Please turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 22 as we continue our study through the Word of God. And in this section, as it opens up, Jesus is continuing to speak to the chief priests, the Pharisees, the religious leaders who were questioning Jesus about who gave Him the authority to do the things that He was doing, like throwing out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and-so-on. And if you remember from our last study, Jesus gave them two parables.
The first parable was of the two sons whose father asked both to help in the vineyard. The first son said no but later repented and did the work. The other son said yes, but then he didn’t help out at all. And the lesson from this parable was that those who first rejected Jesus, the sinners, have now come to Him. On the other hand, the religious leaders who said they would serve God, ended up turning against Him and thus, they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Ouch!
The second parable was that of the landowner who gave his vineyard to vinedressers to care for, the religious leaders. And at vintage-time he sent his servants to gather in the fruit, but the vinedressers beat them up, killing some of them and even killing the son of the landowner. Jesus was showing these religious leaders what their fathers had done and what they were going to do, kill the Son, the Messiah. Ouch, again!
Now the religious leaders did figure out that Jesus was speaking about them and they were not happy, they were very mad at Him. They were so mad that they wanted to lay hands on Him, put Him to death, but His following was too strong and they were fearful to touch Him at this time. As we move into chapter 22 we are continuing on the same day and Jesus is still speaking to these religious leaders. With that said, let’s dig into Matthew chapter 22 starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
VERSE 1
1. Remember, a parable is a earthly story with a heavenly meaning, a spiritual truth that is laid next to a earthly story. And once again it is against these religious leaders and their followers.
VERSE 2
1. It is important to know the players before we move to far into this parable. The king is God the Father. The son is Jesus Christ. The marriage feast is the kingdom of heaven. So let’s see who is invited to this wedding.
VERSES 3-6
1. Notice the grace, the patience of God. He sends out His prophets and the people rejected them, beat them, and killed some of them. And these invited guests were the Jews, to whom the promises were given to, but again they rejected God’s messengers, they rejected God. It is as Stephen said in Acts 7:51-53 to the religious leaders who had him on trial, "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it." And, as we shall see, God’s longsuffering does and will come to an end!
VERSE 7
1. I believe this was looking ahead to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman’s in 70 AD with over 1 million Jews being killed! The city was burned with fire, even the massive temple, not one stone was left upon another! Why? Because they refused the invitation of the king. Why is that important? We will see in a few minutes as we read on.
VERSES 8-10
1. The Jews rejected the invitation so now the invitation to the wedding feast goes out to the gentiles, to all who will receive it, the good and the bad, you and me! And by the time all had arrived to this feast, the wedding hall was filled, but there is one problem, as we are going to see in the next verse.
VERSE 11
1. It was a common practice in those days to provide your guests with the proper garments if they had none for the feast. And the picture here is none had the time, the resources, the ability to get the proper wedding garments, so it was provided for them. And all received it but this man, he came dressed in his own garment. He purposely rejected the king’s provision.
2. It is as Isaiah 61:10 says, "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." You see, it is God who clothes us in His garments, His righteousness. You can’t get to heaven on your own, dressed in your own righteousness. There is only one way, and that is through Jesus Christ. It is as Paul said in II Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Thus, we see at the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:7-9, "‘Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write: "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!"’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’" Now don’t misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. We are saved by faith, the righteous acts are just the evidence that shows we are saved. God has saved us, clothed us, and the evidence for that is the things that flow from our lives. Not a salvation by works but a salvation that works!
VERSE 12
1. For all those who think they can come to God on their own terms, in their own righteousness, and then if there is a problem they can talk their way out of it when they get to heaven, think again! This man was speechless. Why? It is as Isaiah 64:6 says, "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." Thus, there is no excuse for rejecting God’s provision, the free gift of life that is in Christ!
VERSE 13
1. The consequences of not coming to the wedding feast properly dressed is that you will be cast into outer darkness, the Lake of Fire for eternity, and you will weep and gnash your teeth over the foolishness of your actions and the pain you are in. Again, the reason is simple, "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God." Romans 10:3. There are no excuses! And in Romans 6:23 Paul said, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
VERSE 14
1. The invitation goes out to all, the Gospel message is extended to all but not all will receive it. We see here a picture of man’s free will to chose and God’s sovereignty. Thus, if you hear the Gospel message and reject it, you are not chosen. Now some may see that as being unfair. There is a solution. Receive Jesus, the Gospel message, and you too will be chosen! God has done His part, now it is up to you to receive that free gift. You see, the only way to tell if a person is chosen or not is by what they do with Jesus! Put on the Lord Jesus and you will not be sorry!
2. Jesus is going to be confronted again by several groups who are trying to destroy Him, bring Him down by the questions they are asking. Why is this happening? Keep in mind that on the 10th of Nisan Jesus rode into Jerusalem as the Meshiach Nagid, the Messiah the king. If you remember from Exodus chapter 12 the Passover lamb was to be taken out of the flock on the 10th of Nisan and inspected for 5 days to make sure it was free of any spot or blemish or disease. Thus, for these 5 days, until He goes to the cross on the 14th of Nisan as the Passover Lamb, He is going to be inspected by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Scribes, all kinds of people, and when they are done, they will have nothing to say for Jesus was without spot or blemish or disease. He is the perfect sacrifice for us! It is as Peter said in I Peter 1:18-19, "knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." So keep that in mind as we are moving on in our text this evening and moving towards the cross of Calvary, for these inspectors will look upon Jesus and yet, find no fault.
VERSES 15-17
1. As we have seen, the Pharisees were the legalists of their day. On the other hand, the Herodians were more of a political party. They supported Rome and encouraged the other Jews to do the same. Thus, these two groups of people are like oil and water, they don’t mix. And yet, in their hatred of Jesus they are willing to work together for this cause of bringing Him down. Now these two groups of people come to Jesus, buttering Him up, saying that He didn’t care how people felt about what He said, He just spoke the truth. And then they hit Him with the question, "Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" Matthew 22:17.
2. That is a great question. You see, if He said it was lawful to pay taxes, the Jews would turn against Him, they would hate Him, for they hated anything to do with Rome, especially taxes! If He said it is not lawful to pay taxes, then the Herodians would speak to the authorities about this tax dodger, this insurrectionist, and He would be taken away. There is no way Jesus could win this one, or so they thought!
VERSE 18
1. Why they thought they could fool Jesus, trick Him, who knows, but man tries to do that even today. The hypocrisy of their lives, like actors on stage changing their faces to fit the part they are playing, and in life, God is not fooled! It is as Hebrews 4:13 says, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."
VERSES 19-21
1. The Denarius was a Roman coin that had a value of a day’s pay for a Roman soldier. On one side of the coin was the image of Caesar, in this case, Tiberius. On the other side of the coin was a picture of him sitting on his throne in his priestly robes with the Latin phrase PONTIUS MAXIMUS or "chief priest" under it.
2. The wisdom of the Lord. Even though the image of Caesar may be stamped on the coin, the image of God is or should be stamped upon the person. And yes, we are to pay taxes, we are to obey the government unless they tell you to do something that is contrary to what God has said. I have argued with people who try and tell me that civil disobedience for Christians is good because government is evil. And they try to tell me that when Paul spoke about following the laws of the land, Rome was much better than America. Give me a break! Listen carefully to what Peter says, and I am sorry if you don’t like it or agree with it. If you don’t, talk to the Lord about it, I am just telling you what we are to do. Listen to how clear Peter is on this subject in I Peter 2:13-17, "Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men– as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king."
3. And please keep in mind that the issue is not really taxes, but who are you going to serve? God wants our life so He can use it for His glory. You see, our bodies belong to Him, thus, give them to Him to mold and shape them and use them!
VERSE 22
1. Jesus left them speechless. They didn’t repent of their error, but went away in the same condition they came to Him, lost!
VERSES 23-24
1. The Sadducees, thinking they were maybe smarter than these Pharisees and Herodians, come to Jesus with a question. And the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, the afterlife, or angels, the spirit world. Now before they get to their question they go back to the Scriptures, to Deuteronomy chapter 25, and speak of the law of the levirate marriage. And the law basically says that if a man dies without having an heir, a son, his brother or nearest relative was to marry the widow and his firstborn son would then carry on the family line of the deceased brother. You could refuse to do this if you wanted, but you were looked down upon if you did, this was a moral thing, the right thing to do. This now leads to their question.
VERSES 25-28
1. These guys came up with this hypothetical story of a woman who marry’s a man, and he dies. So she marry’s his brother and he dies. Seven times this happens until she finally dies. And their question to Jesus is "Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her." Matthew 22:18. Now, I don’t know about you, but that would not be my first question. I want to know what she was putting in the coffee that she killed all 7 of her husbands! How would you like to be husband number 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7? Now, of course, this is a ridiculous story but they are trying to drive home the point that there is no resurrection, and even the thought of a resurrection is foolish, absurd! They too thought they had Jesus on this one, but as we will see, they too failed.
VERSES 29-30
1. They made two fatal errors in their thinking. First, they did not know the Scriptures, for if they did, they would have seen that they speak of a resurrection, of life after death. In Job 19:25-27 we are told, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth;
And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" Secondly, they did not understand the power of God to bring people back to life. It is as Paul said in I Corinthians 15:20-22, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."
2. Also, Jesus says that we are like angels, we are not angels! And in heaven we are not married to each other, but to the Lord. Now some are saying "Amen!" while others are having a hard time with this, they love their spouse and want to spend eternity with them. Let me say this, you have no idea what heaven is like, the joy of being with the Lord. That doesn’t mean you won’t know your spouse, but there is no need for marriage or procreation in heaven. Now the Sadducees didn’t believe in angels either, and Jesus exposed their misconception.
VERSES 31-32
1. To prove that the resurrection is real, He points them back to what God said, "I am the God of Abraham..." and-so-on. He didn’t say, "I was the God of Abraham..." and-so-on. You see, He is the God of the living, not the God of the dead. And even though the bodies of these men have gone back to the dust of the earth, they live on! I think it is interesting that Jesus went to the books of Moses to make His point, to prove there is a resurrection, because the Sadducees believed in the authority of Moses. It is as Paul tells us in II Corinthians 5:8, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."
VERSE 33
1. The multitudes were astonished and the Sadducees were put to silence. They didn’t change their views, they held on to them even though they were wrong. And how often do we see people doe the same today? "Don’t confuse me with the truth!" is what they are saying.
VERSE 34
1. The Pharisees now come up with a plan to catch Jesus after the Sadducees were silenced. In fact, the word "silence" speaks of muzzling or to restrict the opening of the mouth. These guys were speechless, incapacitated by the Lord’s words. But that is not going to stop the Pharisees, even though it should have.
VERSES 35-36
1. Here comes the lawyer, a Scribe and his specialty was interpreting the law. They had come to the conclusion that there were 613 commandments in the Old Testament, 248 of them being positive, what you can do, and 365 being negative, what you can’t do. Out of those 613 the question that was debated by these religious leaders was which one was the greatest?
VERSES 37-39
1. Jesus quotes out of Deuteronomy chapter 6, part of the Shema, which means "to hear." The whole portion goes like this, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Thus, the idea is God wants us to love Him with our complete being. Secondly, and linked together, we are to love each other. Jesus took him to the first and the second table of the law. If you do both you will cover all the law of God.
2. Now the problem comes when we don’t love God supremely. You see, then our relationship with man is going to be messed up. Other things, other loves will get in the way and it will affect our entire being if we don’t surrender to Him! Some may try to argue this point, but John tells us "If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also." I John 4:20-21.
VERSE 40
1. I love this verse, and here is why. If our vertical axis with God is right, if we love God supremely, then our horizontal axis with man will be in line also. Do you see the picture that emerges from this? It is a cross - all that God has said through the prophets and the law hang on the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary!
2. As Jesus finished, we are told in Mark 12:32-34, "So the scribe said to Him, ‘Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ But after that no one dared question Him." He is close, great, right? Not exactly. You see, you can be in the lowest part of the earth, and someone else can be on the highest mountain, and neither one is able to touch the stars, even though one is a lot closer. Did this man ever come to Jesus? We don’t know. Like many today, he may have been a professor of God, but not a possessor! It is not just head knowledge, but it needs to sink down into your heart and become part of your life, it must be real!
VERSES 41-42
1. Jesus puts them all to silence, but He is not done yet. He asks them a question about the Messiah, whose Son is He? And they say "The Son of David." that was a title for the Messiah. You see, they felt the Messiah was going to be just a man, like Moses, not God. But Jesus is going to show them their error.
VERSES 43-45
1. David, in speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit in Psalm 110, called his son Lord. That would never happen in that culture. That is a big no, no! And these religious leaders knew that, you see, in a patriarchal society the father is always treated with respect and honor, no matter how old the son was, the father would never call him Lord or ADONI. On the other hand, the son would call his father Lord, ADONI, master, but it would never be the other way around.
2. So Jesus asks them "How can this be?" Good question! Because the Messiah was to be much more than the Son of David, he was to be the Son of God! Paul said in Romans 1:3-4, "Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." You see, not only the Son of David, but the Son of God! So David rightly called Him Lord!
VERSE 46
1. Instead of hearing and thinking about what Jesus said, they were silent. It went against their beliefs. What they held onto was challenged and instead of investigating further, they were silent. They were not interested in the truth.
2. Mark tells us "...And the common people heard Him gladly." Mark 12:37. The common people were excited. They received the news with joy. They responded to what God was doing. How about you? Are you ignoring God because He is stretching you, challenging you? Don’t do like these religious leaders, for we will see next time Jesus turn from them and He will talk to the multitudes. Don’t be an observer of what God is doing, be a partaker!