Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 21-22.

When I started to read this passage I thought I might write about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the clearing of the temple, but I was really struck by what Jesus said after He told the parable of the two sons.  First, there is the outright message of the parable that it better to initially reject God and then later reconsider and do His will are better than to verbally acknowledge God but do not do His will.   However, what really struck me was when Jesus condemned the religious leaders who did not repent and turn to God even after seeing the impact doing so had on “lowlifes”.  I have usually hear this interpreted, not incorrectly, as Jesus telling us yet again that those we as a society view as reprobates and losers are more open to God’s word than those we view as upright and models of behavior.  As I said, that is not incorrect, but I realized today that Jesus was also saying that we should be inspired to do better by the way they respond to God’s love.  Those of us who have been transformed by the Holy Spirit should be inspired by the transformation those who are society’s “losers” go through when the Holy Spirit touches their hearts.  When we see what God has done for them, we should see how far we still are from His ideal and be inspired to allow the Holy Spirit to do even more work in our lives.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 21-22.

I debated a lot about what I wanted to write today.  There are several different things I thought about writing but none of them flowed into each other.  I finally decided to start with the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree.  I think that this illustrates better than anything else in the Gospels that Jesus was fully human.  The text tells us that He was hungry, so He went over to the fig tree but found no fruit on it.  So, He cursed it to never bear fruit again, and it immediately withered.  Jesus uses this as an opportunity to teach about the power of faith, but He cursed the tree because He was disappointed that it had not fruit.  That is a very human thing to do.

I also want to write about the parable of the two sons.  In it Jesus speaks of one son, who rebelliously tells his father that he will not do what his father told him to do, and a second son who obediently agreed to do was his father directed.  Yet, the first son then went and did as instructed, despite telling his father that he would not, while the second did not do as instructed, despite saying that he would.  From the context, the son who said he would do as instructed but did not was the Pharisees and other teachers of the Law of Moses, while the son who rebelled, but di his father’s will was those whom they viewed as sinners.  Today, there are those who verbally reject Jesus, yet love their neighbor.  These are the equivalent of the first son.  We also have people today who verbally exalt Jesus, yet treat others with contempt.  Let us strive to both tell God “yes”, and to do as He asks of us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 21-22.

When the religious leaders came to Jesus and asked Him to site His authority to take the actions He had taken, and tell them who had given Him that authority, Jesus recognized that they were not asking in good faith.  They did not care what His answer was, they were asking this question in order to discredit Him no matter how He chose to answer.  So, rather than debate them on their terms, Jesus changed the context of the debate in a way which made their dishonesty obvious to those to whom they had intended to discredit Him.  And, to the more insightful of those listening, He also answered their question with His question.  By asking them whether John’s baptism was from Heaven of from man, Jesus was indirectly stating that His authority came from the same place as John’s.  A point He makes clear in the next thing He says.  Jesus tells them that John came to show them the way to righteousness, and that those who they looked down upon as depraved sinners listened to him and received righteousness, while those who presumed themselves righteous rejected him and remained without righteousness.  This makes the point that those who presume their own righteousness as a basis to condemn us as depraved sinners will never debate us in good faith.  We should make sure that we do not debate them on their terms.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 21-22.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey colt He was declaring that He had already won.  The passage from Zechariah which Matthew quotes here refers to a king returning to his capital after winning a war, and not just any war but a war of rebellion.  We often think about the Crucifixion or the Resurrection being the moment when Jesus was victorious over Satan, but this passage suggests that His victory came when He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  Palm Sunday was when Jesus committed Himself to accept being arrested and crucified and when He accepted that He was victorious over Satan.  In the same manner, we are victorious over sin when we accept that doing the right thing will lead to suffering and do it anyway.  I want to add two points to that.  The joy which comes from suffering for doing the right thing exceeds the pain of that suffering.  And the Resurrection shows us that the joy is lasting, but the suffering is temporary.  I realized I have a third point.  If we do not do the right thing for fear of suffering, the shame we will feel is also lasting.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 21-22

When the religious leaders of Jerusalem challenged Jesus to declare by what authority He did the things which He did, He did not directly answer them.  Instead, He asked them if they thought that John the Baptist got his authority to baptize from Heaven, or merely from men.  They refused to answer.  We can learn a lot about having debates from this.  Jesus asked them this question because He knew that they were not asking because they wanted to know the answer.  They were asking in order to set up a narrative with those listening.  By asking His question, Jesus could establish the criteria by which His answer would be judged.  If they had said that John’s authority came from man, He would have established that they were merely looking for an excuse to demonize Him.  If they said that John’s authority came from Heaven, Jesus would have established a basis for making the case for His own authority.  By saying that they did not know the answer to Jesus’ question, they revealed that they were more interested in a “gotcha” moment than in an honest discussion.

A similar thing happened a little bit later when Jesus was asked about taxes and about marriage after the resurrection.  In both cases, those who asked the question were not interested in having an honest discussion.  They were looking for a “gotcha” moment.  In both cases, Jesus turned it around on them.  He showed that their questions looked at the situation they were about from the wrong direction.  This is something to which we need to pay careful attention.  Many of the conundrums we face in life result from looking at things the wrong way.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Matthew 21-22

Jesus tells several parables in today’s passage which all have similar themes.  In a way, that theme begins with Jesus’ driving the money changers and other merchants out of the Temple.  Then when the religious leaders asked Him what authority He had for doing so, He asked them to say whether or not John the Baptist had authority from heaven.  When they said that they did not know, Jesus declined to answer their question.  They were unwilling to say that John had authority from heaven because they were unwilling to put his teachings into practice.  On the other hand, they were unwilling to say that he only had human authority because they were afraid of the crowds who believed in John.  However, that was not why Jesus asked them this question.   Jesus asked because if they accepted that John had authority from heaven, He could show how John had testified to His own calling by God.  On the other hand, if they said that John had only human authority it would reveal to the people that they did not have the righteousness they claimed. I have worded that poorly, but I think as I discuss the parables it will give a clearer understanding of what I was trying to say.

From there Jesus starts telling some parables.  The first parable shows us that saying we want to do God’s will is less important than actually doing it.  In fact, there are those who verbally reject God who do His will.  From there Jesus goes on to tell parables about people who present themselves as righteous, but actually attempt to usurp God’s place.  God will replace those people with those who know they are not in God’s presence because of their own merit, but solely because of God’s grace.  However, the ending of the wedding banquet parable shows us that we have to allow God to change us.