Matthew 22:23-33 - The Sadducees have a go

22:23-33

The Sadducees had seen the Pharisees fail to trap Jesus, and reckoned that they could do better. So they asked him a question about marriage. The Sadducees were sort of aristocratic and political, with limited interest in theology. They considered only the first five books of the Old Testament to be valid, and did not believe in angels nor the resurrection. They were somewhat like the liberal anglicans of today. So instead of believing the Scriptures they saw them as a tool and thought that in one of Moses’ instructions they had a logical contradiction with which they could trap Jesus. So they posed the question of what happened after the resurrection to a woman who had worked her way through seven brothers, her husbands having an alarming propensity to die. Their aim was to prove the illogicality of the resurrection.

22:29-33

Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter. The Sadducees knew neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. These two things lay at the root of the Sadducees' problems. Much the same could be said about most liberal “Christians”. They were assuming that at the resurrection things will just be a continuation of the present age. Many Christians today make the same mistake. Things will be radically different, we will be radically different. Paul majors on this in 1 Corinthians 15. So marriage as we know it will not exist in the age to come. Jesus then goes deeper by reminding the Sadducees that God describes Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He is the God of the living. The true nonsense would be to say that there is no resurrection. God creates life not death. The people were amazed at Jesus’ teaching.

Matthew 22:15-22 - Paying the poll tax?

22:15-22

The Pharisees now tried to trap Jesus with His words, an enterprise doomed to failure. They started with flattery saying they knew He was a man of integrity. The poll-tax was a contentious issue. People hated the Romans, but to offend the Romans was a dangerous path to follow. So they asked Jesus if it was right to pay the poll-tax or not, thinking that yes or no were the only possible answers, and that either would get Jesus in trouble. But Jesus knew what they were up to and he turned the matter around., with His now famous statement “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”. The Pharisees were not giving to God what was His.

Matthew 22:1-14 - Are you going to the wedding feast?

22:1-14

The Pharisees had this picture of only a few elite getting into the Kingdom of God, and they were part of the elite. Jesus tells them a parable that says things are rather different. Who prepared a banquet for His Son”, note the emphasis on the son, i.e. on Jesus. Rejecting Jesus is a fundamental error. Many were invited to the banquet. The Pharisees were invited, but they refused to come. They were even given another chance. \the \pharisees continued to go about their own business, and some even seized the king's messengers. The king reacted with anger, this is looking forward to AD70. The king then sent his messengers to invite anyone who would listen.

We then see that the invitation is both open and restrictive, repentance is necessary. We need to recognise our need for forgiveness, Coming with an attitude or pride or self- righteousness is wearing the wrong clothes.

Matthew 21:33-46 - Whose vineyard do you think it is?

21:33-46

Jesus continues His teaching with the parable of the tenants, this one is aimed squarely at the religious leaders. The religious leaders thought they owned the system, for getting that it actually belonged to God. So when the landowner sent messengers the tenants thought they could solve the problem by dealing with the messenger, they even thought that killing the owner’s son would solve the matter.. The religious leaders forgot that they were to run the place on God’s behalf, achieving God’s purposes. Remember that Jesus said He only did what He saw His Father do (John 5:19).  Jesus warns them that judgement would come upon them. The religious leaders reacted in their usual stupid way by seeking to arrest Jesus, but they were also afraid of the crowds.

Matthew 21:28-32 - Slow obedience?

21:28-32

There are some who say something like “slow obedience is no obedience, is disobedience”, this parable seems to give the lie to that statement. There are two sons, the first claims to not obey the father, but then does what the father asked, the second says he will obey the Father, but then does not do so. Jesus’ own explanation makes it clear that the point is that the religious types, the supposedly obedient are actually disobedient, for their actions do not measure up with their words, while the “sinners” (tax collectors and prostitutes, people despised by the religious leaders) are actually the obedient ones. The religious leaders refused to repent.

Matthew 21:23-27 - questions of authority

21:23-27

Jesus was causing them problems, so the religious leaders tried another tack, they questioned his authority. What it was and who gave it to Him. They had two problems, one was that God the Father had given him the authority, the other was their own duplicitous behaviour. So Jesus highlighted the second by asking them a question regarding John the baptist.  John was popular, and his message was pointing to Jesus, so if they accepted John the Baptist they had to accept Jesus, if they denied John the Baptist they could be in trouble with the crowds. The religious leaders were in a bind, so they refused to answer the question, and so Jesus refused to answer them.

Authoritarian leaders rarely have as much authority or power as they seem to have.

Matthew 21:12-22 - Sorting things out, temples and fig trees

21:12-17

Jesus was no “soft touch”. He entered the temple and found people buying and selling. He drove these people out. They would be doing this to give pilgrims what they needed for the sacrifices. However, the temple was meant to be a house of prayer, not a “den of robbers”.  The blind and the  lame same to him and He healed them, the temple was then fulfilling its godly function. However the religious leaders were not pleased. For the people and children were praising Jesus. They confronted Jesus about this, and He quoted Psalm 8:2 to them. Jesus then left the temple.

21:18-22

Jesus had a clear view of what the kingdom was about, and confronted any variation from this. Fig trees were meant to bear fruit, but he found one that had nothing but leaves. He then cursed the tree, and the tree immediately withered. The disciples were amazed at how quickly it had withered. Jesus answers by saying we should expect our prayers to be answered.