law provided that a piece of property unclaimed by an heir would be declared ‘ownerless’ and could be claimed by anyone. The vine-growers assumed that the son came as heir to claim his property and that if he were slain they could claim the land.” I had always wondered how the tenants could think that they could simply claim the property if they killed the heir. But that clearly fits if the son came to claim the property and not to receive some of the fruit of the land (verse 2). Therein there is also the necessary assumption on the part of the tenants that the son’s father (the owner) had died. In Jesus’ closure to the story that is not the case – the owner is still alive, and He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. (v. 9)

So, two new revelations for me…! These short readings are blessing me beyond measure!!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 22:1-14

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” As I’m sure is the case for many of you, I have read this parable probably hundreds of times, but never seriously pondered it – until this morning. So first, the characters. The king is God; He is preparing a wedding feast for His Son. The bride will be the church. The king (God) sent servants (prophets) to call those who had been invited (the Jews). They were unwilling to come and ignored the servants. Then the king (God) sent more servants (prophets) to the same people (the Jews) and they went their own way – but some of them killed the servants (prophets). So the king (God) sent his army and destroyed those people (the Jews) and burned their cities (Jerusalem). I imagine this to be 586 B.C. when the Jews went into exile in Babylon or it could be 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Then the king (God) sent more servants (John the Baptist, Paul, and the Apostles) to call in everyone from the streets (Gentiles), both good and evil (today’s churched and unchurched). My Study Bible indicates that the host would have provided wedding garments for his guests so that everyone would be properly clothed – presumably our cleansing through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And when anyone is found not properly clothed, s/he is thrown into the outer darkness (Hell) where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Clearly the Jewish leaders would have taken this personally, this now the third of three parables in a row chastising them for their own history and for their personal rejection of Jesus. Lord, may we learn from their mistakes. Help us to seek You all the more!!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 21:33-46

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” More than 40 years ago I had my own construction company, a partnership with another young man building poured-wall concrete foundations for new houses. We named our company “Cornerstone Construction”. Psalm 118:22 was the Scripture verse that gave our company its name. That is the verse that Jesus quotes in today’s reading. I can’t read that verse without going back those 40+ years and seeing David and me praying as we were beginning our business.

What surprises me in today’s reading is that His listeners go along with Jesus’ prompt and answer His question as to what the vineyard owner would do to those tenants. Their response was exactly the parable ending that Jesus would have given and was a clear condemnation of the Jewish leaders. Their forefathers had killed one prophet after another and now God was sending His Son. Jesus was foretelling His own death and predicting the fall of Jerusalem and the rise of the Gentile church.

This parable follows another in Matthew, the “Parable of the Two Sons” in both of which Jesus is condemning the Jewish leaders. Matthew follows these two parables in Chapter 21 with another beginning Chapter 22, the “Parable of the Wedding Feast”, again with serious negative implications for the Jewish leaders. With each new parable the anger of the Jewish leaders grows. Yet Jesus continues in spite of their opposition. That’s courage!

Slava Bohu!

Luke 20:1-8

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” My Study Bible opened a new possibility, that the Jewish leaders were not challenging Jesus’ authority to teach and preach, but that they were challenging Him for having cleansed the temple of the merchants and money-changers. And in this they had a good point, in that theirs was the responsibility for everything connected to the temple. Here’s my thinking on that. The Jewish leaders could have brought a civil case against Jesus, but that outcome would likely have been a fine for damages and lost profits. That is not what they wanted; what they wanted was His end and for that there were two possibilities. First they could have found Him in blasphemy and had the crowds stone Him to death. Or they could have brought Him to the Roman authorities and charged Him with insurrection (or something along those lines) and had the Romans kill Him. Having failed time and again on the former of those options, they chose a middle-of-the-night rabble crowd to deliver Him to the Romans.

Luke adds one phrase we haven’t seen before: … Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel. (v. 1) Whenever I see a reference to “preaching the gospel” I think of Father David’s promise to the people of St. Andrew’s, “You bring the people and I’ll preach the gospel.” Today we think of “preaching the gospel” as delivering a salvation message. I wonder what Luke had in mind when he wrote those words. What was “the gospel” to Luke back then? Was it John the Baptist’s message of repentance…? Or was it Jesus’ adding on to John’s message with forgiveness and following Him? Or what? Any thoughts?

Slava Bohu!

Mark 11:27-33

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” It’s a small difference, but somewhat informative; Matthew 21:23 has the chief priests and elders confronting Jesus “…as He was teaching…”; Mark 11:27 says they approached Him “…as He was walking in the Temple…”. Matthew’s account makes more sense, that they would challenge His authority as He was teaching. But with Mark’s account we can see the Jewish leaders on the lookout for Jesus at any time that He might be in the Temple and challenging Him before He begins teaching. That is, they were so concerned about more and more people following Jesus that they tried to intercept Him before He began. Intriguing…!

Jesus had a great answer to their questioning, reflecting the questioning back to the Jewish leaders about the baptism of John. But it’s strange that He did not answer their question outright, that He had all authority on earth given to Him by His Father. We’ve seen Him totally upfront about His relationship with His Father, especially in John’s Gospel. So I wonder that He did not make a stronger response here. But I totally like that He befuddles His questioners…!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 21:23-32

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” It seems to me that the Jewish leaders had every right to question Jesus’ authority. After all, He had no “seminary” degree – that is, He had not been taught by one of the leading Jewish rabbis (unlike Paul). So if He were just an “anybody off the street”, He could have been leading the people into dangerous territory (think Jim Jones, “Kool Aid”, and Jonestown). However, Jesus had in fact been well-taught. He was filled with the Holy Spirit at His baptism – or even before! So He had credentials that the best of the Jewish leaders could not touch! And His responses to their challenges prove that point!

But staying with this authority topic… We have a major problem within the church worldwide – our unwillingness to hand full and final authority of our lives over to Jesus and His Holy Spirit working within us. We want control! Yeah, we acknowledge that we lack self-control in certain areas in our lives. But more importantly too many of us are unwilling to grant ultimate control over our directions and decisions to the One Who knows us best, Who created us in the womb, lives in us, and loves us completely. Not unlike the Jewish leaders, we have an authority problem. Let’s not make the same mistake they made; let’s get it right, folks!

Slava Bohu!

Mark 11:20-26

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I applied John’s “agree(ment) with God” to today’s passage. It works quite nicely! I also shared his phrases with our Men’s Group last night, and they had the same reactions. Finally I tried it in some other contexts also – John, I think you’re on to something!!

So today we have that famous “name it and claim it” verse: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (v. 24) I can’t tell anyone how he or she should interpret Scripture, but I have often heard others (“health and wealth” Gospel followers) say something like “We’ve prayed about ‘it’, so it’s done and we’re just waiting to see how the Lord works it out.” I think that sort of expectation is a first cousin to John’s “imposing our plans” prayer posture!

Slava Bohu!

Matthew 21-18-22

Let’s remember to pray for Jim and Marty.

“Notice what you notice.” I like what Debbie said two days ago about the fig tree. It had leaves and looked good on the outside, but it had no fruit. She had reflected that back to activity in the Temple – a lot of religious activity, but to what end? That comparison is dramatic when we look at yesterday’s incident with Jesus’ teaching in the Temple and the crowd’s “hanging on every word”!

I was surprised that this is the second time in Matthew that Jesus mentioned faith that could move mountains – see also Mt. 17:20. I don’t like people playing games with this verse. Years ago during my first year “in the Lord” I was at a Bible camp at Fort Collins, Colorado, one of the gateways to the Rocky Mountains. In his introductory comments one of our leaders asked if we believed that our prayers could move Longs Peak, that mountain to his left. Naturally we agreed that we could do that – it’s what Jesus had said. I don’t remember his response to our reply, but clearly he did not ask us to pray for that outcome. Still, I remember being embarrassed at what I knew was a gap in my faith – a gap that continues to this day.

So I’ve wondered if Jesus was speaking in hyperbole – overstating the need for faith so as to make a point. But I’ve always rejected that possibility, knowing that God can do anything He chooses. He is the One Who created those mountains and if He wanted the mountain moved to the sea, it could be done! But what level of faith would it take??!! And what would be the need for a prayer like that? So I come to the conclusion that, yes, it could be done, but it would be a prayer to which God could easily say “No, I have other plans for that mountain.” As always, prayer of this sort needs to be our talking to God about His plans for us, not just any willy-nilly thought that crosses our mind. We need to be as serious in our approach to Him as He is in His love for us.

Slava Bohu!