Matthew 23:8-13 Who Am I?

Matthew 23:8-13  But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.  And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven.  Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah.  The greatest among you will be your servant.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

In today’s passage, Jesus strongly attacks the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  He knows they are not only his enemies but God’s enemies.  Rather than being good shepherds, leading the sheep by still water in a lush pasture, they were leading the sheep to harsh land with little sustenance for finding God.  These religious elite were the blind leading the blind.  Their pretensions disgusted Jesus, for they were devastating the flock.  So much so, that John the Baptist called for all Israelites to repent and to be baptized for the remission of their sins.  The Pharisees’ attitude about God’s grace and mercy led the people into great darkness rather than into the light of God’s love for them.  As Hosea said long ago and later Jesus repeated,  For I, God, desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.  As Adam, they have broken the covenant; they were unfaithful to me there.  (Hosea 6:6-7)  The Pharisees and teachers of the law restricted the way to God by placing undue importance on the ceremonies of the law, rather than the people’s heart condition.  This idea of spirituality, of being right with God by outward obedience to laws and regulations, permeated the priests’ attitude about life.  This permeation was depicted in Jesus’ story about the Pharisee and the tax collector who entered the temple before God.  (See Luke 18)  The Pharisee entered assured of his righteousness.  Believing his lifestyle pleased God, he stood with this arrogance in his heart.  What he was unaware of was that he was made in God’s image; however, he was not a God-willed man, but a self-willed man, as was Adam.  He was living the life of Adam, determining what was good, worthwhile or purposeful for his own existence.  Of course, man’s self-willed nature is not only the origin of sin, it is the essence of sin.  On the other side of this binary choice of self-will or God-will: Adam or God, we see the tax collector in the temple.  The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’  “But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Luke 18:11-13)  The Pharisee thought himself justified because his life was constructed religiously just as he desired; he believed his self-willed design of life was perfect.  But the tax collector knew his life was outside of God’s parameters for men.  He knew he was living a self-willed life, not a life under God’s authority.  Therefore, the tax collector begged for mercy, for he knew he was a sinner.  He needed the God of mercy, not laws and regulations.  Jesus asked, who went away from the temple justified?  The man who identified with the God of love and mercy found what he needed.  God heard his prayers and ignored the Pharisee’s words of self-acclamation.  

In the above focus, Jesus refutes any claim that the teachers of the law and the Pharisees had on their leadership role in the community.  People were not to call them Rabbi for all the men were brothers—no one should be considered special or above others.  Also, God is the father of all men, so people should not call someone on earth a spiritual father, for there is only one father God.  The people should not let anyone be their spiritual instructor, for only the Messiah reveals the true God in the right way.  By these negations, Jesus strips the religious leaders of their titles, their cherished position of deference and control over the people.  Jesus knows the Pharisees love their roles as overseers of religious practice.  The religious leaders were proud of their long robes with tassels hanging from them; their phylacteries large so people will know how spiritual they are.  Jesus knew they loved the seats of honor that were set apart for them at every gathering.  The religious leaders craved the words of respect that they received in the market places.  They had an air of importance, believing they were more worthwhile than others.  But Jesus knew their hearts, the wickedness that abided in them.  Therefore, He told them the greatest in the kingdom of God are of those who have a humble spirit.  The greatest among you will be your servant.  If anyone has a presumption in his heart of being better than others, he will be brought low by God.  For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  Jesus’ condemnation of the teachers of the law and the Pharisees was based on the way they lived and their attitude of superiority over the people.  Their lives were an obstruction to knowing God, not facilitators to knowing God.  The elite had a form of religion, but not the authenticity of knowing God.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces.  Jesus came to the Israelites to open the way to God, to let the Jewish people know that rules and regulations will never open the door to God and his wonderful grace and mercy.  Jesus is that door: Jesus is grace and mercy.  I am the way and the truth and the life.  (John 14)  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees lived in their own darkness of the self-willed man.  They had perfected their way of rightness with God.  Their additional regulations to Moses’ law made it cumbersome for the people to find God.  Rather than bringing light to the people, they brought blindness, obscuring God’s grace and mercy towards the people He created.  Jesus healed the sick and the blind.  As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”  When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”  “Yes, Lord,” they replied.  (Matthew 9:27-28)  Jesus revealed God’s mercy to those in need. The religious leaders did not beg for mercy, for they thought they could see in their darkness. 

We see this problem of sightlessness in the tussle Peter had with Jesus.  Jesus was asking the apostles the question that was the essence of his ministry.  Is He the Messiah?  Who do people say the Son of Man is?”  They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.  (Matthew 16:13-17)  God provided Peter with the words to name Jesus as Messiah.  Jesus was the one who would take away the sins of the world.  He expresses God’s will for Jesus on earth. “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.”  Peter, a man as yet not filled with the Holy Spirit, expressed the correct response to Jesus’ question.  Later we see Peter responding to Jesus’ tale of his impending arrest and death saying, “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”  He thought with the help of the other disciples this awful thing would never happen to Jesus.  Earlier Peter’s lips were expressing God’s will for things; now he is allowing his Adamic spirit, man’s will, to replace God’s will for what will happen to Jesus.  As with the religious leaders, Peter jumped in front of Jesus on the path to Calvary and put his hand up and said, no, this will not happen to you, Jesus.  He was saying, our will be done, not God’s will.  The religious leaders were in front of the people’s path to God, saying no, first you must fulfill all the laws and our regulations before you can find God.  Peter intended to block God’s will in Jesus’ life.  Jesus knew Satan, the corrupter was now at the mouth of Peter.  Get behind me, Satan!  You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.  Jesus harshly tells Peter, get out of my path.  I am going to fulfill God’s will, not your will or the corrupter, Satan.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees were obstructors to finding God.  Satan used religion to impede the people’s path to God.  These elite were God’s enemies.  They were not the champions of the lesser, but of those who could help them maintain power.  They failed to know the God of mercy and grace.  They chose their self-will, status, and preference of the people over God.  Jesus tells the truth of their lives; He uncovers the deadness of their spirits, the dead bones.  They should have been concerned about the least in Israel.  They were not leaders, but hypocrites, pretenders.  Status, deference and power contaminated their lives.  Jesus talks about the judgement seat, when the sheep are separated from the goats, the pretenders.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  (Matthew 25:34-36)  Religion can get in the way of God’s intentions for people.  He wants to show his love and mercy for all people.  What are our parameters to God’s love?  The Jewish elite had their parameters, their regulations, their laws, what they thought was good or bad.  They placed them heavily upon the people’s backs.  Jesus clearly said, you have jumped into the path between God and man.  You are preventing them from seeing God.  Are you a preventer, or are you one who is showing God to the people around you?  Your religious talk or ceremonies are not very important, but your acts of love, your servanthood to all people are important.  Jesus expresses the throne room environment by saying the actions of people towards the ones He created are important to God.  Which binary choice are you serving: your will, God’s will; Adam, the self-willed man or Jesus, the God-willed man.  The first is sin, it expresses waywardness; the second is holy, in the arms of God.  Let it be said of you that you are the second man, a follower of Jesus the Christ, the Lord. 

 

Matthew 23:1-7 Speak Face-to-Face!

Matthew 23:1-7  Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So you must be careful to do everything they tell you.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.  “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”  

In the above focus, Jesus tells the people they should pay attention to what the scribes and Pharisees teach, for the law is good, but they should not follow their example of how to live under the law.  But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.  Jesus instructs them that these religious leaders sit in Moses’ seat; therefore, they are important in the Jewish community.  This position of honor is best understood when Paul recants his condemnation of the high priest, Ananias, after his arrest in Jerusalem.  Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”  At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.  Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall!  You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!”  Those who were standing near Paul said, “How dare you insult God’s high priest!”  Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”  (Acts 23:1-5)  Paul knew the high priest was in a position of power because God allowed it and that he should not go against God’s will.  In the Old Testament we see Aaron and Miriam attempting to take the seat of Moses because they were resentful that Moses had married a Cushite.  By marrying a Cushite, Moses was diluting the blood line of God’s chosen people.  Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.  “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked.  “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”  And the Lord heard this.  (Numbers 12:1-2)  The Lord was displeased with their attempt to usurp Moses’ special place with him.  They were striking against God’s will, attempting to replace their own will for God’s will.  God's anger burned against them, causing them to have leprosy, a disease contrary to God’s will for his chosen people, for God strongly protected his people in the wilderness, even their sandals did not wear out as they journeyed.  During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.  (Deuteronomy 29:5)  By judging Miriam and Aaron harshly, He reaffirmed Moses’ position of authority.  God told them that Moses was not just a religious person or a prophet.  They gathered knowledge about God through dreams and visions, but God spoke to Moses face-to-face, as one would with a friend.  He and Moses had a special relationship that no man or woman could usurp.  The Levites who held special privileges with God, for they took care of the tabernacle and the articles within the tabernacle, thought they could replace Moses as the leader of the Jewish people.  They were envious of Moses’ position of power and authority.  Since they were Levites as Aaron and Moses were, they thought they too could lead the children of Israel.  They resented Moses telling them what was holy and what was not, how to live and how to be in right standing before God.  Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses.  With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council.  They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far!  The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them.  Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”  (Numbers 16:1-3)  Because of their desire to take Moses’ seat, God allowed the earth to swallow them up, bringing  death to them and their families.  These stories reveal how important Moses’ seat was in the Jewish community.  Therefore, Jesus said for the people to do what the religious leaders said, but do not do what they did, for their lifestyle was corrupt.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees lived very worldly lives.  They lived lives for their own honor and not for God’s honor.  They demanded from the people strict observance of the law, but they did not live under the same restrictions. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.  Their demands on the people were cumbersome burdens.  They always envisioned something more for the people to do to be pleasing to God.  They added their own regulations on the people above the demands of the law.  They were strict about ceremonial hand washing and the giving of tithes.  They even tithed their spices, claiming this kind of thing would be pleasing to God.  As with the cults and false religions of today, there is always something more to do to enter the kingdom of God.  In their worldliness, the Jewish religious leaders expected the people to honor them with the best seats in banquets and synagogues.  They expected deference from the people, revealing how much they loved their position of authority over the people.  John said for Christians to be opposite of these Jewish leaders.  Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.  (1 John 2:15-17)  Jesus knew these religious leaders loved the world much more than they loved God.  Their lifestyles were a horrible pretense of being spiritual.  They lived far away from God’s intentions for them as leaders of his people.  They played a role that God knew was full of hypocrisy.  As with Korah and his followers, their judgment would be harsh, merciless and would come in their near future.  They were deceivers, loving the place of honor and control, but failing to know God as Moses did: face-to-face.  Instead of being a friend of God, they placed themselves in the enemy camp, living their lives for themselves and not for God.  They did everything for people to see, making their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long.  

But God has another way for all of us to occupy Moses’s seat of being favored by God.  He has sent to the world his Holy Spirit.  In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke.  The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.  And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  (Acts 2:17-21)  The voice of God through the Holy Spirit would replace the burdens of the religious leaders and Pharisees.  As with Moses, people would communicate in a personal way with God.  The word of God would be in their mouths, and their hearts would contain God’s will for them; they would be instruments of the living God to all people of the world.  No longer would people need others to lead them from the seat of Moses.  God through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence would be the intimate director in their lives.  The new covenant would be written on their hearts and in their minds, not on stone.  “This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.  I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be my people.  No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.  For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”  (Hebrews 8:10-12)  Moses moved the people from captivity in Egypt to a new land in Canaan.  He moved them as God directed him.  He heard the voice of God and felt the glory of God every time he was in the Tent of Meeting.  God was with him face-to-face.  His countenance shined when he left the tent, so much so that the people could not look directly on his face.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees did not possess this glory, for they lived for the world.  Instead, they reflected worldly standards.  They coveted the things of the world, the honor of the world.  They loved the places of privilege at banquets and in the synagogues; they loved to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called “Rabbi" by others.  They sold their lives for the fleeting deference of people.  They sold their relationship with God and his desire for them to lead his people by longing for words of praise and respect.  As with the dissenters to Moses’ rule in the Old Testament, they gave up their position of acceptance with God by attempting to usurp the will of God in their lives to please themselves.  Dear friends we are so blessed with the Holy Spirit’s presence.  The Spirit lets us know the will of God.  We who are born again have a special relationship with God.  We are his cherished ones, his beloved children.  Therefore, let us display his life in us; his work in us, not our own work, not our own desires to live as the world does.  Let us not be as the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, living for ourselves, for our benefit.  Let us work for God, being a light of sacrifice for the world’s redemption.     

Matthew 22:42-46 Who Do You Say I am?

Matthew 22:42-46  While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah?  Whose son is he?”  “The son of David,” they replied.  He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,“‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’  If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?”  No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. 

We see in the Old Testament many verses expressing that a deliverer would come to rule over Israel.  He would come from the loins of David; he would destroy Israel’s adversaries and restore Israel to a prominent place among the nations.  Peace, prosperity, and safety would be the product of his reign.  Regardless of how they understood the Messiah’s reign, they concluded he would come as an descendant of King David.  David’s time of rule was a period of prosperity for the Israelites.  Gold and silver from all over the world flowed into the treasure of David and the people.  The Israelites were looking to this future time of peace and prosperity that the Messiah would bring. The Messiah also would have a divinity about him for he would be in the likeness of the king of Salem who blessed Abraham after he and his people won a war against their adversaries.  The king of Salem, Melchizedek, was so great that even the father of their nation, Abraham, gave tithes to him.  The lesser always gave tithes to the greater.  Melchizedek had no perceived beginning and ending; therefore, he was eternal, one who is blessed by God.  For many of the Jews, the Messiah’s coming would be to establish an eternal rule.  He will destroy their adversaries and bring peace The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.  (Psalms 110:4)  Melchizedek was given his priestly responsibilities by God himself.  He was not out of the loins of men as were the Levites out of Aaron.  Therefore what God had sworn to be true was greater than what Moses, a mere man, swore to be true.  For many religious Jews, the Messiah was to carry this mantle of ruling Israel forever.  The prophets foretold this Messiah would come from David’s loins.  Messiah, as David, would be from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of kings.  Jesus fulfilled this requirement.  His supposed father, Joseph, was a descendant of David.  Because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He, as the Messiah, could rule forever as king and as priest.  Jesus was not a Levite, but as with Melchizedek, Jesus’ priestly position came directly from God, not from the loins of men.  The Pharisees could not conceive of Jesus being a spiritual leader, for He was out of the tribe of Judah and not Levi, and He was considered by them to be a bastard, born out of an illicit relationship of Mary.  They knew Jesus’ beginnings were in dispute; they knew He was not a Levite, so they questioned greatly Jesus’ role as a spiritual leader.  They resented that so many people treated Jesus as a king, giving him what they believed was undue deference.  Jesus knew their thinking and confronted them with the question, “What do you think about the Messiah?  Whose son is he?”  Jesus knew their hearts; He knew they resented him and wanted to kill him.  So, if they are believers in the Messiah’s coming, what basic stipulation did they hold for the person who would be the Messiah.  They stated what they knew the scriptures told them: The son of David,” they replied.  Jesus then quoted from the scriptures: The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.  How could the Messiah be out of the loins of David, if David calls the Messiah his Lord.  The lesser calls the greater, Lord.  This is a repeat of Abraham and Melchizedek.  The lesser honors the greater.  Jesus went on, if David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?  Because Jesus’ response was scriptural, they were quieted and went away without any further questions.  

But, they went away with murder in their hearts, intending to kill this man who claimed to be the Messiah.  As we peruse Jesus’ life, we see major incidents when God himself affirms that Jesus the son of Mary is his Anointed One.  As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.   And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:16-17)  John the Baptist who is preparing the Jewish people to accept a heavenly intervention into their lives by calling the people to repent of their sins and to be baptized in water has a divine interaction with Jesus.  When Jesus approaches him to be baptized, John recognizes Jesus as holy.  “John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  (John 2:14)  After the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, John knows Jesus is the Messiah who takes away sins.  Later in Jesus’ ministry, we see Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus.  Once again, we see God affirming Jesus as his son.  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!”  (Matthew 17:5)  The apostles were shaken for now they realized Jesus is someone far beyond the miracle worker, the great teacher: He is the Son of the living God.  This separation is acute—Jesus performed many miracles and wonders, but the prophets of old did the same things, but not to the extent that Jesus did them.  But now for the apostles’ understanding, Jesus moves into another category, not just a holy man of power but as the Messiah, “Who do you say I am?”  Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.”  (Mark 8:29)  This categorical response is soon challenged by the events of the world.  Jesus is taken captive by the high priest and his followers abandon him.  Jesus is humiliated by the Romans and then hung on a cross.  The disciples fear for their lives and initially leave him in terror, unable to tell anyone that they are followers of this man, Jesus, who they once believed was the Messiah, the one who would rule Israel justly and in peace, throwing off the yoke of their oppressors.  They question Jesus’ divinity until the resurrection and then after the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus’ followers, they understood fully the reason for Jesus’ death and resurrection.  David said about him: “‘I saw the Lord always before me.  Because he is at my right hand,  I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest in hope, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay.  You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.’”  (Acts 2:25-28)  In Peter’s sermon to the people who witness Pentecost, he affirms that Jesus is the Messiah anointed by God.  David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’  “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”  (Acts 2:34-36)  When the people heard the truth about Jesus, many repented of their sins and turned to Jesus as their Messiah.  Many were saved on that day.  Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.   (Acts 2)  The Messiah had come into their lives as ruler and priest of their existence forever.

Paul addresses the issue of Jesus as the Messiah for all people in the world.  He emphasizes how Abraham’s covenant was for the whole world.  Faith in God through Jesus would heal all people of every land and the hearts of people could be changed permanently into new hearts.  In talking to the Greeks in Colossus, he states,  My goal is that they (you) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they (you) may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they (you) may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  (Colossians 2:2-3)  As Jesus claimed to the Pharisees, He was not a mere man out of the loins of a man named David, but He was the Son of God who would heal all lands, all people.  God’s mysterious plan of redemption for the world culminates in JESUS ALONE.  Most Greeks did not have an understanding of the Jewish religion, for the Jews were not even allowed to enter a Gentile home.  But now Paul is not only entering their homes, but he is living with them.  He is passing on to the Greeks a better understanding of the one in whom they have placed their trust.  He reveals the mystery of God that was held from people until the last days, CHRIST alone, the Savior of mankind.  In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and the knowledge of what reality is.  Paul explains to the Greeks as well to the Jews that all have sinned, all are in need of restoration to the God who made them.  None will ever approach the God of Creation who is holy, without one fault, unless they too are holy without one fault.  Only IN THE PERFECT ONE, can anyone approach the eternal God.  As with all people, Paul states,  You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away.  Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.  He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.  In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities.  He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.  (Colossians 2:13-15)  All the principalities and rulers everywhere, even in the spiritual world, have seen God’s answer to man’s dilemma of sin.  God through Jesus Christ has answered all accusations and condemnation by the devil and his cohorts against the human race.  He has provided humans a way out of their captivity to sin: Jesus Christ, in him is the fulness of God himself.  All other ways to God, all other religions, philosophies, methods, and knowledge to gain eternal peace with God are foolishness, deceptive, and devilish.  Only through Jesus can men and women become whole, living in peace and love.  Jesus quelled the Pharisees’ attack on him in today’s focus by intimating strongly to them through the scriptures that the Messiah is not the son of man, of David, but He is the Son of God.  His lineage falls back to God, not to man.  He wanted those who were listening to him to know that they were looking at the Messiah, the beloved Son of God.  Dear friends, He is your Messiah, your Deliverer, your Savior.  Take him today as all of that: Jesus only is the Truth of existence and the Way to eternal life.  Amen!  

Matthew 22:34-40 Love Your Neighbor

Matthew 22:34-40  Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The Sadducees were silenced, but they were not willing to back off in their attempt to discredit Jesus before the people and to eventually do away with him.  They were the elite in Israel; they represented the segment of the Jewish society that ran the country.  The Sadducees and the elders of Israel were willing to profess allegiance to Rome so that their position of power in Israel would be maintained.  Jesus and his supporters were a threat to this power structure, so the Sadducees and the elite were always concerned about Jesus and his followers.  After Jesus went away to heaven, the apostles were the focus of the leaders’ animosity.  The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.  They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.  They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day.  (Acts 4:1-3)  Peter and John were released, but warned about speaking about Jesus, but this did not deter the apostles from their work with the people, so later all of the apostles were arrested.  Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.  They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.  (Acts 5:17-18)  Killing Jesus was not enough for these leaders; they felt they had to eradicate this Jesus sect or their authoritative position with the Jews and their favoritism with the Romans might be in jeopardy.  To them, Christianity was a threat to their society and to their position of power in the establishment.  Even today, Christianity is a threat to the world’s leaders, to their position of power, to the establishment that is in place.  Therefore, Christianity is not well accepted by the world’s order.  They will either fight Christianity or co-opt it into their way of thinking.  When the apostles were released by the angel out of jail, the angel told the apostles to go back to the temple, the place of power, and “tell the people all about this new life.”  (Acts 5:20)  The message of this new life focused strongly on one point: God is love.  The apostles knew that God demanded holiness, righteousness, perfection.  Jesus told them how to meet God’s demands on their lives: love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Now the angel tells them, go out and tell about this new life of love.  A story that was backed by the power of God, miracles, and wonders of all sorts happened to support the message of the Good News: that God’s love had come to them in the form of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene.  He had come to deliver the human race out of slavery—to release them from the Adamic nature.

The story of Jesus revolves around the theme of love.  God, through Jesus Christ and his Spirit, has come to people to reveal God’s love for all humanity.  We who are Christians are filled with God’s mercy and grace.  He has given us his Holy Spirit to express his love to people.  We are his instruments of love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  Jesus told us to reflect God by doing the will of God by loving others.  We do this by the power of God through the attributes of the Holy Spirit.  The second commandment stands equal to the first, loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  The first commandment focuses on our allegiance to God: to love him completely.  But the second commandment is our responsibility to others.  If we believe we fulfill the first commandment but then do not love others as we love ourselves, we are deceiving ourselves, and the love for God is not really present in us.  Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.  For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  (1 John 4:20)  Now we can put a footnote at the bottom of the page on this one, for John could definitely be referring only to our brothers and sisters IN CHRIST.  So we could consider this aspect of loving our neighbors as a requirement to love only the neighbors who are Christians with God’s love.  Sounds good to most of us, gets us off of the hook of loving certain people in the world.  We decide to love good neighbors but not bad neighbors, good groups of people but not bad groups of people.  How glad we are that the Bible coincides well with our own understanding about people.  But then Jesus, our LORD AND SAVIOR, seems to have other ideas about love.  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  (Matthew 5:43-48)  Jesus rejects the Bible we write for ourselves where we avoid some scriptures but accept others into the category of what are pagan scriptures.  Do not even pagans do that?   Pagans are people without God, who will never see God as the light of the world, for they live in darkness with evil intentions in their hearts.  We who are supposed to be lights in this world ought not to live as the pagans.  James says that even if you prefer one person above the other, you fall into the pagan domain.  Otherwise, you might as well break all the laws of God, for you are not acceptable to God, no better than a pagan.  How often we scribble out parts of the Bible that do not fit well with our Adamic DNA: our self-willed, self-indulgent nature.  We sometimes deceive ourselves by believing God does not see our sinful attitude and behavior, but God knows all, even our thoughts are in his purview.  His ways and understanding are far beyond our ways and understanding.  Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.  Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts.  Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  (Isaiah 55:6-8)  God is merciful to us even though we cross out so much in the scriptures.  He still is the God of mercy and grace to those who seek to love him.  

If we love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul, we will seek to do his will and to love others as ourselves.  We will fall under his authority.  We will be his servants to all people.  We see Jesus demonstrating servanthood by washing all of his disciples’ feet.  Christians who want to be great in the kingdom of God or who really want to serve the Lord with fervor must be willing to be servants to all.  This is the ultimate expression of love, God himself.  God loves all people, good or bad.  They are his creation, made in his image.  We are to respect all people and be willing to serve them regardless of race, creed, social standing, diversity.  We are not to love the world and the things of the world, but we are to love people.  As Jesus told Peter, if you are not willing to allow me to wash your feet you have no part with me.  (see John 13)  Jesus in his demonstration was revealing clearly God’s love for all people.  If Peter would not accept this act of love, he would not be accepted in the Kingdom of God, for he was rejecting the goodness of God to him.  As Jesus demonstrated, God’s love demands action.  We who love God should be constantly looking to love others with our actions.  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.  (1John 3:16-18)  The action of love should be is a continuous flow in every Christian, every day.  Not one day should be given to slothfulness, without a concern to serve God thought displaying his Spirit to others: those fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5 that we listed above should be evident in our lives.  We are to be controlled by the Spirit of God, not the spirit of the self-indulgent man or woman.  We are the light of the world, and without actions of love in our lives, we are dark, blending into a worldly life.  Our lives should be different; our association with others should be different.  We should display God every day, and we should end our lives focused on loving others.  Love must be genuine and enduring.  We read a story in the newspaper about an elderly man who closed out his life with his enduring love for his wife.  Every day he visited his wife who was in a nursing home.  She had Alzheimers, dementia of the mind.  He visited her daily, taking care of her needs, feeding her, watching carefully that she was well cared for.  In her state of mind, she did not know who he was and sometimes acted out aggressively against him.  But he was faithful to her; his love endured to the end regardless of her behavior towards him.  Breakfast companions, God asks you to endure to the end, to love to the end.  Let God’s love for a broken world shine in your life.   We are to love when we are on the mountaintop and when we are in the valley.  Let us stand firm, knowing God is love and we are his children who love as He loves.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)  

Matthew 22:23-33 Whose Wife Will She Be?

Matthew 22:23-33  That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question.  “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him.  Now there were seven brothers among us.  The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.  The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh.  Finally, the woman died.  Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”  Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.  At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.  But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?  He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

We see the Sadducees asking the above question.  They are the sect of the priests that believe very little that is supernatural.  They probably could be classified as religious agnostics, not willing to believe anything until they could experience it with their senses.  They denied the immortality of the soul, the bodily resurrection after death, and the existence of angelic spirits.  Consequently, their question about whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her? was nothing more than a theoretical question.  Since they did not believe in an afterlife or immorality, their intention for asking this question is to trap Jesus in saying something that might be contradictory or confusing to the people.  The crowd was listening carefully, for when Jesus finished his answer to the Sadducees’ insincere question, they were astonished at his teaching.  This kind of question comes from hypocrites who do not want to accept the truth of the Bible.  Instead, they want to skirt the deeper things that point to a spiritual reality.  They consider anything that depends on faith as foolishness.  To the Sadducees the spiritual world was irrelevant.  Paul said such people were always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.  (2 Timothy 3:7)   The Sadducees entertained unprofitable surmising, considering something they did not even believe: the afterlife.  With Jesus they involved him in intellectual musing, without a desire to actually learn something.   Titus reminds people to avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.  (Titus 3:9)  He goes on to say that such people are divisive, warped, and sinful, willing to destroy people’s faith rather than build people up in the faith.  The Sadducees were wicked in their intentions about Jesus; they intended to kill him, and eventually they helped put him on the cross.  They sanctimoniously wore their long robes with their broad phylacteries on their arms, looking holy, but inside, as with the Pharisees, they were full of hypocrisy and sin.  (see Matthew 23)  They, more than the Pharisees, denied the transforming power of God in people’s lives.  Their lifestyle was fixated on the things of this world.  To maintain their position of preference with the people, and to put this popular man in his place, they asked this insincere, pretentious question, void of any real situation.  They were blind guides, straining at a gnat in the truth of the law, but swallowing a whole camel of unbelief.  (see Matthew 23:24)

I was blind but now I see, exclaimed the healed blind man to the priest.  Sadly the Sadducees were not only blind to Jesus’ messiahship, they were also blind to the scriptures and God’s power.  Jesus addresses their question after first referring to their blindness, their ignorance in their area of expertise, the Pentateuch.  The Sadducees read only the Pentateuch, for they considered the first five books in the Bible as the only reliable scriptures.  You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.  The Jews esteemed the Sadducees and knew them as the elite in society.  They were wealthy, well-educated leaders in the secular and religious world in Israel; therefore, implying their ignorance attacked their power and control over the Jewish people.  The Sadducees’ question was of interest to the Jews because land in Israel was initially allotted to each tribe based on the number of males in each clan.  If a woman lost her husband through death, her husband’s land passed to the eldest brother.  To reclaim the dead brother’s rightful inheritance of land, the elder brother married the woman, providing her with sons, to inherit her dead husband’s land.  Since women were much like property, passed down from father to husband and so forth, women had little authority.  So the Sadducees questioned Jesus on who had responsibility for a woman with many husbands.  Whose wife will she be of the seven?  Jesus does not answer that question directly; He tells them they are ignorant of the afterlife and God’s power.  He says after death she would be free from the patriarchal system instituted by the Jews.  At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.   On the earth for thousands of years males had dominated the relationship between male and female, but Jesus says, this is not what will be in heaven.  We see on Pentecost, the Spirit falling on both genders.  Peter speaks of this situation of male and female knowing God.  In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.  (Acts 2:17-18)  When Cornelius was baptized, the whole house was baptized with the Spirit.  When Paul and Silas were freed from their chains through an earthquake, the jailer feared for his life.  Paul assured him not to fear, for none of the prisoners had escaped.  Then, at that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and ALL his household were baptized.  (Acts 16:33)  Jesus tells the Sadducees women will be free from the domination of males, free indeed!  These disbelievers in the afterlife were criticized by Jesus because of their failure to read the scriptures carefully.  Have you not read what God said to you, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  He is not the God of the dead but of the living.  Of course Jesus knew they had read this passage many times; He knew they probably had it memorized; but they did not understand what God said to Moses at the burning bush.  Their preconceptions, their unbelief, overrode understanding the word.  Jesus tells them that God’s words to Moses were that He was the God of the living and that the Patriarchs were presently with him.  He is not the God of the forever deceased, but He is the God of the forever living souls.  He criticizes them for not knowing the power of God, not understanding that the God of the universe exists beyond their perceptions, their senses.  They boxed God into their fleshly understanding of the reality of the world, so they thought they had a very difficult question for Jesus.  But Jesus answers it by stressing the spiritual reality of the human soul, something they rejected.  But the wisdom of Jesus’ answer confounded them, silenced them.

The interaction between Jesus and the learned Sadducees shows Jesus’ words undermining the wisdom and knowledge of their foundation.  Jesus spoke of the eternal Rock of Ages, God himself; they talked about their perceptions of life on earth.  Their minds were captivated by darkness, based on what their senses revealed.  Even their spiritual understanding and interpretation of the Torah was limited by their understanding of what was real and what was not.  Jesus knew that they were blind to the power of God, ignorant of spiritual truth.  As Christians today we should not be ignorant of spiritual truth, for Christ has given us his Spirit to teach us all things.  The Lord’s words should be real to us; they should be words that direct our daily lives.  Peter tells us, in your hearts revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  (1 Peter 3:15)  We are to be prepared to testify of God’s wonderful grace and to express with joy the salvation that has been given to us freely.  However, we should also be able to give a coherent explanation of our hope.  The Sadducees knew the scriptures but had not heard what they were saying.  Jesus informed them that they were ignorant of the scriptures.  We are not to be ignorant of the word of God.  Our testimony will open the eyes and ears of people around us to the reality of God.  Being able to open the scriptures to them will provide a path for the unbeliever to come to God in faith, for the scriptures go beyond one individual’s life.  Being rich in faith is important; equally important is to be rich in the scriptures.  That is why we need to be reading the scriptures daily.  Memorizing scripture is good, but for those less capable in memorizing, we should hold onto the truths in the Bible.  We should paraphrase these scriptures.  Documenting our paraphrases can come later if we need to do that.  Jesus knew the Sadducees had no real foundation for their lives other than their senses.  Their spiritual eyes were blind, and spiritual blindness can lead to horrible consequences: chaos, disobedience, sinfulness and uncertainty.  Lives without a foundation can spiral downward quickly and eternally.  Titus explains this when he says, At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.  (Titus 3:3)  The Sadducees were caught in this kind of lifestyle.  They even wanted Jesus murdered.  Without truth in a person’s life, there is no stopping point for sin.  The Sadducees disappeared from existence as a sect when the Temple was destroyed.  Their world view could not hold them.  But Christians know if heaven and earth pass away, the Spirit of God will hold us, for He is present with us at all times.  God saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.  (Titus 3:4-7)  The Sadducees could not believe that life could exist after death; consequently, they had to mine everything they could out of life for death ended their existence.  Jesus said, You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.  We who are alive IN CHRIST know the power of God—eternal life is ours.  Amen!   

Matthew 22:15-22 Give to Caesar What Is Caesar's!

Matthew 22:15-22  Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.  They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.  “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.  You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.  Tell us then, what is your opinion?  Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”  But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?  Show me the coin used for paying the tax.”  They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this?  And whose inscription?”  “Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”  When they heard this, they were amazed.  So they left him and went away.

We see in the above focus that the Pharisees were devious in their attempt to undermine Jesus’ influence with the people.  Jesus was gathering a great throng of people around him.  He had attacked the Jewish elite directly, calling them hypocrites, snakes, people with scheming purposes.  The Pharisees wanted to keep their position of preference in the Jewish society.  Jesus and his teachings were a threat to their position of power within the  community.  They were seeing Jesus’ power grow among the people; the people acclaimed him as a man with godlike authority; He performed miracles and healings that no man had done from the beginning of time.  If Jesus’ popularity was not diminished, how could they hold spiritual control over the people?  To them, Jesus was a rogue operating outside of the appropriate religious structure in the Jewish community.  He attacked the hierarchy, failing to defer to their position as spiritual leaders.  You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.  In today’s verses, we see the Pharisees bringing with them the Herodians to trap Jesus with his own words.  The Herodians followed Herod, who was a tool of Rome, so his followers paid homage to the Roman rule.  If Jesus would say anything that was detrimental to the Roman’s authority in Jerusalem, his words would quickly reach Herod’s ears and then Caesar’s ears, causing Jesus’ imprisonment or death.  The Jewish leaders would then be free from Jesus’ threat to their leadership role in the community.  They would also benefit by the Romans taking care of Jesus and not them; for Jesus was very popular with the people; He was almost untouchable.  Therefore, when they asked their question, Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? they were hoping Jesus would fall into the trap of offending Herod’s position of power, and subsequently Roman’s authority over the Jewish nation.  But Jesus avoids this trap deftly by asking to see a coin used for the payment of the tax.  Show me the coin used for paying the tax.  The Roman coins were imprinted on one side with the image of of Caesar.  Rather than telling them a definitive answer of whether Rome should be ruler of the Jewish people, He states a matter of fact under the present condition.  So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.  By answering this way, Jesus evades the trap, upsetting neither the Jewish people nor the Roman authorities.  The people wanted Rome gone, but the people knew Jesus had to handle this matter delicately.  The Jewish elite wanted an answer that they could repeat to the authorities that would indict him as a rebel, but Jesus escapes their trap with his wise response.  These Pharisees were dangerous hypocrites, vipers along his journey, lying in wait, to destroy his influence with the people.  They wanted him dead; if they could identify Jesus as a revolutionary, Rome would take care of him.  But his answer stopped the mouths of the hypocrites: He had given them no ammunition to use against him.  They left him and went away.

Jesus had become a man of the people.  Right after the above test, the Sadducees come to Jesus with another question about marriage, but when Jesus answers it wisely, the Bible says, When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.  (Matthew 22:33)  The people not only found him a wise man, they held high hopes of Jesus throwing off the secular power of Rome in their land.  Caesar’s tax was a symbol of the weakness of Israel.  This subjugation to Rome was detested by the Jews.  Consequently, there were many revolutionaries in Israel, operating clandestinely to overthrow the Roman rule.  When the people clamored for Barabbas to be released by Pilate, the Roman governor; they were asking for a revolutionary to be released.  Jesus, the one they had put their hopes in to overthrow Rome, had failed them miserably.  They cried for Barabbas’ freedom because at least he would continue aggressively fighting the Romans.  Their shouts for Barabbas made the Roman governor exceedingly angry; therefore, he ordered Jesus to be beaten with a lead-tipped whip, slashing his back to pieces.  If they wanted a revolutionary released, then he would brutalize Jesus and put a sign on him that he, this emaciated, brutalized man, was their king, ridiculing the Jewish people by displaying Rome’s power over a weak Jewish man.  Jesus, who became the crucified one, was not in the business of gaining power in this world.  He did not struggle with the elite over political or hierarchal power.  He chose fishermen, tax collectors, and people of little power to be in his inner circle: his confidants.  He also chose a revolutionary, Simon the Zealot.  The Zealots were militant, against the Roman occupation and also against any Jewish people who were helping the Romans rule.  For Simon, this question directed at Jesus about taxes was probably very important, more so than to the other disciples.  Which way would Jesus jump?  Favoring the Romans or the people?  We do not know if Jesus’ answer disappointed him, but we do know Jesus was not going to be subjected to the Jewish elite.  He had come to give the Good News to the Jewish people.  He was the Messiah who would release all people from the authority of the devil.  The destination of eternal souls was in question, not whether a certain people would rule or not.  He came to give life to all people.  They were now living in darkness, in hopelessness, living temporary, finite lives on earth, physically disappearing into dust eventually, with no hope for eternal life.  As sure as the Romans ruled Israel, they were ruled by death and darkness, with no possible escape from a life of senseless captivity.  But Jesus came to reveal that the God of Creation wanted their souls to be with him forever.  He came to give his life for people, not to win the world for himself or for the Jewish nation.  Jesus was not out to gain the world—He was out to win souls for God’s family.  

Of course, winning the world is very attractive to men, much more important than looking forward to an eternal existence.  The proverb a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush means the things we currently have are worth more than what we might have a chance of getting.  Why not eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.  Let us live for today.  But Jesus came to give eternal life to all who would place their trust in him.  His life was fixed on that purpose, not to make life better for humans in this world.  He told his disciples they would have many troubles in this world, which they did.  Paul describes some of his hardships in 2 Corinthian 6.  People who ministered with Paul also shared many of the hardships that fell upon him.  Jesus was not there to pay allegiance to Rome or to the leaders of the Jewish people.  He was there to do the will of the Father: to bring people into his kingdom, his dwelling place.  But taxes and money are indicators of where people’s hearts are, so this question put to him by the Pharisees was important to those who were listening.  Should they continue their loyalty to Rome by giving Caesar his taxes or should they rebel, following their leader, Jesus.  Jesus knew their hearts; He probably disappointed many in the crowd, not just the deceptive Pharisees.  Taxes were an issue because fewer taxes meant more money in their coffers, more security, more self-worth.  But Jesus had already talked about money issues.  Dependence on wealth, revolving your life on gain is an unhealthy way to live.  In fact, it can be considered darkness, for living only for money distorts the reason for living: to bring glory to God the Creator.  The latter is a healthy reason to be alive; but the former, fixated on money, is great darkness—a broad way to destruction.  The eye (what is important in your life) is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  “No one can serve two masters.  Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.”  (Matthew 6:22-24)  In Jesus’ answer about taxes, He was reenforcing the idea that life should not be about taxes or money; life should revolve about serving God.  Yes, life has perfunctory duties, obligations to those who rule, daily routines to serve those around us and society.  Life has a more extensive and real reason: serving the eternal God.  Jesus said, give to him what is owed to him.  Of course, what is owed to him is our very lives, breath, heartbeat, hands, and feet.  Every part of us is his creation.  Therefore, we should love him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.  Our lives should be dedicated to him.  If taxes are owed, we should pay them; if obligations need to be met, we should fulfill them.  But do not let anything take hold of our lives.  The Zealots wanted to be free of Rome; the Herodians wanted to maintain their position of power.  The struggle between the Herodians (Caesar’s people) and the Zealots would end up in a horrible war, decimating the Jewish nation.  Jesus did not walk unknowingly into this trap set for him by worldly people.  His purpose for everything He did or taught was for a permanent victory, bringing the chosen to his Father, holy, without one fault.  He came to save people from destruction.  He came to redeem.  He came to deliver to God his Father a people that would be called God’s children.  He brought righteousness to unrighteous, holiness to the unholy.  Jesus’s answer about taxes is a lesson for us today.  Let us Christians keep in focus our purpose for living.  Let us strive to articulate the reason for Christ coming to earth.  Let us display light, bringing the light of Jesus to every man and woman we meet.  The real message is not taxes, who rules or who does not, but that JESUS SAVES.