Law & Grace - Matthew 22:1-14 Christ, Kingdom & Q&A

Good morning. You have, as a front page on your handout here, a color printout that looks something like this. And what we're presenting here from time to time, including this morning, is what we call a chiasm, an outline of the book of Matthew. The book of Matthew has a pattern throughout it, as many Bible passages do. known as a chiasm. A chiasm, what is that? It's a mirror image in written form.

So in this case, one of the things we pointed out, and I believe it is on your handout, from the beginning up until the middle, the parables of the kingdom, in chapter 13, that's about a two year period of time, And then from then until the end of the book of Matthew is about one year. So it's disproportionate as to time.

So we are right here in this lower section of Miracles, Instructions, and Interactions in chapter 22. So the last part of this portion of the book of Matthew. Matthew will continue on. We're now in chapter 22. We'll continue on through chapter 28. And so we'll proceed with a break for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. Now, Matthew chapter 22 has four parts. And everybody knows parts is parts, right? Verses 1 through 14 that Brad just read for us here.

Jesus tells the Jewish leaders of this parable of the feast. And notice I didn't call it a wedding feast. We'll talk about that in a minute. But the parable of the feast. And he's telling this to the Pharisees that he is talking to. He had actually at the end of chapter 21 already told them two other parables. So now this is a third one. In verses 15 through 22, some Pharisees and Herodians asked Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar. And so we'll be taking a look at that. This is the show me the coin passage, right?

Verses 23-33 is where the Sadducees, now that's a different group, try to stump Jesus. And we'll get into some of the differences in the groups here. And then verses 34-46, the Pharisees take their turn, having seen that the Sadducees were sunk, to stump Jesus too. And Jesus comes back with another question for them, to which they have no answer. And finally, by verse 46, Jesus had stumped all the would-be stumpers and stomped them for the last time.

Okay. What had happened is they all came up with, hey, let's pose some real serious questions to this guy. And so they came rapid fire with one question after another, hoping to stump him, hoping to trip him up in some way, hoping to get him in trouble. And they were not successful. So they stopped that strategy. They didn't, after this time, go asking any more questions.

So how are we going to approach this parable here, the one that Brad read for us? By the way, that's the approach to DIA if you're inside of a jetliner. Jack, have you done this? Yeah, it's been a while, right? OK. So interpretations of this parable vary quite a bit, even among those who are otherwise like-minded.

So how are we going to keep from varying? How will we arrive at the intended meaning? That is, when Jesus told the parable, he did not intend that people arrive at several different understandings. That was not his intent. As a matter of fact, the entire Bible is not written with the intent that people come to various views and that's as good as you can get. There is a particular message intended.

So we're going to carefully examine elements of language and history and culture as we approach the passage. And as we do, we're going to find that those elements of language and history and culture are, in fact, relevant to a proper understanding of the passage.

Most of our English translations say that this was a wedding banquet, and so some try to connect this parable with the marriage supper of the Lamb, as told in Revelation 19.9, and say, well, that's the wedding we're talking about. There's a few issues with that.

However, That same word that is translated here in many cases, wedding banquet, is used in the Greek Old Testament book of Esther at the very first chapter, Esther 1.5, and in chapter 9, 9.22.

And in neither one of those places is it a wedding banquet. And additionally, as we read the passage that Brad just read for us, do you see any mention of a bride? No, you don't. There isn't mention of a wedding either. It's simply the translation of that word which they've chosen to make as a wedding. So what I would suggest, since there isn't a bride, a wife, a wedding, a groom, that this is simply a banquet.

And so the other thing, in the ancient Near East, it was customary for a king to send out more than one invitation, which you also see for this, there would frequently be multiple invitations, maybe even four invitations to an important banquet. There would be an initial invitation, then subsequent reminders, and typically towards the latter part of that, they would even have clothing that they would give for you to wear. And that's the next point. It was a custom for royalty and officers to provide clothing for others to wear to such an event, or sometimes just to wear just for the sake of honoring someone. And so a king would say, you've been invited to this banquet and we want you to wear these garments. And so they would have specific garments set out.

By the way, it was also customary to have, at times, very large banquets. We have historical record of one banquet that a king in the Middle East gave. And he had 15,000 plus people at the banquet and won more than 60,000 people at the banquet. We won't try to do that downstairs next Sunday, though. Okay.

Jesus had already presented the coming kingdom as a banquet in Matthew chapter 8 verse 11. He talked about sitting at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, so Jesus, interestingly enough, starts talking about things with these Pharisees in parables. Previously the parables were to keep the meaning from the Pharisees. but these parables are to convey a meaning to the Pharisees and the reason for doing that is he could tell them a parable they could make a judgment and then having made the judgment see themselves when if Jesus directly told them they might not get it the parable said that God the father was inviting people to the kingdom banquet to honor Christ his son So that's the banquet that's being talked about here. The early invitation not written of here was given in the Old Testament. And you think about it, the whole Old Testament speaks repeatedly.

We saw this as we went through a study of Isaiah a few years back. The Old Testament tells repeatedly of this coming kingdom and what it will be like and describing various characteristics. that the feast had already been prepared meant that the offer of the kingdom to the people right there while Jesus was there to the people of Israel was already made and had been made all they had to do was respond to the invitation the gospel of the kingdom had been presented it was right there and the question was what were they going to do with the with the invitation the gospel of the kingdom You know what the answer was?

Nothing. That's what they were going to do. So the first invitation of the people of Israel came by way of these Old Testament prophets. The response to that invitation was to, and it says here in the parable, to willfully go their own way. It wasn't that they just went, uh, and left it. They willfully went their own way. No, I am not going to listen to that invitation. They specifically willfully made that decision, I will not respond. The next invitation to the people of Israel came by the way of John the Baptist, by Christ and by his disciples. The response to that invitation was to go their own way and to kill or mistreat the messengers.

By this time they had already killed John the Baptist. That had been done by Herod Antipas. They, within a few days, would be killing Christ. And within a few months, they would be imprisoning the apostles. So they'd already begun to carry this out, and would soon carry out the rest of it.

So in Matthew 22.7 Jesus told the leaders of the Jews, but the king was enraged and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Know what he's telling them? Four decades later the Romans would come in and do exactly that. We brought this up last week.

In 70 AD the city of Jerusalem was in fact set on fire and destroyed. More than a million Jews lost their lives. I think the number is something like 1,100,000 Jews lost their lives. Close to 100,000 were taken off as slaves. It was a horrific tragedy.

The Sadducees that we read about in this chapter were ended at this event. No more Sadducees after this point in time. This is an artist's rendering of this event. And the Romans came in and did, in fact, set the city and the temple on fire and broke down the temple and shoved every single piece of it off the edge, off the edge of the temple mount.

All the Jews had been invited to the kingdom banquet and reminded of the invitation. Repeatedly, they were presented with it. They were either willfully apathetic or they abused the messengers. Every time. Abuse sometimes resulting in death. For their apathy and abuse and rejection of the invitation from God the Father, the Jews were judged severely. There in that event culminating in 70 AD. A new invitation was sent to others. In other words, previously there was an invitation to the Jews and then reminders. Now, a new invitation, we're starting afresh here, was sent to others than these.

The gospel of the kingdom, we're going to read in Matthew 24, 14, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached worldwide during the tribulation period. And God will do so miraculously. So we'll see that when we get to Matthew 24, just a couple chapters from now. So that will be a new invitation. It will go out to an entirely different group of people and instead of being focused upon the nation and people of Israel, it will go out throughout the world. Now remember that gospel of the kingdom is not the same as the gospel that Christ died for your sins and was buried and rose again. Different gospel. This is a gospel about Christ will come as the Messiah and reign and rule. And do you believe it?

So the gospel of the kingdom will have been presented to not just within those national boundaries of Israel, but to the whole world and not just to Jews, but to Gentiles as well in this final invitation. The clothes given by royalty for guests to wear, the righteousness of the kingdom, must be given by God. Our own righteousness won't do. Outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth, which Jesus has already mentioned and will again refer to this place called hell.

So he makes reference to that. Now, how about that last part? Many are called but few are chosen. And I have it here, many are cold but a few are frozen. And that's Colorado in January, right? No, it's not many are cold and a few are frozen. Many are called and a few are chosen, okay?

Jesus ends this passage by saying that many are called but few are chosen. Think about all the Jews who were given the message all throughout the Old Testament time by the Old Testament prophets, given the message of the kingdom, and then John the Baptist comes, and then Jesus comes, and he sends out his disciples with the gospel of the kingdom two by two. He tells them to go out into all the places in Israel. He's repeatedly given this message, a re-invitation, if you will. Many are called.

Even at the end, during the tribulation period, when the whole world will hear the gospel of the kingdom, will everybody respond? No. A great many will not. There will be many that will, but a great many will not respond. They'll turn a cold shoulder to it, just like has been done before. Many have heard the invitation to the banquet on into New Testament times, and that will be the case in the coming tribulation period. Many more will have the gospel of the kingdom presented to them. There will even be an angel appointed to spread the gospel of the kingdom during that time. Only a relative few will respond, and these are the ones who are chosen. Many are called. Many. Many. Even repeatedly called. Few are chosen.

Now, in verses 15 through 22, the Pharisees and Herodians say, Boy, we've got to do something to stop this guy. These parables are getting a little too close to home. Right? And so, what happens? The Pharisees and Herodians come to Jesus. As a matter of fact, these are disciples of these people. And they begin their trick question with some flattery about Jesus' integrity. Oh, we know that you are... And then they start to come out with this flattery, and Jesus' response to that is hypocrites.

They ask him if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, hoping to get him in trouble with either the Jews or the Romans. You see, if he said, well, pay to the Romans what they're asking, then he'd be offending some Jews. If Jesus said, don't pay the Romans the taxes, guess who would come calling? They would say, hey Romans, hey, right? We've got somebody here who's telling people not to pay their taxes.

So either way, they figured they had him. We've got him. This will do it. This will be the question that will end our troubles. After calling them hypocrites, Jesus turns the tables on them by saying, show me the coin. This is like, show me the money. This is show me the coin. You have on page three of your handout actually a photocopy picture, black and white contrast there, that shows the coin and that's exactly what we have up here. So Jesus says, okay, show me the coin. He makes them produce the coin. Here is what a typical denarius coin, a denarius being a typical day's wages for a worker or a soldier, the lowest level Roman soldier. So here's what the coin looks like on the front of it.

It has some words, some cases fully spelled out, and other cases some abbreviations. Augustus, Tiberius, Caesar, Divi, Augusti, Filius, or Augustus Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus. And so it refers to pagan deity. On the back is Augustus Caesar's mother, Livia, pictured as the goddess Pax.

And then the words for highest ruler there on the back. So this is the coin that they very likely would have pulled out and shown to Jesus, and so Jesus doesn't stop by asking them to produce the coin, so they've got this coin in their hands, right? But he asks them whose image is on it. The image was of course Caesar, who was to be regarded as a deity, and that's in fact what it says on the coin.

And the inscriptions on the coin are Caesar's name and a title from pagan religion. So what were these Jews doing carrying around in their own purses and pockets? What were these Jews doing carrying around pagan idols and engraved images, right? By asking the Pharisees and the Herodians whose inscription and image were on the coin, he made them out of their own mouth admit that they were carrying around pagan words and symbols. Made them do it. You show me the coin, the one that's in your pocket. You tell me what's on here. He made them admit it themselves by producing the coin and saying what was on it.

They were, by their admission, under the curses of Deuteronomy 28. What do I mean by that? In Deuteronomy 28, God told them that if you were obedient, Israel, You would not be under some other country. The fact that you are and the fact that you're producing this coin with pagan images and pagan words on it is proof that you are rampantly sinful and therefore God has put you under this other nation. That's the curse that says why you're in this position in the first place. At that, Jesus told them to render under to Caesar that which is Caesar's and that which is God's.

They were amazed, they were speechless, and they went away. But that was not the last question. We're going to be looking at the rest of them. That shut them down for the moment. Now, the Sadducees come up with a question, which is why they're sad, you see. the Sadducees who do not believe, now see here, the Pharisees actually do believe in a resurrection and by the way, as we'll talk about shortly, they do believe in a Messiah. So the Pharisees believe in a resurrection, they believe in the Messiah, they believe that the whole Old Testament is in fact the Word of God. That's what they believe. They ask Jesus what they think is an unanswerable question. There's no way he's going to have an answer for this one. I mean, this is a brain teaser. This will stop him.

Based on the Law of Moses, they ask a hypothetical question, and it goes like this. Deuteronomy 25.5 says that, and it's interesting because it's an instance where the Law of Moses required in some cases more than one wife. Let's say here was seven brothers and if a brother in your family, if a brother had a wife and they had not had any children and the brother dies, the next brother in line is obligated under the Law of Moses to marry her and have children by her so that there is a lineage for the brother.

That was a requirement of Deuteronomy 25.5.

So the Sadducees come up with this thing and they say there's no way they'll have an answer for this question. So they make up this hypothetical circumstance where this same woman marries seven brothers. in sequence, never having a child by any of them. So the same woman is getting married and married and married from one brother to the next one seven times. Keeps the rabbi busy. Never a child with those, so keeps being married to the next one.

So then the question that they have for Jesus is, in the resurrection, which they don't believe in, in the resurrection, snicker snicker, right? Therefore, whose wife of this heaven will she be? I'm sure that will get them. They won't be able to answer that question, right? And so they think if they ask that question, Jesus will be stumped and shut down, silenced at last.

Well, we'll see how that works. Jesus comes back. Your question is wrong. Oh, problem. Jesus told them that they were mistaken in how they had framed their question, and they had two problems with it. Oh, this is going to be bad. They didn't know the scriptures or the power of God. He told them that flat out. You got the wrong question, and there's two problems with it, and let me tell you what the problems are. They wrongly assumed that earthly marriage continues on into the afterlife. Okay, problem one. So you guys made an assumption that's a bad one.

It's like the angels who are neither married nor given in marriage. Earthly marriage is for Earth. And let me ask you, why would it be that earthly marriage does not continue on? By the way, the Mormons don't know about this. Earthly marriage does not continue on because there is a greater marriage that was superseded, and that is the marriage of Christ and the Church. That is the ultimate eternal marriage. But earthly marriage doesn't continue on in the afterlife. That's the first problem you've got. People will be like the angels, neither married nor given in marriage. And they overlooked these in the present tense.

I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Exodus 3, 6. Here is Moses at the burning bush. And he asked, who should I say has sent me? This is his response. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Present tense. I am right now their God.

Well, so those were the two things wrong. You don't understand. Not only does marriage not continue, but you don't believe in a resurrection and you're wrong about that. So he quoted out of the portion of the Bible that the Sadducees believed in, that's only the first five books, the books of Moses, the Pentateuch or the Torah. He quoted from there to prove that they were wrong, I am right now the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He's the God, not of the dead, but of the living. Seeing that Jesus shut down the Sadducees, the Pharisees come to Jesus with a question.

Oh boy, these guys don't learn very easily, do they? asking which of the 613 commandments is the greatest one. And of course, the Jews all debated this thing. In fact, a number of the Jews said circumcision was the greatest. Of course, they had to say that because they're men, right? Okay. So circumcision, some of them argued, was the greatest. Jesus answered, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And secondly, to love your neighbor as yourself.

Those were from Deuteronomy 6.5 and Leviticus 19.18. So Jesus says, these are the first two, and all the rest of them are based on those two. He says, those are the greatest ones.

Darn, we did not get anything to stump him well so Matthew 22 41 through 46 now while the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them a question what do you think about the Christ whose son is he they said to him the son of David and that was the end of their answer He said to them, then how does David in the Spirit, that is David writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, call him the Christ Lord? Saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet. If David then calls him Lord, how is he his son?

No one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him another question. Have you ever wondered, why is it that the Jews did not see Jesus as the Messiah? Ever wondered that? Why didn't they believe? And maybe even be a question, why Jews don't believe in Jesus?

I've had some conversations with them. Actually, even a rabbi sat down and talked through this thing. There are two reasons. Yeah, I think too. Okay. First, they believe that the Messiah must come as we see Christ coming again, must come and sit on the throne of David and cast out the others who are over Israel and bothering Israel and must reign over Israel and reign over the earth for a long, long time. It's only Revelation, by the way, that says it's a thousand years.

So because Jesus didn't come in his first coming in that form, they said, well, you can't possibly be the Messiah. You're not the Christ. Because you didn't come here and boot out the Romans, and you're not sitting on the throne of David. Now, he was descended from David, but he says, you're not come here to boot out the Romans and sit on the throne of David, so you can't be the Messiah. But there was one other reason why the Jews don't believe, And that is they didn't understand that that same Messiah would also be the one who would die for them. Like Isaiah 53 spells out that by his stripes we are healed. He was wounded for our transgressions.

That message they didn't connect with this Messiah. So for those two reasons they said well you just don't qualify. We have an idea what the Messiah should be like. And you're not it. Even the rabbi that I sat down and talked with said, when the Messiah comes, he will not be divine, he will not be deity, he will simply be a descendant of David. That's what they believe. So what is Jesus doing? in this passage he's saying look there's an aspect of the Messiah you don't understand and that is that the Messiah won't be just a descendant of David because notice their answer the son of David they stopped the Messiah will not be just a descendant of David the Messiah will be God himself deity deity and that's what he was trying to get them to see And that's why you would have this language, the Lord said to my Lord. Wow. It was trying to get them to understand the Messiah would be deity, not just simply a physical descendant of David. And by the way, the rabbi that I talked to started off his conversation with me by saying, we are the Pharisees. Very interesting, huh?

He, like these Pharisees, saw the Messiah only as the physical son of David, a descendant of David. So that's why the Jews don't believe in Jesus. Not then, and in great part, not now. So Jesus asked them, what do you think about the Christ, whose son is he? They believed in a Messiah, but they saw him as only the human descendant. What Jesus wanted them to get was that Christ, the Messiah, was not just the human son of David but the divine son of God the Father.

God the Father is the first Lord in that passage and the second one, my Lord, that's God the Son. That's what Jesus was trying to point out. Jesus is both God and, by birth through Mary, man. God and man. And that they didn't get. think about this when Jesus was born of Mary he wasn't just born of Mary and you can see the genealogies there in the New Testament he wasn't just born of Mary he came from heaven having been in eternity past in heaven he came down and entered time and entered into the human race as a man but remained a deity He let go of the privileges of deity, but he remained deity. Fully God and fully man. That's what the Bible teaches, and that's the point that Jesus was wanting to get across to these people.

He came from heaven to be born of Mary, and that's the next step. When he came to be born of Mary, he was then not just fully God, but also fully man. Fully human. Why did that have to be? because in order for him to be our substitute he had to be morally and spiritually holy and perfect to be sufficient as a substitute and to be appropriate as a substitute he had to be a human like us to take the price upon himself and that the Pharisees were not even beginning to understand so that What happened? Christ came from heaven, came down on earth, He was crucified, buried, raised, ascended, and seated there in the heavenlies, not on David's throne, but in the heavenly throne where you are there with Him. Where you're there with Him. Because He came as fully God and fully man and went through these things and God identified you with Him in these things, you are seated with Him there in the heavenlies right now.

Not on David's throne. That's gonna happen. It could happen that he sits on David's throne as soon as seven years from now. As soon as seven years from now. And so he is now seated in the heavenlies. We're there seated with him. And as soon as seven years from now, he will come and we will come with him and sit on David's throne. And he will be the son of David.

And as my rabbi friend said, when the Messiah comes, we'll say, is this your first time or your second time? Right? And we will know, no, this is his second time. Won't we? Let's pray. Lord, thank you. As we look at this, we have had our eyes opened to what the Pharisees and the Sadducees did not. that in fact you are more than simply the physical son of David but you are the one who came fully qualified to pay the price for each of us and that in addition to that you identified us with that death and burial and resurrection ascension and seeding seeding in the heavenlies not on David's throne but in the heavenly throne, where we are with you. Thank you, Lord. What an immense thing you have done. Amazing grace. Amen.