WOES TO THE PHARISEES

          We’d like to get far away from those who offend us, right? It happens not only in workplaces, at schools and in families, but also in churches. Scholars who study churches have found that in recent years many have left because of the hypocrisy they’ve experienced there. Hypocrisy can take many forms, like strict legalism, being judgmental and isolating ourselves from other sinners. Hypocrisy has always been a problem. During Jesus’ life it was a problem among the Jews. When Matthew wrote his Gospel it was a problem for the early church. Hypocrisy is still a problem today. But real followers of Jesus cannot be hypocrites. In today’s passage he warns us to take hypocrisy seriously, and he shows us how to overcome it. We shouldn’t use hypocrisy as an excuse to give up and stop struggling spiritually; we should listen carefully to our Lord Jesus’ teachings so that we can grow as his healthy disciples. When churches are full of his healthy disciples, they attract many other new people. May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his living word today.

          Chapters 23–25 is the last of Jesus’ five major discourses in Matthew’s Gospel. This last discourse parallels his first one, the Sermon on the Mount, in chapters 5–7. Just as that sermon began with Beatitudes, or Blessings, so this one does with woes, or curses. Sadly, throughout his beautiful ministry Jesus has been opposed by the Pharisees. They wanted to keep people in their synagogues, in their ways, and away from Jesus. Now, for the sake of his followers’ future, Jesus exposes the Pharisees for who they really are, ripping off their holy “masks.” In verses 1–12 his speaks to the crowds and to his disciples. In verses 13–39 he speaks directly to the Pharisees and teachers of the law.

          Read verses 1–4. We notice several things here. The teachers of the law and Pharisees, Jesus said, “sit in Moses’ seat.” Archaeologists have found that at that time there was a special chair in local synagogues known as “Moses’ seat.” Those who taught from the Old Testament would sit there, expecting everybody to listen to them. Moses’ seat represented the authority of the Bible. Jesus believed the authority of the Bible. In his Sermon on the Mount he said he didn’t come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them (5:17). He wants us to carefully listen to everything the Bible teaches. What Jesus didn’t believe was the authority of many of the men who claimed to be Bible teachers.

          What undermines the authority of those who try to teach the Bible? Jesus says it’s when we don’t practice what we preach. It’s when we teach the Bible to others but not to ourselves (cf. Ro2:21–23). On the other hand, if we sincerely struggle to practice in our own lives what we learn in the Bible, we gradually gain the authority to teach others.

Look at verse 4 again. These so-called Bible teachers burdened others with their teachings; they wouldn’t even lift a finger to help them. It tells us that they had no compassion for those they taught. They only demanded and pushed. This is another reason they had no authority to teach. In being so strict, so extreme and harsh, they crushed people. They were such a contrast to our Lord Jesus, who shares the yoke with us, who’s gentle and humble in heart, and who doesn’t burden us but gives us rest for our souls (11:28–30). They were such a contrast to our Lord Jesus, who doesn’t break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick (12:20). When we share his compassion for wounded and weak people, we gain his authority to teach.

          Jesus goes on to expose the true motives of hypocritical teachers. Read verses 5–7. The phylacteries were little leather boxes tied to one’s forehead or arm to remind men to think about and practice God’s word. The tassels on the garments were reminders to live a holy life. They were kind of like our testimony writing and sharing. But the Pharisees and teachers of the law exaggerated the size of these things to draw attention to themselves. Thus they lost their original purpose. They were very sensitive about their public honor and titles. Frankly, they were using all their religious activities for their own honor and glory (Jn12: 43; Ro2:29b). When we seek our own honor and recognition—even through good things like teaching the Bible or praying—we’re being hypocrites. All human beings have the desire to be respected and honored. We want to be great like God because we’re made in his image. But when we’re seeking recognition from people, we get sick. We should be doing things not for people to see, but only for God to see. Jesus taught us the same thing earlier, in his Sermon on the Mount (6:1–18). He said that when we’re giving to the needy, or praying, or struggling against our own sins, we shouldn’t be trying to get people to notice us; we should be doing it very quietly, only for God to see.

          Read verses 8–10. Jesus rebuked using titles for personal honor. We should take him seriously. We don’t need to create any hierarchy among us. We’re all brothers and sisters, with Christ as our Lord. Read verses 11,12. Jesus has been teaching this same thing repeatedly (20:26,27; 5:3; 18:4). Humbly serving others is the way our Lord Jesus lived, and it’s the way to true greatness for us. Instead of bragging about ourselves in various ways, we need to be humbling ourselves in every way and really serving others.

          In verses 13–32 Jesus pronounces seven woes on the Pharisees—seven because it’s God’s perfect number. Six times he calls them “you hypocrites!” (13,15,23,25,27,29)—six representing the number for human beings. God alone is perfect; all human beings are nothing but sinners in need of God’s grace.

          Look at verse 13. His first rebuke is that they shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. He says, “You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” What does he mean? He’s talking about repentance. The door to his kingdom opens when we sinners repent. It’s what both John the Baptist and Jesus both preached (3:2; 4:17). But the Pharisees refused to repent of their own sins. It was too humiliating, and they were too self-righteous. They also rejected the sinful people who were trying to repent, the tax collectors and prostitutes (21:31,32). This lack of repentance was Jesus’ first and most important rebuke to the Pharisees. No matter how great we may think we are, we’re all nothing but weak sinners. We all have various kinds of sins and hypocrisies. But the good news is, no matter who we are, we can repent and turn to Jesus, and his grace changes us and enables us to live as kingdom members. We should never become too proud to repent.

          Look at verse 15. Jesus notes their zeal in making converts; they were willing to travel long distances for just one person, which is great. The problem is, they couldn’t really help the people they were chasing. Why not? Because they themselves didn’t know how to repent and depend on God’s grace. So, what they were teaching people was their own kinds of self-righteous legalism: All kinds of rules about not working on the Sabbath, all kinds of rules about outward purity. And their converts learned it all twice as better as they did. All that extreme zeal and legalism only left people children of hell, Jesus said. Zeal is good, but zeal without the knowledge of God and his grace is spiritually dangerous (Ro10:2,3). We need to lead people to repent and believe in Jesus, experience God’s grace and live for his glory. We shouldn’t focus on teaching people to keep all kinds of outward rules and laws that only make them self-righteous.

          Look at verses 16–19. Three times here Jesus calls them “blind” (16,17, 19). Why? It’s because in their religious practices they were teaching people to value material things more than spiritual things. They valued the gold on the temple and the gift on the altar. It meant they were trying to get people to offer more, so that they could enjoy a fancier, more glorious religious life. To Jesus, God’s own presence is more important than material things, and God’s presence is what makes things sacred or holy. God’s presence isn’t something we can buy or force or manipulate. He comes to dwell among us when we repent.

          In verses 16–22 Jesus uses the word “swear” ten times. The Pharisees were teaching people to swear oaths by the gold of the temple or by the gift on the altar. It was as if money or wealth made their words more serious. But Jesus taught us to make our oaths before God himself. And he emphasizes that God is the point of the temple and the altar; God is the one who sits on his throne in heaven. We need to de-throne people and what they say and do, and enthrone God, who he is and what he says and does. Without recognizing God, we become spiritually blind, only focusing on material things, ourselves or others.

          Read verse 23. The teachers of the law and Pharisees were serious about tithing. They meticulously offered God a tenth of their income, even from their kitchen spice gardens, but neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. These principles behind God’s laws all have to do with people and how we relate to them. It’s relatively easy to deal with money, numbers and computers. We can feel in control and confident in ourselves. But it’s much harder to deal with people. People aren’t easily manipulated; they need justice, mercy and faithfulness. Why are practicing justice, mercy and faithfulness so important? It’s because they’re at the core of who God is (Ex34:6,7). Jesus repeatedly taught to go and learn that God desires mercy, not sacrifice (9:13; 12:7). In God, love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other (Ps85:10). The more we know God, the more we become like him in the way we treat others. Tithing is important, but imitating God in his justice, mercy and faithfulness is way more important.

Read verse 24. Here Jesus calls them “blind guides” again (16; cf. 15:14). Why? Because they were leading people to focus on the wrong things, superficial things that really don’t matter. A gnat is a tiny bug; a camel is a huge, smelly animal. Both are unclean. Swallowing one tiny gnat is probably no big deal, but swallowing a camel is serious. Jesus is using comedy to say that focusing only on small things can make us blind to miss the really big things.

So where should our focus be? Read verses 25,26. Here Jesus teaches us to focus on inside, what’s within us. Of course we should take a shower, wash our hair, brush our teeth and wear clean clothes. But we should be even more concerned about what’s in our hearts. We can be squeaky clean outwardly, but rotten inwardly. The Bible tells us that the human heart is sin-sick. Genesis 6:5b says that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” In other words, it’s as filthy as a cesspool. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer17:9) We don’t even know how sinful our hearts are! So how can we possibly clean ourselves on the inside? We can’t. We need to come to Jesus. Only Jesus can purify us from within. 1 John 1:7–9 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Only Jesus can free us from our sins by his blood (Rev1:5b). We need to receive his blood by faith (Ro3:24, 25a). And we need to come to his light every day, confess our sins and ask for his blood to cleanse us (cf. Rev7:14). When we do, we experience the forgiveness of sins and the riches of God’s grace (Eph1:7). This is the gospel: Jesus’ blood can cleanse our sin-sick hearts and change us from within. It’s not what we do, but what Jesus does.

Look at verses 27,28. Here Jesus is reinforcing what he just said. The teachers of the law and Pharisees looked great outwardly, but inwardly they were really unclean. Not only so, but they were making others unclean, just as people could unknowingly walk over a dead body and become unclean. When we ignore the condition of our hearts, we cannot but become a bad influence to others.

Look at verses 29–32. Jesus rebukes the teachers of the law and Pharisees for living in denial. They acted like they loved the prophets. But in fact, they were just like their ancestors who killed them. And why did they kill them? Because they told them to repent. Read verse 33. This was the same rebuke John the Baptist gave them (3:7). Being like snakes or vipers meant they were poisonous. In modern terms, they were toxic, very unhealthy to be around. Jesus predicted they would persecute his servants in the future (34). They thought they were so righteous, but actually before God they were guilty of shedding all the righteous blood that was ever shed (35,36).

What was Jesus’ final word about them? Read verse 37. His heart was broken. Though he rebuked them so severely, he had a mother’s heart that longed to protect and save them, but they wouldn’t repent. Jesus knew that it was their unrepentance that would destroy both Jerusalem and their nation (38). His message of salvation during his first coming would be transformed into his judgment during his second coming (39).

Today we learned how we can grow as Jesus’ healthy disciples instead of hypocrites. We need to be practicing what we learn from the Bible, and treating others with compassion. We need to be living before God instead of seeking human recognition, and humbly serving others. We need to be repenting and receiving God’s grace in Jesus, and helping others to do the same. We need to recognize God’s presence, keep our promises and strive to imitate him. Above all, we need to come to Jesus and trust in his blood to purify us from within.

“WHOSE SON IS THE MESSIAH?”

Matthew 22:15–46

Key Verse: 22:44

“The Lord said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’”

          Happy Easter! It so happens that this Spring we’re going to be finishing our study of Matthew’s Gospel. We’re now in chapter 22, and we’ve got to go all the way to chapter 28. Chapters 21–28 cover the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. So in a sense, we’ll be studying Easter passages until mid-June! You know how hard it is for us to actually remember anything we learned at church at a holiday? Going at this pace, hopefully, something will stick with us!

          So what’s the Easter holiday supposed to be about? At Easter, advertisers tell us about bunnies and eggs and chocolates and dressing up and family get-togethers and big meals. But Easter is supposed to be about the death and resurrection of Jesus. At Easter Christians try to remember that Jesus was crucified then raised from the dead to give us forgiveness and new life. In fact, Jesus’ death and resurrection are the core of the gospel, the good news. It’s the one time of year we can directly really think about what this means.

          Today’s passage takes place on Tuesday. Just two days earlier, on Sunday, Jesus had entered Jerusalem. Just three days later, on Friday he would be crucified. Now the religious leaders are trying hard to discredit Jesus so that they can finally find a way to get rid of him. Jesus has been telling parables to explain his authority. The religious leaders knew he was challenging them to repent, but they refused. Now they come with various tricky questions to trap him. In today’s study, we especially want to think about Jesus’ final question to them, “Whose Son is the Messiah?” What does it mean that he is David’s Lord? How could that happen? And what does it mean to us? May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

          Read verses 15–17. Taxes are always a tricky issue. Many religious people have gotten caught cheating on their taxes. Basically, the Pharisees and Herodians mentioned here were enemies, but in attacking Jesus they became friends. They thought they could use flattery to tempt Jesus. If he said, “Yes, pay taxes to Caesar,” he’d seem weak to many Jews who wanted him to deliver them from Roman oppression and would lose his popularity. If he said, “No, don’t pay taxes to Caesar,” they could have him arrested as a rebel against Roman rule.

          How did Jesus answer? Read verse 18. Jesus could see right through their flattery. He called them out and called them “hypocrites” because their nice words didn’t match their evil motive. Then what did he do? Read verse 19. A denarius was a Roman coin commonly used among people at that time. It was actually a valuable coin, worth an entire day’s wages—today, about $100. That’s an expensive coin! Then Jesus asks his own questions. Read verse 20. On a denarius, there was the image of Tiberius Caesar. Underneath were the words “Divine Son of Augustus.” On the other side of the coin, there was a Roman goddess of peace, “Pax,” with the words “High Priest.” To Jews, this coin, these images, and words were idolatrous and blasphemous. Jesus was using this coin to make a powerful visual statement without using any words: Why would good Jews want to hold onto such a coin, such dirty, contaminating money? Why would they want to compromise with such a godless government?

          And he didn’t stop there. Read verse 21b. He’s making two powerful statements here. First is, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Since that money has his name and picture on it, it belongs to him, so give it back. It’s such a simple answer, even a child can understand, yet it’s loaded with deeper meanings. Giving it back implies, “Don’t steal it—it’s not really yours.” In a sense, Jesus is saying that not paying taxes to any government is like stealing. In a sense, he’s also saying, “Don’t get too involved with it.” Once we start getting involved with money, it’s like a slippery slope. We start worrying and calculating and rationalizing. Then our hearts are stolen from serving God: “You cannot serve both God and money” (6:24b). Jesus gives a simple directive: “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Whatever taxes the government asks from us, don’t try to get out of it; just pay it and be free of it. Apostle Paul wrote: “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor” (Ro12:6,7). The Bible tells us to pay our taxes and be good, law-abiding citizens, not rebels.

          But Jesus goes on to say, “…and to God what is God’s.” Give to God what is God’s. What’s that? What does Jesus mean? In the context of that coin, he means don’t ever give your worship to Caesar; give your worship only to God. Don’t ever give your worship to money; give your worship only to God. Give to God your heart, your loyalty, your full obedience, your life. We Christians have two citizenships: one is in this world, and the other is in the kingdom of heaven. We have to fulfill duties of both citizenships. We should vote in elections. We should pray for government leaders. We should serve in the military when called. But we should also love God, live for his glory and honor, and make it our priority to advance his kingdom. Read verse 21b again. To really practice this teaching we need to live a giving life, not a getting life. Give to Caesar, and give to God. How did they respond? Look at verse 22. In modern terms, they were “treated.”

          Look at verse 23. In Greek, “that same day” literally means “in that hour” or “at the same time.” Sadducees were rich, highly educated, aristocratic people. They thought they were much better than everybody else, including the Pharisees and Herodians. They thought they had a much better challenging question to Jesus. What was it? Read verses 24–28. Basically, they were trying to make fun of the resurrection, because they didn’t believe it. They were using an exaggerated example, but they thought it showed that the whole notion of the resurrection was absurd. How could a woman, trying to have children with several brothers, then be raised from the dead with all of them and choose one as her husband? The Sadducees were strongly influenced by Greek rationalism, which denied that there’s a spiritual world or anything invisible and only emphasized this literal, physical, material world. Today we’re still influenced by a rationalistic view of the world. Such people think, “If you can’t measure it, it can’t be real.” With this way of thinking people still deny spiritual realities. They mock the Christian faith and say there’s no such thing as the resurrection or heaven.

          How did Jesus answer? Read verse 29. Though the Sadducees were supposed to be religious leaders, they were in great error. It was a stinging rebuke. Sadducees prided themselves on knowing a lot. But they failed to know two most important things: the Scriptures and the power of God. So many people today still claim to know so much. But without knowing the Scriptures or the power of God, all that we know can lead us to a completely wrong conclusion. Why do we need to know the Scriptures? Because in the Scriptures we have God’s own revelation of himself and all the truth he wants us to know. Ignoring the Scriptures is like trying to put something complicated together without reading the instruction manual. The Sadducees thought they knew the Scriptures, especially the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch. But Jesus shows them that they don’t really know it as well as they thought.

          We also need to know the power of God. What does that mean? Essentially it means to know God himself. The Bible begins, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Ge1:1). Who is this God who created the heavens and the earth? He’s God Almighty. With his incomprehensible power, he created this entire universe out of nothing. We can’t even fathom that! But it means that nothing is too hard for God. God Almighty who created all matter and all life in the first place can certainly raise the dead. God Almighty has raised the dead several times in history, and he has promised that one day he’s going to raise all the dead who ever lived, both good and bad (Jn5:28,29). Even death or cremation is not a hiding place for him. As those who claim to believe in him, we need to start our thinking not with the cold realities around us, but with the even greater reality of God Almighty.

          Then Jesus goes on. Read verse 30. It’s another truth the Sadducees didn’t know. To be like the angels doesn’t mean we’ll have wings; it means we won’t have any gender. There will be no more gender because there will be no more procreation. In this world money and marriage are the hope of many people and they can become obsessions. But in heaven, money, and marriage won’t even matter. At the resurrection, we won’t just be eternal, gender-neutral beings like angels; the Bible says we will bear the likeness of the man from heaven, our Lord Jesus (1Co15:49). We’ll share in his glory and character. We’ll be totally satisfied with his presence, worshiping and sharing eternal fellowship with him.

          Then Jesus uses Scripture to prove his point. Read verses 31,32. It’s a quote from Exodus 3:6. God told Moses he forever wanted to be known as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, down through all generations. Jesus is saying, “Do you really think God would want to be known as the God of dead people?” No, our living God is the God of the living! It means Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are all living with God in his eternal kingdom right now. And not only them, but all who went before us and lived by faith are living now living with the living God in his kingdom. Jesus’ words mean that when we believe, we too have a living hope in his kingdom (1Pe1:3,4). We believe in the living God and have hope in him; we pray to the living God; and someday, by faith, we will go to the kingdom of the living God. The living God promises that when we believe in Jesus who rose from the dead, we too will live forever in his glory in his kingdom (e.g. Jn11:25,26; 14:19b). He promises to give us a resurrection body, glorious beyond our imagination (1Co15:42–44). We hold onto this faith and hope, and with this faith and hope, we celebrate Easter.

          Look at verse 34. The Pharisees were very happy that Jesus silenced the Sadducees, because the Pharisees believed the resurrection and the Sadducees were their rivals. But the Pharisees were still self-righteously opposed to Jesus. They brought forth their best expert in the law to trap him with what was to them the most tricky question. Read verses 35,36. Why did he ask this question? Most likely it was because the Pharisees perceived Jesus as a lawbreaker. They thought he didn’t keep the Sabbath and didn’t keep their traditions like fasting or washing hands because he thought he was above the law. Pharisees, on the other hand, had so many laws they loved to emphasize and keep. Over the years they’d built up an elaborate, complicated, legalistic religious system. It must have seemed so daunting to pick which commandment was the greatest. It could spark so many controversies and debates. Whichever one Jesus picked, they thought they could prove him wrong and thereby diminish his status.

          How did Jesus answer them? Read verses 37–40. Notice that there was not even a response from the Pharisees. Jesus actually kept the spirit of the Law, which is love, and it was this spirit of the Law that the Pharisees had totally lost. They had so many rules about loving God, but in their hearts, they didn’t really love God. They had so many moral, ethical and ritual rules, but in their hearts, they didn’t really love people, either. It was all for their own glory. By emphasizing the law of love, loving God and loving other human beings, Jesus was showing that all their rules had turned out to be pointless and hypocritical. When he talked about love, they became quiet.

          Jesus said loving others is like loving God. It’s because when we love people, it’s the evidence that we love God (1Jn4:20). If we claim to love God but have no love for the people around us, we’re deceiving ourselves. At the same time, if we really want to love people, then we have to love God most. It’s a kind of paradox. But only when we love God most can we really love other people.

          Finally, Jesus goes on to ask his own questions. Read verses 41,42. He starts off with a very easy question. Everybody knew the Messiah would be the Son of David. But then Jesus asks a much harder question. Read verses 43–45. Here Jesus mentions three times that the Messiah is actually David’s “Lord.” What does that mean? It means the Messiah is actually superior to David or outranks David. Obviously the Pharisees weren’t thinking like that. They were thinking of the Messiah as a man, a descendant of David. But in Psalm 110:1, David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him “Lord.” How could the Messiah be David’s Lord? Apostle Paul explains: “…regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Ro1:3,4). Jesus became David’s Lord through his resurrection from the dead. He’s not only David’s Lord; he’s King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev19:16). He’s our Lord as well. When Jesus the Son obeyed God the Father even to death on a cross, God raised him from the dead and exalted him to the highest place, to his own right hand, as Lord of all (Php2:8–11).

          The Risen Jesus is our Lord. He’s worthy of our worship. He’s worthy of our obedience. He’s worthy of our very lives. He’s worthy to be at the center of our lives. To believe in him means to believe in his resurrection and to live with him as my Lord. It’s at the core of real Christian faith. Romans 10:9–13 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” We call on Jesus our Lord not just for salvation, not just to avoid shame, but to surrender control of my life to him. To call Jesus “Lord” means to put him first, above everything and everyone else in our lives.

          Read verse 44 again. Jesus quoted this verse while he was surrounded by enemies questioning and attacking him. He knew that in a few short days they would have him crucified. But he wasn’t afraid. He was holding onto this promise of God. He was sure of God’s promise to raise him from the dead and exalt him to his own right hand. He was sure that God his Father would put his enemies under his feet someday. He held onto this verse and depended on the living God to fight for him.

Jesus our Lord wants us to share in this faith. As his followers, we too will be persecuted. We too will be despised and rejected. We too will be opposed and criticized. We might feel totally overwhelmed in this world. But when we follow Jesus as Lord and surrender our lives to him, we will share in his victory. Even if we’re defeated now, we’ll share in his eternal glory. This was the faith of the early Christians who were facing public martyrdom. Whenever we stop trying to fight enemies with our own strength and just depend on Jesus, God himself fights for us. God himself gives us spiritual victories. It’s in surrendering and submitting to Jesus as Lord that we win.

Let’s read verse 44 once more. This Easter may God help us newly confess that the Risen Jesus is my Lord. May God bless us to hold onto the glorious hope we have in his resurrection. And may God help us to depend on and submit to Jesus our Lord in our daily lives, so that we can share in his spiritual victory.

THE PARABLE OF THE WEDDING BANQUET

Matthew 22:1–14

Key Verse: 22:14

“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

          Have you ever seen the TV show “What Not to Wear”? People with really bad fashion first show their ugly wardrobe. Only by looking in the mirror at it can they start to see what they should wear. Today’s passage is similar. By looking at a bad example Jesus helps us see how to respond to God’s invitation. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word today.

          Look at verse 1. To whom is Jesus speaking? It’s the chief priests and Pharisees in Jerusalem (21:45). Since Jesus arrived on Sunday, entering as a king, and on Monday cleared the temple, they had a serious problem with his claims to authority (21:23). So Jesus taught them two parables, the parable of the two sons, and the parable of the tenants. In the parable of the two sons he taught that God’s kingdom is for people humble enough to repent (21:31b). In the parable of the tenants he taught that God is looking for those who produce the fruit in keeping with repentance (21:43; cf. 3:8). Based on both these parables, these religious leaders are about to be “out.”

          Look at verse 2. In this third parable Jesus again introduces an authority figure: first it was a father, then, a landowner, and now it’s a king. In each case there are also people under authority: the two sons, the tenants, and now the king’s subjects. In each parable people don’t respond well to the authority figure. And in each parable we see that Jesus mentions “the kingdom” (21:31b,43; 22:2). In this third parable Jesus stresses how wrong the negative response is.

          Read verse 2. We can just imagine how a king would prepare for his son’s wedding. What a happy event for him and for the whole kingdom! As with all wedding preparations, first would be the sending out of invitations. A king would hire the royal calligraphers to hand-write each one in a most beautiful way. He would hire researchers to get everyone’s correct name and address. He would probably construct a wedding hall especially large enough to fit everyone, and grand enough for a king's son. He would start ordering the wedding clothes not only for the royal family, but also for all the guests who couldn’t afford it. And he would prepare for the banquet by selecting the best cattle, produce, bakers and wines. It would be a huge operation and a huge expense, but it was all for the crowned prince, the future heir of the kingdom.

          The Bible repeatedly tells us that heaven is like a wedding banquet (e.g. Isa25:6–8; Ps23:5; Lk14:15; Rev21:2). There’s going to be a feast in heaven, called “the wedding supper of the Lamb”; wedding clothes, bright and clean, will be given for guests to wear (Rev19:7,8). Throughout the Bible God has been longing to bring people to this glorious kingdom, where there will be no more crying or mourning or death or pain, where people’s souls can be truly satisfied (Rev21:4). Even more than an earthly wedding feast, heaven will be the place of utmost joy. It also will be the place where God our King and his Son will receive the honor they are due.

          Throughout this parable Jesus uses the words “invite” or “invited” (3,4,8, 9,14). Mainly he’s referring to people called “the invited guests.” Who are they? They represent the Jews. God became their King through his gracious work in their history. After working among them with great patience, God longed to introduce them to their Messiah Jesus and welcome them at last into his eternal kingdom.

Can you imagine getting an invitation to a royal wedding? British Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle are getting married in May. Most people would be astonished to receive an invitation to their wedding in the mail. We’d be wondering, “Me? Why would they want me to come? How do they even know me?” At first we might be burdened about not having the proper clothes to wear. But in this case, wedding clothes are provided. It means, “Just come as you are, and let’s celebrate.” If that were the case, most of us would be overjoyed to go. In those days weddings would last an entire week, but people shouldn’t hesitate to take time off to be at this one. Why? It’s because it’s no ordinary wedding; it’s the wedding of the king’s son. It’s the most important event for the entire kingdom, and participating in it is the way to honor the king. It’s the best wedding in all of history. So Revelation 19:9 tells us, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”

          But how do the invited guests respond? Read verse 3. What a shock! They’d already received a heads up about it with “save-the-date notices,” and now they’re told it’s time to show up, but they still refuse?! It’s hard to understand. Many a king would have been greatly offended. Some might have thought, “Fine, let’s keep it an intimate celebration of close family and friends.” But not this king. Read verse 4. He sends more servants, this time to advertise the dinner menu. Jesus is showing us that our God is slow to anger, compassionate, gracious and abounding in love and faithfulness (Ex34:6). He understands that we’re burdened and oppressed living in this hard world. He doesn’t mind humbling himself and appealing to us on our level. And we should remember that these are his people; he’s been working among them for a long time and really wants them to come. His invitation reminds us of Isaiah’s prophecy: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare” (Isa55:1,2). God wants to satisfy our souls with his heavenly wedding banquet.

          After the servants tell them about the dinner menu, how do they respond? Read verse 5. They put their personal business interests ahead of the king’s invitation. They don’t want to lose anything. Their hearts are weighed down by the anxieties of life, too narrow even to think about what this event means for their king. Some are even worse. Read verse 6. Just like in the parable of the tenants, the servants represent the prophets, whom God sent to his people to call them to come back to him. Their way of treating the king’s servants shows they were in outright rebellion against the king himself. Rebellion against God may feel great at the moment, but it always brings terrible consequences in the end. Read verse 7. Here Jesus is predicting the destruction of Jerusalem, which was fulfilled in AD70. He knew these people would reject him and bring themselves under God’s severe judgment.

          But then the story changes. Read verses 8,9. It’s interesting that it says the invited guests “did not deserve to come.” They didn’t deserve it not because they didn’t do enough good things, but because of their poor attitude toward the king and his gracious invitation. Also, we see here how the king really wants to fill the banquet with people to celebrate the wedding of his son. He doesn’t mind inviting anyone, even people from the street. It shows how humble and gracious God is.

          What do the king’s servants do? Read verse 10. These servants are amazing. They wholeheartedly obey the king’s instructions. They understand the king’s heart, and they do their best. Matthew emphasizes that they bring “the bad as well as the good.” These bad people are those who’d lived sinful lives. They in no way deserve to come to the wedding banquet of the king’s son. It’s only by his amazing grace. It tells us that God’s kingdom is filled with all kinds of people who actually don’t deserve to be there. We also notice that through these servants, the king’s will is accomplished. It tells us that in every place and every generation, God’s servants have the task of bringing all kinds of people to his kingdom. We shouldn’t discriminate based on what people look like to us, or calculate, but bring anyone willing to come.

          Then what happens? Read verses 11,12. As already mentioned, wedding clothes for those who didn’t have any were handed out at the door. So this man’s not wearing any is disturbing. Why wouldn’t he put them on? Was he trying to be unique? Was he too self-centered? Or too rebellious? Did he just want the free food and didn’t want to be bothered? In any case, he didn’t understand that wearing these wedding clothes was all the king asked of those who came. Wearing wedding clothes is to show respect, honor and gratitude to the king.

          What happened? Read verse 13. We may think going to weddings is optional. But in this case, there are only two options: the wedding banquet of the king’s son, or the utter darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In other words, heaven, or hell. It’s a bit disturbing that this guy gets thrown out of heaven simply because of what he’s wearing. But it tells us that wearing the wedding clothes is a matter of life or death. What are they? Galatians 3:27 says, “…for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.” The wedding clothes are Jesus Christ himself. We put him on, meaning we’re baptized into him. We repent of our sins. We deeply accept that what he did on the cross, his painful rejection, suffering and death, were to take away the punishment for all my sins. We don’t hold onto our pride in any way, but humbly accept him. When we put our faith in Jesus in this way, no matter who we are, we’re clothed with his righteousness (Ro3:22). Before God, all our own righteous acts are like filthy rags (Isa64:6). The only people allowed into heaven are those who’ve clothed themselves with Christ. It’s not something we do just at the start of Christian life, but a lifestyle. Every day we clothe ourselves with Christ and don’t think about how to gratify the desires of our sinful nature (Ro13:14).

          Read verse 14. Jesus says, “For many are invited.” It means God invites everyone to come to his kingdom—anyone, from any place, any background, any situation. Then Jesus says, “…but few are chosen.” It means in comparison to all those invited, relatively few really accept God’s way of righteousness. These few “chosen” people are those humble enough to sincerely repent and put all their trust in Jesus, not in themselves. We can’t make people “chosen.” Our job is just to invite them and give them the message of God’s grace in Jesus. Those who open their hearts and accept it turn out to be “chosen.” As our Lord Jesus wasn’t discouraged by all the rejection and poor attitudes he was dealing with, so we too shouldn’t be discouraged when people treat us with indifference, or worse. We should expect that in our time, too, many will be invited, but few will be chosen.

          Today we thought about how amazing God’s grace is. He’s preparing heaven to be an amazing celebration of his grace to us through his Son. He’s inviting everyone, no matter if they’re bad or good, to come to his kingdom. He’s offering everyone the wedding clothes of the righteousness of Jesus. All we have to do is accept it personally, by faith. What a privilege! What amazing grace! We should always appreciate this grace. We also thought about the work of the king’s servants. May God help us to live as his servants and do our best to invite people to his kingdom.

THE CORNERSTONE

Matthew 21:33–46

Key Verse: 21:42

“Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the Scriptures: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes”?’”

          We’re studying Jesus’ final days in Jerusalem just before he was crucified. That week he did and said some important things. He rode into the city on a baby donkey, to show the world that he’s a gentle King. He cleared the temple and cursed a fruitless tree, to show the world that he’s the King of righteousness. He taught his disciples to believe and pray, to challenge the ungodly world. Then, he tells three parables about his authority. All three parables tell us that Jesus is God’s Son. He would be rejected by the religious leaders, just as he predicted (16:21), but God would make him the source of salvation and the new foundation of his world redemptive history. Today, as we think about Jesus’ famous parable of the tenants, let’s learn how we should respond to him.

Look at verses 33,34. In these details, we can see the landowner’s expectations. He planted good vines. He built a wall around the vineyard to protect it so that it could grow. He dug a winepress, expecting that all the plants would produce many grapes he could turn into wine. He even built a watchtower to make sure to guard it all. He hired some farmers to go in and work his vineyard. And at harvest time, he fully expected there to be fruit, so he sent servants to collect some for himself. Jesus was using a familiar Biblical allegory. In the Old Testament, the prophets also mentioned it (Isa5; Jer2:21; Ps80:8–19). The landowner represents God, the tenant farmers, the people of Israel, the servants represent the prophets, and the vineyard represents God’s redemptive work in the world. More broadly, Jesus’ parable of the tenants tells us what God also expects from each of us. God is our Creator. He created the world, he created us, and he put us in his world as stewards of his creation. He expects us to use the lives he gave us to do many good things in this world for the glory of God. He is especially expecting good life fruits from us. As we learned in the previous study, God wants us to produce the fruit of growing in his image, in the character of Jesus, and also, the fruit of influencing others’ lives, helping people to know Christ personally. We produce both inner and outer fruit when we live a life of repentance before God (3:8). More than our words, our fruitfulness shows our genuine love for God.

What happened when the owner’s servants came for the fruit? Look at verse 35. They were so violent. They had no respect for the owner or for his servants. Why were they doing this? They were sending a message, trying to say that they were no longer accountable to the owner, that the vineyard was theirs. Look at verse 36. Though their behavior was so bad, the owner kept sending servants. It tells us that our God is slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin (Ex34:6,7a). Our God is rich in kindness, tolerance and patience (Ro2:4). We also can see here that for the owner, it was no longer about the fruit; what he was really doing was trying to have a relationship with these tenants. It’s what God wants most from us.

At the same time, this part of the parable shows that the tenants were not at all interested in having a relationship with the owner. They wanted to be free to live on their own, in their own way. Though the owner had let them live in his vineyard, had given them good jobs working for him and let them keep much of the fruit for themselves, they were so ungrateful. They also became proud, acting as if they owned the vineyard. It was a self-delusion. It is an allegory not only of the people of Israel, but of all human beings. Romans tells us that although we know God, we neither glorify him as God nor give thanks to him. Our thinking becomes futile and our foolish hearts are darkened. We claim to be wise, but we become fools. It happens when we forget who we are before God. God will always be God; we can never be God. We, on the other hand, will always be his creatures, always indebted to him for life and breath and everything else.

We also see in Jesus’ parable how sinful people treat the owner’s servants. In Israel’s history, they beat the prophets and stoned those sent to them. They persecuted those who came to try to help them repent and come back to God. It became their bad habit. In fact, all sinful people in history have treated those who serve God the same way, and it still goes on today. People despise and strongly reject God’s servants. People don’t want to be held accountable or told what to do.

Read verse 37. This is the turning point in the parable. If we stop to think about it, we can’t but wonder what this owner was doing. Doesn’t he remember how violently they treated all his servants? Doesn’t he remember how they never repented? Why would he even consider sending his son to them? How could he think they would respect his son? When he planted his vineyard, the owner seemed like a good businessman, but now he looks foolish. Yet the owner believed that if his son appeared to them, the tenants would have a change of heart. He believed they would interpret this as a gesture of great honor. In telling us how the owner sent his son to the tenants, Jesus is telling us of God who sent his one and only Son into this sinful world. He’s telling us that God is love. It reminds us of 1 Corinthians 13:4–7: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” This is who God is. And it’s who he wants us to be.

Look at verse 38. These tenants were crooked. They recognized the owner’s son, but they were jealous. They didn’t like it that he was the heir. They were envious of his inheritance. They thought they could kill him and take his inheritance with no repercussions. They had the chance to open their hearts to the owner’s love, but they failed. Look at verse 39. They treated the owner’s son just as they’d treated all his servants—like garbage to be thrown away.

Jesus asked, “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do with those tenants?” (40) This is the most compelling part of the parable. Jesus is confronting the religious leaders listening to him. Read verse 41. They became furious with the tenants who’d behaved so badly. Most likely, they themselves were landowners who had to deal with unruly and ungrateful tenants of their own. They didn’t realize Jesus was describing them. How often when we’re self-righteous, we get angry with others, not realizing we’re just the same!

          Read verse 42. Jesus is quoting from Psalm 118; it was a famous psalm sung every Passover by pilgrims going to Jerusalem. The people had sung part of this psalm when they welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as King (21:9; Ps118: 25,26). But here, it’s not apparent at first why Jesus is again quoting from this psalm. To understand, we have to think about the two stones he mentions. The first is the stone the builders rejected. Why would builders reject a stone? Maybe it’s not the right color, shape or size. It doesn’t fit in with their plans. So the builders assume they don’t need it. When David was a shepherd boy, he too was overlooked. He was the youngest. He was out in the fields taking care of sheep. He didn’t look impressive. So Samuel didn’t even consider pick him. His brothers didn’t like him, either. Goliath laughed at him. King Saul was jealous of him. Jesus, too, was despised and rejected. He didn’t fit in with the leaders’ preconceptions of who the Messiah should be. Usually, rejection marks the end of things. A rejected stone just gets buried. Rejected people are forgotten.

But not in this case. In this case, the rejected stone becomes the cornerstone. What’s a cornerstone? It’s at the bottom corner of a building, joining its walls together. A cornerstone is critical to the entire building because it becomes like a foundation; it makes everything else level, plumb and flush. A bad cornerstone makes a building unstable and causes it all to collapse. So only a stone cut and polished to the greatest precision is selected. Often the building’s identity is written on its cornerstone. A cornerstone can also be the most important stone in an archway, again, holding it all together.

The verse says that the stone the builders rejected became the cornerstone. It was done by the Lord himself. And it’s marvelous to our eyes. What does it mean? It’s a veiled reference to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Though he would be rejected and killed, God would raise him from the dead and make him the cornerstone of his redemptive history, thus revealing his glory.

          Later, the apostles were criticized in Jerusalem for healing a crippled beggar, and they quoted this same psalm to the religious leaders: “…then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved” (Ac4:10–12). Jesus is our cornerstone. It means he’s our only source of salvation.

          Jesus applies the parable of the tenants directly to the religious leaders. Read verse 43. How humiliating! Jesus rebuked their utter failure as God’s people. God wanted his people to be useful to him in his plan of world salvation. But they only became proud, greedy and rebellious. Despite all his efforts, they rejected his great love through his Son. The greatest sin of all is to reject God’s love. On the other hand, people humble enough to repent are those who produce fruit for God’s kingdom. We can be either like the religious leaders or like humble people who produce kingdom fruit.

          Read verse 44. Here we find that there are only two options in responding to Jesus the Cornerstone. We can either accept him or reject him. To accept him is not easy. We have to fall on him and be broken to pieces, meaning we need to depend on Jesus as my only Savior and let my sinful nature be totally broken in all my pride and self-righteousness. To reject him may seem like no big deal right now. But one day, that stone will fall on us until we are crushed. It means to come under God’s judgment and eternal punishment.

God in his great love is inviting us to build our lives on Jesus the cornerstone. He is a sure foundation. When we trust and obey him, we too will be rejected like he was (1Pe2:4–5). But God entrusts his glorious kingdom to us and enables us to bear fruit for his kingdom.

Today we learned that Jesus is our cornerstone, our only true spiritual foundation. We should open our hearts to his great love and give him the fruit of our sincere repentance.

THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS

Matthew 21:18–32

Key Verse: 21:32

“For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collector and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

          Authority. Our gut reaction to it is to be suspicious. We tend to associate it with abuse and oppression (cf. 20:25). On the other hand, authority is important. For example, when we don’t want bad advice we consult somebody who’s an “authority” on a subject. It’s like young people’s term, “legit.” As there’s legitimate human authority, so there’s legitimate spiritual authority. This topic of authority is related to Matthew’s main theme that Jesus is our King. Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth (28:18). He teaches with authority (7:29), heals with authority (9:8) and forgives with authority (9:6). He also gives his authority to his disciples to spread the gospel and make disciples (10:1; 28:19). Last week he entered Jerusalem as God’s King who comes in the name of the Lord (21:9). Some people really liked it; some hated it. Now they come to challenge his authority. In today’s passage, we learn about the nature of Jesus’ authority, the source of his authority, the outcome of his authority, and especially, how to respond to his authority. These things show what it really means to receive Jesus as our King. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his word today.

First, the nature of Jesus’ authority (18–22). Read verses 18,19. Wow! Was Jesus being “hangry”? Some people feel bad about that poor, innocent tree. It was unusual for Jesus to do this. He was always using his power to heal and give life. This was the only time he used it to curse. What was happening? It wasn’t an abuse of power when he couldn’t satisfy his hunger. Here Jesus was like one of the Old Testament prophets, doing something seemingly bizarre but acting out a prophetic message from God. For example, Isaiah stripped off all his clothes and went around naked for three years (Isa20). Jeremiah hid his underwear in a rock and went back to get it only after a long time (Jer13). Hosea married a prostitute (Hos1). Ezekiel shaved his head and beard with a sword, divided the hairs into thirds, set one third on fire, scattered another third around the city, stabbing at it with a sword, and threw the remaining third into the wind; then he kept a few, sewed them into his clothes, and burned some of them (Eze5). Each time God commanded these prophets to do these things; God was sending his people a message through them. If so, God must have told Jesus to do this. What was his message to his people through Jesus cursing this fig tree?

          Verse 19 emphasizes that when he went up to this tree, Jesus found on it nothing but leaves. From a distance, it looked like it had fruit, but it didn’t. This real-life event was a metaphor. For what? In one sense it explained what had happened the previous day. Jesus had gone to the Jerusalem temple to see about the worship of God. When he arrived, there were many people, so it looked really good, like a tree with many leaves. But upon closer examination, they were using the Court of the Gentiles at the temple, a place for lost people to seek God, as a place to sell animals and exchange money (21:12). So all their worship activity wasn’t really about worship; it was about people’s convenience and making a personal profit. Israel’s worship had become an outward show with no content. Jesus drove those people and their business out of the temple and made it a place where sick people could come to him to be healed (21:14).

          This fig tree with leaves but no fruit also can be a metaphor for a person. Who’s that? It’s someone who looks good outwardly, who comes from a Christian family, knows and says all the right things, goes through all the motions but has no good fruit. To Jesus, what’s important is not appearances but life fruit. He said God “cuts off every branch in [him] that bears no fruit” (Jn15:2a). And he taught, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (7:16,20). So what good fruit should we be looking for, both in ourselves and in others? Basically, it’s two-fold, first in us, and then through us. First is the fruit of spiritual maturity, the fruit of the Spirit that makes us Christ-like—love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal5:22,23). We can’t produce such fruit; only the Spirit can do it in us. Next is the fruit of helping others until Christ is formed in them (Gal4:19). Again, we can’t produce it; the Spirit does it through us. So, as I grow in Christ, through the Spirit’s work, I also help others to know Christ. But how? John the Baptist said, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (3:8). It’s not fake but real repentance that allows the Spirit to change us. Only through repentance can we produce the fruit God wants. We shouldn’t deceive ourselves, live before people, or depend on what happened in the past; we should live before God, depend on his Spirit and produce good fruit today.

          Read verse 20. The disciples were amazed that the tree withered so quickly. In Greek, the word for “amazed” can also be translated “disturbed.” Over the past three years, they’d seen Jesus do and say so many powerful things, but they’d never seen him like this. Probably they were still troubled by what had happened at the temple the day before. Jesus had just entered Jerusalem, but he seemed determined to challenge the entire religious establishment.

          What did he tell them? Read verses 21,22. Jesus wants his disciples to access and use his spiritual authority. How? It’s through faith and prayer. Many people think he was teaching his disciples to attempt all kinds of impossible things. He surely didn’t want them going around cursing trees or showing off powers. What he was really teaching was to challenge situations where opposition and hostility to the gospel seem insurmountable. He himself had entered Jerusalem, the place so hostile to him and his message, but through faith and prayer, he believed God would win the greatest spiritual victory. In every place and generation, people don’t like God’s message. But when we believe and pray God can use even weak people like us to change the world. First, we need to really believe God can move such mountains. Then, we need to really pray. When we really believe and really pray, even though we’re so small, God will surely answer according to his will (1Jn5:14,15).

Second, the source of Jesus’ authority (23–27). Read verse 23. From early in the morning Jesus was at the temple teaching people the Bible, doing what God called him to do. Then the religious leaders, who should have been doing that, came and challenged him. They were upset about what he’d done in the temple. To them, Jesus was nothing but a carpenter from Nazareth. How dare he let people call him King! How dare he come into their temple and start teaching people what to do! Especially, how dare he make them look bad during Passover before all those Jewish pilgrims! In modern terms, they were accusing him of operating without a license. They thought they could intimidate him with this.

          How did he respond? Read verses 24,25a. Here, “from heaven” means “from God.” Jesus knew exactly how to handle these people, and what was at the core of their problem. He mentioned the ministry of John the Baptist not to avoid but to actually answer them. Like himself, John the Baptist didn’t have any official position or authority. He was out in the wilderness telling people to repent. But everybody knew John was a great prophet of God who eventually died for his faith. The religious leaders in Jerusalem had been too proud to accept John’s challenge to repent; they thought they were already in good with God because of their heritage (3:7–9). They thought they knew better than John and saw him from a human point of view, so they never listened to him.

Read verses 25b–27a. It shows that though they were supposed to be religious leaders, in fact, they were politicians, sensitive to popular opinion. They were full of calculations. They had no courage to stand for the truth or tell the truth. They knew the truth but pretended not to know. How pathetic! How did Jesus respond? Look at verse 27b. Jesus doesn’t explain himself to people not interested in truth, and neither should we. He taught us, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (7:6). Despite their poor response, the source of Jesus’ authority was very clearly from God, not humans.

Third, the outcome and how to respond to Jesus’ authority (28–32). Jesus goes on to tell them three parables: the parable of the two sons (21:28–32); the parable of the tenants (21:33–46); and the parable of the wedding banquet (22:1–14). They all continue the theme of the authority of Jesus as our King. But today we’ll just focus on the first one. The parable of the two sons is found only in Matthew’s Gospel. It must have had a special meaning to Matthew, who used to be a tax collector before Jesus called him. It’s a short and simple parable with a powerful message. Read verses 28–31a. Jesus always told parables from ordinary life. Most people in a family can relate to this. Sometimes a parent will tell a child to do something, and the child first says “No!” but later listens. Sometimes the child first says, “Sure!” but then ends up not really doing it. This parable again illustrates the authority of Jesus. Even more than a human father or human king, Jesus has the right to tell us what to do with our lives and to expect our obedience. But like the two sons in the parable, we tend to have a problem really accepting his authority.

So who do the two sons represent? Jesus tells us. Read verse 31b. Here he’s talking about the first son, the one who told his father “No” but later changed his mind and obeyed him. The tax collectors and prostitutes first said “No!” to God. They chose to live for themselves, in their own way. Their lives had been one big, long “No!” to God. But later they changed. How? It was through listening to John the Baptist explain the way of righteousness (32). The “way of righteousness” is the way of repentance and faith in Jesus. It’s the only way to receive God’s forgiveness. These unlikely people, the tax collectors and prostitutes, were humble enough to listen. What happened when they did? Jesus said they were entering the kingdom of heaven ahead of the religious leaders! It was like Jesus’ repeated saying, “The last will be first” (19:30; 20:16). It shows us that Jesus used his authority to forgive people’s sins when they repented, and, to welcome them into God’s kingdom. So, the outcome of his authority is not crushing us, but helping us truly experience God’s grace. God is ready to welcome anyone who truly repents and accepts Jesus, no matter how sinful.

Read verse 32. Through the ministry of John, and through the changed lives of sinful people, God is trying to show us that it’s all about his grace to us in Jesus. He’s trying to show us that repentance isn’t scary. Even if we’re as selfish as a tax collector or as rotten as a prostitute, if we just humble ourselves, turn to him just as we are, and put our faith in Jesus, God will welcome us and shower us with his grace. He’ll heal us, restore us and save us. In this way, we can welcome Jesus as our spiritual King. We can live gladly under his reign with fervent loyalty to him. We can obey him and work in his vineyard wholeheartedly.

Today we learned that our Lord Jesus expects good fruit from us, inwardly and outwardly. We can access and use his authority when we believe and pray. His authority is from God, and it always leads us to experience God’s grace. When we repent and receive his grace, we can obey and serve him as our King.

HOSANNA TO THE SON OF DAVID!

Matthew 21:1–17

Key Verse: 21:9

“The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’”

          The main theme of Matthew’s Gospel is that Jesus is our King. In chapter 1 Matthew records a genealogy to prove that Jesus is the Son of David. In chapter 2 he contrasts the birth of Jesus, the true King, with Herod, a false king. And then Matthew shows us how, throughout his ministry, Jesus was always talking about the kingdom. Now, through entering Jerusalem Jesus makes a public declaration that he’s King of the kingdom. But he’s not like a king we’d usually think of. Today we want to learn what kind of King Jesus is, and what it means practically to live with him as our King. May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his word today.

          Look at verse 1a. Jesus has been traveling with his disciples on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem. This road was built by the Roman army. It was about 18 miles long and climbed 3,000 feet. The end of the road reaches the Mount of Olives, which is just across a valley east of Jerusalem. The towns of Bethphage and Bethany are on the southeast side of the mount. It was Sunday, the start of Passover Week, and many pilgrims were also traveling on this road to Jerusalem for the celebrations. Jesus chose this time and place to do something special.

          Read verses 1b,2. Jesus was asking two disciples to bring him a mother donkey and her colt. Somehow Jesus knew that, right at the entrance to that village, these two animals were there. Obviously they didn’t belong to him, but he wanted them. Why? As we see in today’s event, Jesus wanted to ride one of them into the city. He wanted to ride the colt, but to get it to do so, he wanted the mother to go along with them as well. We’ll think more about that later. But right now, he’s trying to get these two disciples to carry out this task. Read verse 3. Jesus was making it clear that he was just borrowing these animals, not taking them. But what’s most important here is his explanation: “The Lord needs them.” Jesus is referring to himself as “the Lord.”

          What does this mean? It means that Jesus the King is actually the Owner of all things. As King and Lord he has the right to use anything or anyone, at any time, for his own purposes. To live with him as our King and Lord means to be ready and willing to serve him at any time, in any way, with whatever we have. We live in a society where most people live as their own lords. They center their lives around themselves. They try to be in control of everything. But Christian life is just the opposite. Christian life is centered on Jesus as King and Lord, we live for him, we let him be in control, and we humbly trust and obey him.

          Throughout his Gospel Matthew tells us that things happened “to fulfill” what was spoken through a prophet (1:22; 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 26:54,56; 27:9), and he does it again here, in verse 4. Why? Matthew is telling us that in the coming of Jesus, God was in control, keeping all his promises. He’s showing us that Jesus is the Messiah, the King God promised to send. But in this case, in entering Jerusalem Jesus is intentionally fulfilling a prophecy. Read verses 4,5. This was the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. It was an unusual prediction. The Messiah, the promised King, would not be like any other king. He’s gentle, so gentle that he rides on a colt, the foal of a donkey, to meet his people. Gentle is not how most men would like to be described, and it’s usually not how we describe a king. A king is authoritative and powerful. But King Jesus is gentle. He’ll never harm us; he only wants to make friends with us. Matthew was so moved by the gentle character of Jesus. He’s the only Gospel writer who recorded Jesus’ words: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (11:28).

          Generally, we sinful human beings are proud and rebellious. But God sent his Son to us so humbly and gently. He came as King to rule us not with force but with love. When we realize how gentle he is, we can open our hearts to him. We can trust him. We can come to him just as we are. We can find refuge in him.

          What happened next? Read verses 6–8. As soon as Jesus sat on that baby donkey, the very large crowd that was there got really excited. They knew that Jesus was about to enter Jerusalem as their King. They spread their cloaks or branches on the road to pay their highest honor to him.

And they were so happy they started shouting. Read verse 9. “Hosanna!” means “Praise God!” Simply speaking, they were so thankful to have Jesus as their King. They were so thankful God had kept all his promises to send him. They were so thankful he was such a humble, gentle king, a king of love like David. Many people don’t really know what kind of king David was. But David was, above all else, a shepherd king. He shepherded Israel with integrity of heart (Ps78:72). His shepherd heart for his people can be best seen before he became king, when he was running for his life from King Saul. At that time David had to hide in a cave. But at that very time, all those who were in distress or in debt or discontented came to him, and he became their leader (1Sa22:1,2). He cared for those people more than he cared for himself. He was with them and helped them until many of them were changed and became known as David’s mighty men (2Sa23; 1Ch11). In short, David loved God with all his heart, and he truly loved people. He was just an imperfect shadow of Jesus. Jesus’ coming as the Son of David was what God’s people had been waiting for, for so long.

And there’s a deeper meaning to their praises of King Jesus. In Hebrew the word “hosanna” originally meant “save us!” Though these people probably didn’t mean this, it was what they were shouting. And it was exactly why Jesus came. As the angel said at his birth, Jesus came “to save his people from their sins” (1:21b). Jesus was entering Jerusalem as King to become our Savior. He would do that in a way nobody expected. He would suffer and die on a shameful cross and shed all his blood, to give us God’s forgiveness. Many people try to be a savior; they try to rescue people from their problems. But only Jesus is our true Savior. Only Jesus can save us from our real problem, our sins, and bring us to God’s kingdom. To welcome Jesus as our King, with shouts of praise, we need to experience his salvation very personally. So often we think our problem is outside us, like a tragedy, or our finances, or other people, or a system. But our real problem is within us: our own sins. Only when we realize our own sins and put our trust in Jesus can we experience his saving grace. This, too, is at the core of Christian life. We need to know Jesus as “my Savior.”

Look at verse 10. Here the word “stirred” in Greek is literally “shaken.” These people were so shaken by Jesus entering as King because they were not ready for him. Though they’d heard about his ministry for the past 3.5 years, they had not turned their hearts to him; they refused to repent. So his coming shook their own plans, their own security, their own human kingdoms.

When he entered Jerusalem what did Jesus do first? Read verse 12. What happened to gentle Jesus? This is not gentle. At first it’s hard to understand what he’s doing. But our King Jesus is showing us that to him, the worship of God is so important. In our lives we put so many other things as our priority. In fact, worship can seem like a duty, or a chore, or even an option. But to Jesus, worship is at the heart of spiritual life. And Jesus wasn’t looking at mere outward activities or appearances. It seemed that many people were at the temple worshiping God. But Jesus could see through it all; he could see people’s hearts. What they were really interested in was not worshiping God but their own benefit.

How so? Well, they were using the temple courts to buy and sell animals for sacrifice. At Passover, people were supposed to bring a lamb as an offering. If they were too poor, they could bring a pair of doves or two young pigeons. People got so clever, they decided to buy and sell these animals right in the temple courts, no doubt at a higher price for the convenience. Some probably were pretending to be poor. Jewish pilgrims came for Passover from all over the Roman Empire. So they had foreign currencies that needed to be exchanged. Those selling and changing money were making a profit off of the worship of God. And those buying were able to worship much more conveniently. But God was not pleased. God doesn’t want us to worship him superficially but from our hearts. God doesn’t want us to seek personal gain from worshiping him; he wants us to worship him in spirit and in truth. We need to take this seriously.

What’s worse, they were buying and selling right in the temple courts. The exact location was known as “the Court of the Gentiles.” It was the one place in the temple area where Gentiles, the people who didn’t know God very well, could come and pray to him and seek him. But God’s people had turned this precious place into something for themselves. They didn’t care about God’s heart for the Gentiles. They were only thinking of themselves and their own children and their own enjoyment. To be honest, their worship had become godless. Jesus rebuked them, drove them out and overturned their tables and benches.

Read verse 13. Jesus taught clearly that God’s house should be a house of prayer, not a place of personal business. He also taught that seeking personal benefit or gain from church is like robbing God. When we come to him, we should put aside all our other issues and concerns and really pray to God, to listen to his voice and seek his face. And when we come to God, we should not be trying to get something, but trying to give something. Worship is not about outward activities, but about having a prayerful, giving heart to God.

After Jesus put them all out of the temple courts, what did he do? Read verse 14. This is recorded only in Matthew’s Gospel. Again, Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ healing ministry. The blind and the lame were usually not permitted in the temple, but Jesus welcomed them. It tells us that Jesus wants his church to be used not as a gathering for self-righteous people seeking personal benefit, but as a place of God’s mercy for spiritually sick people to get well (9:12,13).

What happened next? Read verses 15,16a. Here we see two groups: on the one hand, there’s the wonderful things Jesus did, and the children enjoying his humble, gentle character; on the other hand, there’s the angry religious leaders. They were so upset because they were jealous of Jesus. They thought they were the ones who should be praised, not Jesus. And Jesus’ style of ministry was so different from theirs. Their pride made them so spiritually blind that they were even trying to say Jesus was tolerating heresy. How did Jesus answer them? Read verse 16b. Even the children’s praises were fulfillment of prophecy. And they show again that it’s people whose hearts are like little children who can welcome Jesus as King (11:25; 19:14).

Today we learned that Jesus is our Lord, our gentle King, our Shepherd and our Savior, who wants us to worship God truly and care for others. May God make us like children to welcome him joyfully, with all our hearts.

THE COMMITMENT IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

John 15:1–17

Key Verse: 15:4a

“Remain in me, as I also remain in you.”

          We’ve been going through a special series entitled, “A Real Relationship With God.” Through Isaiah 1 we learned how to have such a real relationship—though we’re sinners, God initiates a real relationship with us, if only we’re willing to repent and turn to him. Through Romans 8 we learned the nature of a real relationship with God—it’s a relationship through the Holy Spirit, a relationship that draws us out of the realm of the flesh and into the realm of the Spirit: a real, personal, intimate love relationship with God our Father.

Today we want to think about another aspect of having a real relationship with God. It’s commitment. Today people are afraid of commitment. What is a commitment? The Urban Dictionary defines it with a poem: “Commitment is what/Transforms the promise into reality./It is the words that speak/Boldly of your intentions./And the actions which speak/Louder than the words./It is making the time/When there is none./Coming through time/After time after time,/Year after year after year./Commitment is the stuff/Character is made of/The power to change/The face of things./It is the daily triumph/Of integrity over skepticism.”

In having a real relationship with God, God is already fully committed to us, but we have to respond by being really committed to him. How can we be committed to God? What does it mean? And what happens when are? A great passage in the Bible about this is John 15, where Jesus repeatedly tells his followers to “remain” in him. In this passage, we want to learn more about who Jesus is, about who we are, and about how we can really remain in him and be truly committed to him. May God speak to us through his living words.

First of all, we want to see what today’s passage tells us about Jesus. In verses 1 and 5 Jesus says that he is the “true vine” or “the vine.” What does he mean? It’s not by nature or ideas or people; Jesus is the only way we can be connected in a real relationship with God. Jesus is the true vine because he’s the source of life (1:4); in fact, he is “the life” (11:25; 14:6). Jesus became the true vine, the source of spiritual life with God, through his death and resurrection. Through Jesus, any person, no matter who we are, can be reconnected with God and come alive spiritually. On the other hand, without being connected to Jesus, the true vine, no matter who we are, we’re spiritually dead (Eph2:1–5). In any Christian fellowship, there are always people who don’t have this real connection. Jesus says that the Father, who is the gardener, will eventually cut off all such dead branches (2,6). But through being united with Jesus, we have a living, breathing relationship with the living God.

In verse 3 we see that Jesus’ words make us “clean”—it’s through his words that we have a real connection with Jesus, and through him, with God the Father. In verse 4 we also see that Jesus remains in us. Though we’re weak and sinful and fail so often, Jesus remains in us with his unconditional love to help us take a deeper root and grow. And in verses 4 and 5 we see that Jesus is the one who makes us fruitful. Without remaining in Jesus we can’t bear fruit, and in fact, we can’t do anything. But as we remain in Jesus, we’ll bear much fruit, and our lives will glorify God (8).

In verse 9 Jesus shows us what God’s love is. God the Father loves Jesus the Son. In fact, he loved him before the creation of the world (17:23,24). Jesus says in verse 9 that it’s with this love of the Father that he has loved his followers. Beginning with the first disciples, we all taste the love of the Father through Jesus the Son. And we see how Jesus would ultimately love. In verse 13 he says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus laid down his own life for us. He sacrificed himself for us, for our sakes. By doing this, he proved to be our true friend. Finally, in verse 16 he says that he chose us, even though we did not choose him. In doing this, he showed us God’s love that takes the initiative. Jesus shows us God’s love that's so committed to us.

Next, in today’s passage, we can learn about ourselves. In verses 1–8 Jesus repeatedly refers to us as branches. As a branch, we’re dependent on the vine. And as a branch, we receive life and nutrients from Jesus so that we can bear much fruit. According to verse 2, as a branch sometimes we need pruning so that we can be even more fruitful. This pruning is God’s discipline. Why do we need God’s discipline to prune us? It’s because even though we’re connected to Jesus the true vine, we have many other things in our lives that weaken our relationship with him. These things can be worldly distractions or attachments that take our hearts and minds away from Jesus and his words. Often we can’t even recognize what these things are in our lives. But God the Father can see them, and in his greater spiritual love for us, he sometimes prunes these things away, so that our relationship with Jesus can grow deeper and more fruitful.

In this passage, Jesus addresses us as branches and he repeatedly tells us to “remain” in him. It’s kind of odd because usually, a branch doesn’t have to be told to remain in a vine—it naturally does so, and it doesn’t really have a choice. But in Jesus’ allegory here, we as branches do have a choice. We can either choose to remain in Jesus or choose not to remain in him. What does it mean to “remain in Jesus”? In Greek, the word “remain” literally means to “live in.” We’ve all experienced it: We go to church, a meeting, a conference or a Bible study and feel really inspired and touched by God’s love, but then we go off into our real lives. And in our real lives, we hardly ever hear God’s word. There may be very few believers around us. We get immersed in a godless mindset, to the point that we hardly ever even think about God. We get immersed in a “me-centered” mindset that seems so much more natural, and everyone’s doing it. Worst of all, we forget God’s love for us—his amazing grace and forgiveness. Then we dry up spiritually. Let’s read verse 4a. Jesus repeatedly says in this passage, in one way or another, “Remain in me” (4,5,6,7).

But how can we remain in Jesus? Let’s read verse 7. Jesus says we remain in him as we allow his words to “remain” in us. Notice he doesn’t say “my word” but “my words.” It’s not one or two things Jesus said, but everything he said. To remain in Jesus, we’ve got to get really interested in everything Jesus ever said or taught. We’ve got to keep thinking about it, meditating and reflecting on his words and asking what he really meant. We’ve all heard the expression, “In one ear and out the other” or “Like water on a duck’s back.” Often, right after church or a Bible study, we can’t even remember what it was all about, or even what the passage was. For his words to remain in us, we’ve got to be intentional enough to keep thinking about it. This is why it’s good to write things down whenever we study the Bible so that what we hear can actually remain in us. It’s also good to write a reflection after studying a passage in the Bible so that we can retain what we learned and start applying what Jesus taught to our practical lives. It’s good to even memorize verses of the Bible.

But this can be tricky. Even the Pharisees memorized large chunks of the Bible from their childhood, and yet Jesus told them, “You have no room for my word” (8:37). For his words to remain in us is not what we know or write or say, but a matter of what’s really in our hearts. If our hearts are full of other things, practically speaking, we’ve got no room for Jesus’ words. We’ve got to get rid of some of the other things in our hearts to make room for the words of Jesus. The words of Job in the Old Testament actually help us. He wrote: “I have not departed from the commands of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread” (Job23:12). Most of us delight in delicious food. But for Jesus’ words to remain in us, we’ve got to treasure them more than the most delicious meal we can imagine.

Let’s read verse 7 again. The other way to remain in Jesus is to pray. If we never really pray personally, it’s just not possible to remain in Jesus. Sometimes we don’t know how to pray. But as we turn our thoughts to Jesus’ words, we can find things to pray about. We can ask God’s help to do what Jesus taught. And we can ask God to help the people we care about to be connected to Jesus the true vine and to remain in him.

Here’s where we come back to the whole idea of commitment. Any real relationship requires a mutual commitment. As we’ve seen, God is already totally committed to us. The problem is our commitment to him. As in any relationship, we can take and take and take and not really be committed. To be committed, first of all, we’ve got to make time. Most people are very busy. Most people have to go to work to make money to pay their bills to survive. And a job can be very demanding—it can consume all our attention and strength. Even if our job is mindless, when we’re off work, we just want to relax and enjoy. Students are busy going to school and to classes, and when they’re not there, they usually have homework. Some have to work and study, and so there’s so little time for anything else. But for Jesus’ words to remain in us, and to have a real prayer life, we’ve got to make time when there is no time. People do it all the time. Some people work and study and still make time for friends or for being in a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse. How much time do we put into having a real relationship with Jesus, with listening to and making room for his words and spending time in prayer? Some people may think they know it all already, and so they stop making room for his words, and they stop praying. Over time, they dry up spiritually. May God help us take Jesus’ words seriously. Read verse 7 again.

There’s another way to remain in Jesus. Read verses 9,10. To remain in Jesus is to remain in his love. How do we do it? We should remind ourselves of his love every day. It’s good to start out praying, thanking God for his great love for us in Jesus. If we don’t remember his love, we can’t really remain in it. Jesus also teaches us here a specific way to remain in his love. He says we need to keep his commands. As we keep his commands, we remain in his love. He says this is the way he remained in the Father’s love, by keeping his commands. And he had a specific command in mind. Let’s read verse 12. We remain in Jesus by obeying his command to love each other the same way Jesus loved us. If we don’t love the way Jesus did, there’s no way to remain in him. If we stop loving the way Jesus did, we cease to remain in him. Loving the way Jesus loved is the way to remain in him. This, too, requires commitment. We’ve got to love others in the same self-sacrificing way Jesus loved us when he laid down his life for us.

It’s how we transform the promise into reality, how our actions speak louder than our words, how we make time when there is none, how we come through time after time, year after year, how our character becomes like Jesus, how we gain power to change things, and how we change from skeptics into people of integrity. The fruits that come from a relationship with Jesus are love and joy. If we’re not loving and not joyful, we need to examine our relationship with Jesus. May God help each of us really commit to remaining in Jesus.

THE PARABLE OF THE WORKERS IN THE VINEYARD

Matthew 20:1–16

Key Verse: 20:16

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

          Do you care about social justice? Do you want to see people treated equally and fairly? Of course, Jesus did. But in today’s passage, he tells a parable that seems to turn fairness on its head. It’s interesting to note that this parable is recorded only in Matthew’s Gospel. It must have been especially meaningful to Matthew. There have been so many different interpretations of this parable. But Jesus introduces it as an illustration of the kingdom of heaven. What was his point? What does he want us to learn? May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his word today.

          Verse 1 begins with the word “For.” It tells us that this parable is closely connected with what had just happened. When Jesus mentioned how hard it is to enter the kingdom, Peter protested: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” (19:27) Jesus promised the Twelve a special reward (28). He also promised a general reward for all who sacrifice to follow him (29). He wants his followers to be confident of God’s reward. But he concluded in chapter 19 with a mysterious saying: “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first” (30). At the end of today’s parable, he repeats this saying. But he flips the order. In 19:30 he begins with the first who become last. In 20:16 he begins with the last who become first. So how does today’s parable help us understand this saying?

          In his teaching, Jesus often used parables to illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like. He said the kingdom is like a mustard seed, or like yeast, or like a hidden treasure, or like a merchant looking for fine pearls, or like a net to catch fish, or like a man sowing good seed, or like a king settling accounts with his servants, or like a king preparing a wedding banquet for his son, or like ten bridesmaids waiting for a bridegroom. Jesus used things from ordinary life that people of his day could relate to, to help them grasp a specific spiritual truth about God’s kingdom. What does he say this time?

Read verse 1. The main figure in this parable is a landowner. And this landowner owns not a wheat farm, but a vineyard. Many people in Jesus’ day had a small personal vineyard on their own small plot of land that they worked for themselves. But this man seems to have had a large vineyard that was supposed to make him a lot of money. In agriculture there’s a sowing season, then a reaping season. In between, there’s not a lot of work to do. But especially in reaping season, timing is crucial. If the farmer waits too long, what he’s grown can rot on the vines. One day, this landowner went out to his vineyard and saw that it was just the right time to harvest the grapes. So he suddenly needed a lot of workers. In that agricultural society, many lived as temporary workers during harvest seasons. They were not rich; they lived a “hand-to-mouth” existence. In between seasons they may have made things by hand to sell or worked in construction or as servants in people’s homes. But they really needed the temp work at harvest in order for their families to survive. We see in verse 3 that, in order to get hired for the day, people would gather in a town’s local marketplace. The local landowners would get the day workers they needed there.

In verse 1 we notice that this landowner went out early in the morning to hire workers. In verse 8 we see that he had a foreman, a supervisor of his workers. But he didn’t send out the foreman early in the morning; this landowner goes out himself. In Greek, the term for “early in the morning” is literally around 6:00 AM, when the sun comes up. People would work from sunrise to sundown, which was about twelve hours. They started so early so they could have sunlight to see what they were doing, and also because it was not so hot. In any case, this landowner was responsible for his vineyard and diligent.

What happened early in the morning? Look at verse 2. Evidently, there were people already there in the marketplace at sunrise, hoping to get a job for the day. In Jesus’ time, a denarius was the usual daily wage for a day laborer. In our time, it might be something like minimum wage, say $10-15 per hour, which, if it’s a 12-hour shift, would amount to about $120-180. It would be hard work, but it was good money to buy food and essentials for a family. Some landowners might try to be vague with their workers about the pay so as to save money. But this landowner promised these workers a fair amount of money.

Read verses 3–5a. We’re not sure why the landowner goes out again to the marketplace at 9:00 AM. In fact, he may have had enough workers for the day already. Maybe he went there to get some beverages or snacks but noticed some people standing there doing nothing. This is what stands out. The landowner seems to feel bad for these people. Maybe they overslept and couldn’t get there by 6:00 AM. But he understands how much they need the daily income. It seems he hires them not because he needs more workers, but because they need work. Though he’s a rich man, he’s socially aware, and generous. Again, he makes an agreement with them to pay them whatever is right. He’s trying to be a fair employer and contribute to the local economy.

Read verse 5b. This landowner seems not only diligent but maybe even obsessed. There could be many reasons why he did this. Maybe some of the early morning workers couldn’t handle the heat in the middle of the day and left the job. Maybe those he hired weren’t working hard enough, and he was worried he wouldn’t get all the grapes harvested by the end of the day. It’s unusual to be hiring people at noon and 3:00 PM, but it might be understandable.

But then things get quite strange. Look at verses 6,7. It’s 5:00 PM. There’s only one hour left. Nobody with any business sense would be out there at that time hiring workers. But this landowner shows up again and asks the people standing around, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” Who are these people? We haven’t noticed them before. Maybe they’ve been hiding in the shadows. Honestly, they didn’t seem very eager to work, or they would’ve made themselves known. Maybe they only pretended to go there to get a day job, but had no intention of working; they only wanted to tell their wives that they tried. Maybe they just felt like hanging out with friends in the marketplace that day. Or maybe they just didn’t look like very good workers—too weak or too sickly. How do they answer the landowner’s question? They say, “Because no one has hired us.” They might be saying they’re victims of job discrimination. But whether they’re lazy or victims doesn’t seem to matter to the landowner. He tells them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.” They may not get much done in an hour, but this landowner seems to want to help them make even a little money. At this point, though, he seems more interested in the workers in the marketplace than in his own vineyard.

The beginning phrase of verse 8, “When evening came…” is literally 6:00 PM. The sun is going down, and people need to get paid for the day. The owner tells his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.” Why would the landowner want to start with the last ones hired and end with the first ones? Maybe he wanted to just get rid of those who worked only for an hour. Or maybe he wanted everyone to see what he would pay those people.

Read verse 9. It was shocking! Those who’d worked only an hour received a denarius—pay for a full day’s work! It showed how incredibly generous the landowner was. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more (10a). They were excited while waiting in line, thinking, “Wow! This landowner must be really rich! I can’t wait to see what he gives me!” But when they got their pay, they also got a denarius—the same pay, it seems, as everybody else, regardless of how long they’d worked.

What happened? Read verses 11,12. It’s just not fair! In this parable, Jesus was appealing to all peoples’ inborn sense of fairness. Even children have it. The disciples, especially Peter, were listening closely at this point. Read verses 13–15. Though he was grumbling against him, the landowner calls this man, “friend.” He’s not treating him the way he deserves. When they started out that day of work, these people had had a fair agreement with the landowner. In fact, they were happy to be getting paid a denarius and having the chance to work. They became disgruntled only when they saw others who had worked less getting paid the same as them. Were they being greedy? In verse 15 the landowner calls them “envious.” In Greek it literally says, “Do you have the evil eye”?

It’s a classic example of jealousy. At first it seems to be a matter of being unfair. But jealousy really has its roots in not accepting God’s sovereignty. Like this landowner, God gets to do what he wants, because he’s God. He gets to show his sovereign grace to whomever he wants. We shouldn’t become envious of others because of what God has given them. As Ephesians 4:7 says, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” The real problem of these workers seems to be that they didn’t understand the landowner’s heart. God loves to show grace to people who really don’t deserve it. While working for God, we need to be his friends. We need to be not so self-centered. We need to understand God’s heart. We need to rejoice when we see him showing his grace to undeserving sinners. When we see evidence of God’s grace in others’ lives, we need to be glad and encourage them (Ac11:23).

This parable teaches us that God’s kingdom is a kingdom of grace. The Bible calls it “the home of righteousness,” where God will root out everything that causes sin and all who do evil (2Pe3:13; Mt13:41). But it’s also a place where those who are least deserving are treated with special honor and God’s great mercy. It’s not a place where the self-righteous brag about their rewards from God and gloat over others. This must have been moving to Matthew the former tax collector, who experienced firsthand the pain of being around self-righteous people who thought he didn’t deserve to be included among the Twelve apostles.

So, to be a member of his kingdom, we need to know his grace personally. It’s our “ticket in.” Paul wrote: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst” (1Ti1:15). Only when we begin to see how truly sinful we are can we appreciate his grace. For those who’ve lived a decent, moral life, it’s especially hard to know the grace of Jesus deeply. As Jesus said elsewhere, “Those who have been forgiven little love little” (Lk7:47b). We shouldn’t be confused: we don’t need to go out and sin greatly in order to appreciate his grace; we just need to let God’s word show us the real condition of our hearts. And we need to hold onto the gospel, that no matter how faithful we’ve been or how hard we’ve worked or how much we’ve suffered, we never earn our standing with God; rather, we all “are justified freely by his grace” (Ro3:24).

But it’s hard to keep a sense of his grace in our hearts when we work hard and have been faithful. We start thinking we deserve something or have earned something. Jesus promised his followers a reward for following him. But the best reward is the gift of God’s grace. Apostle Paul worked so hard to spread the gospel of Jesus, and he suffered probably more than anybody. But God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you…” (2Co12:9a). We need to be happy and fully satisfied in our souls not with human blessings or recognition or a fruitful ministry, but with the wonderful gift of God’s grace. Heaven is the place where God’s grace fully satisfies everyone—there’s no grumbling, no envy, no jealousy.

Also, we learn from Jesus’ parable that we need to be working for God in his vineyard not to prove something or earn something, but simply in response to his grace. If the workers who’d been hired first had kept a thankful heart for being hired and receiving the fair pay they’d been promised, they wouldn’t have gotten angry about what others received. We need to remember that we never deserved to be hired in God’s vineyard in the first place. We never deserved to work for him and serve him. It’s only by his amazing grace that he chose us and enables us to serve him. So we should work for God and be faithful to him simply because of his grace. As Apostle Paul said, “No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1Co15:10b).

Read verse 16. God is very serious about our living by his grace. Those who think they are first will be last. And those who think they are last will be first. People may not see what we’re thinking in our hearts, but God does. It’s the same as Jesus’ teaching, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Mt23:12). As the Bible says elsewhere, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (Jas4:6; cf. Pr3:36). God wants us to live and work for him with the heart of an unworthy servant (Lk17:10).

Praise God who’s so gracious toward undeserving people! Praise God who allows us to work for him! May he deepen our awareness of his grace. May he help us work for him out of genuine gratitude for his grace. And may he help us rejoice to see his lavish grace in others’ lives.

TREASURE IN HEAVEN

Matthew 19:16–30

Key Verse: 19:21

“Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’”

          This week we celebrate Valentine’s Day. It’s a day when family and friends and people with a significant other get together and share loving appreciation. Couples with lots of money buy each other expensive jewelry or other luxury gifts and eat at high-end restaurants. Others may have a much humbler celebration. But for many, Valentine’s Day is a test of love. It’s not really about the flowers or the chocolates or what we do, but about what’s in our hearts. Couples may not say it out loud, but quietly they’re wondering, “Does he really love me?” or “Does she really love me?” Today’s passage is another kind of test of love. Jesus encounters a man who earnestly asks him about eternal life, and Jesus tells him to get rid of his earthly treasure. Does everyone really have to get rid of all their possessions to follow Jesus? Again, it’s not really about the outward things, the possessions, but about where our heart is. In a sense, Jesus is asking us about who or what we really love. Though it’s hard, he’s asking us to love him most—not emotionally, but in practice. We also want to take a look at the disciples’ response to what happens, and how Jesus helps them. Through this study may God open our hearts and speak to us personally.

Since chapter 18 Jesus has been teaching us about living in Christian community. We’re to be a humble, loving, spiritual, forgiving community. In our community, we’re to encourage healthy, faithful marriages and welcome children. Now Jesus addresses how we should be relating to our possessions. Little children had just been brought to Jesus for his blessing. They were so simple and trusting. In contrast to them, a man now comes to Jesus. Look at verse 16. This guy is kind of complicated and has a preconceived idea. He thinks he needs to do something good to get eternal life. But there are some admirable things about him. He’s not asking a tricky question; he really wants to know. When most people around him were probably living for the moment, he was serious about what will happen in eternity. And he comes to Jesus for an answer. The problem is, he thinks he has to do something good to earn eternal life.

Actually, so many people think they have to earn God’s favor. Many religions blatantly teach it. They say keeping certain rituals, doing certain good deeds are required, or else we can’t please God and get what we want. Only the gospel of Jesus is different. It’s not about what we do, but about what God has done for us. Jesus gave his life for us, by his amazing grace, and all we have to do is receive it. Nothing else we do can improve our standing with God. This man who came to Jesus had probably already done so many religious things. But he still felt it wasn’t enough. He was wondering what he was missing. He needed an assurance about the soul that he currently didn’t have.

How did Jesus help him? Read verse 17. At first, it’s not easy to grasp what Jesus is telling him here. “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Is Jesus saying he’s not good enough to teach this man? No. “If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” Is Jesus saying the man needs to refocus on trying harder to keep God’s commands? No. Jesus is trying to help the man come to know himself. “There is only One who is good.” And sorry, but that’s not you.

Knowing oneself is huge. It’s what the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates was always trying to help people become aware of. Sadly, most people go through life without really knowing themselves. Sometimes people close to us try to help us see it, but we become defensive and refuse. In this case, this man thinks he’s basically good and that he can do some good thing to earn eternal life. How can he change? How can he come to know who he really is?

Jesus starts by turning his attention to God. He tells him, “There is only One who is good.” Today young people say: “It’s all good.” Jesus says, “There is only One who is good.” So many people ignore God. But only God is good. Also, so many people don’t understand the fallen nature of human beings. All people are both good and evil—even our loved ones. But it’s really hard to accept. How can we really see it—especially in ourselves? It’s only when we get to know who God is. The more we come into the light of God, the more we can see our own fallen nature. It’s painful but really necessary. It’s the first step of having treasure in heaven.

And to help the man know himself he tells him, “keep the commandments.” For many people, keeping commandments makes them only more self-righteous. That’s what happened to the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They thought they were really good, though God saw them as frauds. How does keeping God’s commandments help us know ourselves? Apostle Paul’s story shows us. He wrote, “Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death…Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful” (Ro7:9–11,13b). The more we struggle to keep God’s commandments, the more we will see how sinful we are.

How did the man respond? Look at verse 18a. Why did he ask, “Which ones?” No doubt he thought he knew and was keeping them all, so he was wondering which ones he might have missed. Jesus helped him further. Read verses 18b,19. Jesus taught him the Ten Commandments. But he skipped the first ones about God and focused on the second half, on five that are about our fellow human beings. Earlier Jesus said that though we may not have literally murdered, we murder when we just hate someone in our hearts; we may not have literally committed adultery, but we commit adultery when we just lust after someone in our hearts. And we notice that Jesus concludes here in verse 19 not with one of the Ten Commandments, but with Leviticus 19:18b that sums them all up: “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus was trying to help this man not just live a kinder, more loving life, but to really see what kind of life he’d already been living. This man had been so concerned about himself, but never really concerned about his fellow man.

What did the man say? Look at verse 20. We notice here that the man is now described as “young.” He hadn’t lived long enough to really get to know himself. He still thought he was good. He thought keeping God’s commands was about doing outward things, about technically not breaking any rules. But in his heart he knew something was wrong. So he asks with great sincerity, “What do I still lack?”

How does Jesus help him? Read verse 21. Here, “perfect” can mean “complete” or “whole.” Jesus wanted to help this man become whole. He wanted to get at the root of what was bothering him. So he kind of performed spiritual open-heart surgery on him. He told him to go sell his possessions and give to the poor. Jesus was touching on what this man really loved. What he really loved was not his fellow man, but his possessions. This is one of the traits of fallen human beings. We tend to love material things more than people, and people more than God. This is the opposite of how God made us. God made us to love God most, then love people, then be good stewards of our material things. Jesus wasn’t telling this man that he could earn treasure in heaven by giving to the poor; he was telling him to get rid of the things in his life that were stealing his heart away from God and from people.

Jesus is still challenging us to do the same. He said earlier, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…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” (6:19–21,24). Jesus is saying it’s foolish to store up treasures on earth, because they all gradually perish, spoil and fade away. On the other hand, it’s wise to store up treasure in heaven, because it lasts for all eternity. When we’re sure about his promise of treasure in heaven, we can let go of earthly treasures. Still Jesus warns us that it’s too easy to give our hearts to earthly treasures. If we do, he says we can’t really give our hearts to God. So he’s asking us, “Where is your heart? Who or what do you really love? Does your life show it?”

The most important part of Jesus’ words to this rich young man are in the last part of verse 21: “Then come, follow me.” Jesus is inviting this man to leave whatever is entangling him and holding him back, and then come and follow him. “Follow me” means not just physically going around with Jesus, but learning from Jesus and imitating him. Jesus is inviting this man to learn everything about him, especially his heart of love for God and for people. Jesus is inviting him to do it not half-heartedly or superficially, but to invest his whole life in this learning. Following Jesus is always a response to his gracious invitation. But for it to be real in our lives, we’ve got to be “all in,” we’ve got to make a decision, take action and make practical changes. Just as we can’t be in a real relationship with someone else if we don’t make it our priority, so we can’t really follow Jesus if he’s not most important to us. If we put our studies or making money or our career first, Jesus can’t be first. If we put enjoying things first, Jesus can’t be first. So Jesus isn’t challenging only this immature, ignorant and greedy rich young man; he’s actually challenging all of us. Read verse 21 again. How did the man respond? Look at verse 22. It was the moment of decision, but he just couldn’t do it. He made the wrong choice.

What happened next? Read verses 23,24. Jesus used this as a teachable moment for his disciples. He’s shattering their view. Everybody thought riches were a sign of blessing from God. But Jesus said just the opposite: it’s so hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, harder than squeezing a camel through the eye of a needle. Why is it so hard? Just like with this rich young man, such people find it too hard to let go of their earthly treasures. People get stuck on their investments and savings and properties and the lifestyle they afford—so much so that they can’t follow truth. So we have the expression, “They’ve sold out.” Sadly, many who are living in affluence have in their deep hearts lost all self-respect. Jesus is inviting us to such a better way, a life of freedom, meaning and love that comes from following him.

How did the disciples respond? Look at verse 25. They were “greatly astonished.” Though they followed Jesus, their worldview and values had not been deeply changed yet. They still were impressed and enamored with and envied the rich. How did Jesus answer their question? Read verse 26. It’s impossible for people to be changed. It’s especially impossible for rich people to be changed. But with God all things are possible. With God, people’s hearts can change. With God, anyone can leave a life of worldly pursuits and really begin to follow Jesus. With God, even slow-changing people like Jesus’ disciples can eventually become spiritual.

Look at verse 27. Why is Peter saying this? Probably he thinks he’s much better than the rich young man who couldn’t give up his possessions. And in light of Jesus’ words that it’s so hard to enter the kingdom, he’s worried that even his great sacrifice isn’t enough. Though he’s following Jesus, Peter has an unhealthy sense of entitlement, and some pretty serious self-righteousness.

How does Jesus respond? Read verse 28. This is a very special promise given only to the Twelve. At the end of the Bible, in Revelation, we see that their names are on the twelve foundations of the Holy City. They have a special place in God’s redemptive history because they were the ones who first followed Jesus when no one else ever had.

Jesus goes on. Read verse 29. Jesus gives us the assurance that any and every sacrifice we have made that was truly for his sake will be remembered and rewarded. The hundredfold reward is in this life, in the sense that we come into the larger community of God’s people. They become our spiritual family who comfort us, and they willingly share what they have with us, so that we lack nothing. And our ultimate reward is to inherit eternal life. He doesn’t say we “earn” it, but that we “inherit” it. Even though we may make significant life sacrifices to serve Jesus and his kingdom, he still gives us eternal life only as a gift of his grace. We can be sure of this reward when we’re sure of his grace.

And Jesus gives a final word that seems kind of cryptic. Read verse 30. Jesus is saying that those who think they’re first because of their sacrifices or their blessings, may find out in heaven that they’re last. And those who think they’re last because they didn’t seem to do much or have many blessings may find out that they’re first. It tells us that in his kingdom, grace reigns.

Let’s read verse 21 again. Today Jesus is asking each of us: “Where is your heart? Who or what do you love? Does your life show it?” He’s also graciously inviting each of us, “Then come, follow me.” Are we really going to do it? May God bless us not to make the wrong choice, but choose to follow him truly, believing his promise of treasure in heaven.

DIVORCE AND CHILDREN

Matthew 19:1–15

Key Verse: 19:14

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”

          In the previous chapter, Jesus gave his disciples several teachings on how his followers should live in community with one another. Instead of competing for the top position, we should take the lowest one. Instead of avoiding the weak, we should welcome them. Instead of being obsessed with self, we should be careful about our influence on others. Instead of being self-indulgent, we should fight against our own sins. Instead of despising and ignoring the weak, we should treasure them and risk everything to rescue them. Instead of gossiping behind each other’s backs, we should talk to each other directly and personally to work out problems, and we should learn to listen humbly to one another. Instead of holding grudges, we should remember God’s great mercy and forgive one another from the heart.

          Though today’s passage begins a new section in Matthew’s Gospel, it continues the themes of chapter 18. It tells us further about the community of Jesus’ followers. Marriage and children are very practical aspects of any community. In the community of Jesus’ followers, marriage and children are an opportunity to practice the love of Jesus. May God open our hearts to learn how we can be a community that does not hinder but draws people to our Lord Jesus.

          Look at verse 1. The phrase “When Jesus had finished saying these things…” indicates in Matthew’s Gospel that one of Jesus’ major discourses is now over (cf. 7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 26:1). He leaves Galilee and travels to Judea and the other side of the Jordan because he’s on his last journey to Jerusalem, where rejection, suffering, and death await him. Look at verse 2. Though it’s a hard time for him personally, Jesus welcomes these crowds that also need healing. Jesus’ healing ministry shows that he has authority from God to teach.

          Sadly, there are those who don’t see it that way. Verse 3a says, “Some Pharisees came to him to test him.” Throughout Matthew’s Gospel Pharisees come to do this (12:2,14,24,38; 15:1; 16:1; 19:3; 22:15,34,35). No matter how powerful Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry is, they are bent on discrediting Jesus, because they perceive him as a threat to their own positions. Their testing of Jesus literally means they were tempting him. It’s hard to be criticized and challenged constantly. But Jesus handled it with such strength and grace because he was depending on God his Father.

          What did these Pharisees say this time? Look at verse 3b. Then as now, marriage was a hot-button issue. In Jesus’ day, there were two schools of thought about divorce. The conservative side taught that divorce should be avoided; the liberal side taught that it should be allowed. The Pharisees weren’t interesting in learning from Jesus about which side was right; they brought this up to get him to take sides and lose some of his popularity, and maybe, to say something wrong.

          How did he respond? Read verses 4–6. When he was being tested or criticized, Jesus loved to respond by saying, “Haven’t you read?” (cf. 12:3,5; 21:16,24; 22:31) Jesus was always talking about the Bible and basing his teaching on it. Answers to questions and criticisms can always be found in Scripture. In this case, Jesus went all the way back to the beginning of Genesis, in the two stories of creation.

In Genesis 1 the phrase “[God] made them male and female” (Ge1:27b) tells us about the origin of marriage. Marriage began not with a contract between two people, but with creation itself. What’s the point? It tells us that God made one man for one woman and that one woman for that one man. It means God created marriage to be mutually exclusive, and for life. So we have an expression, “Made for each other.” Instead of focusing on each other’s flaws, a husband or wife need to see each other from God’s point of view, as God’s perfect match for me.

Next, in Genesis 2 the man leaving his father and mother and being united to his wife (Ge2:24) tells us that marriage is a lifetime commitment. Now, his wife should be more important to him than even his own parents. The same is true for the wife; her primary commitment in life needs to shift from her parents to her husband. A husband and wife need to be committed to each other even more than to their own children. Without this kind of practical commitment, the marriage is greatly weakened. In Greek, the word “united” in verse 5 literally means “glued.” The commitment glues the husband and wife together, and so does their intimacy. If we neglect intimacy, the marriage glue is weakened. People may have many human ideas about it, but God ordained for the two to become one flesh.

Read verse 6 again. It’s more than a physical union. It’s a mystery that two persons become one, but it’s something God does. We need to think of our spouse not as a burden or annoyance or even as my enemy, but as a person with whom God wants me to be absolutely united. This is Jesus’ answer to those who have questions about divorce. In light of his words, divorce is not just about “irreconcilable differences”; it’s rebellion against God’s sovereign will. We live in a culture where divorce is rampant, even in the church. But God said through the prophet Malachi, “I hate divorce” (Mal2:16, NLT). He’s talking about divorce among his people. It’s not meant to get us to hate all divorced people. God wants us to be merciful and compassionate towards them. But why does God want a believing husband and wife, especially, to stay together? Malachi says it’s because they belong to him in body and spirit, and when they live in him, they also belong to one another in body and spirit. Also, when they keep their marriage alive and healthy and are faithful to each other from the heart, they can raise godly offspring. God especially holds husbands responsible. He wants us to guard our heart and not be unfaithful to the wife of our youth. He wants us not to overwhelm our wives with cruelty, but protect them (Mal2:15,16). This protection includes not complaining about our wives to others. Sometimes marriage can be hard, but people shouldn’t give up so quickly and easily. As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” God refines and matures us through being faithful to our marriage commitment. Especially, godly, faithful husbands are so important in the community of Jesus’ followers.

Look at verse 7. Jesus had already talked about this back in chapter 5 in his Sermon on the Mount (5:31,32). At that time, sadly, it was popular among Jewish rabbis and Pharisees to divorce their wives. They were using Deuteronomy 24:1 as their justification: “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house…” According to Matthew 19:7, the Pharisees call this verse a “command.” But actually it’s not a command, but a concession. It’s a classic case of taking something out of context to get what we want. If we read on in Deuteronomy 24, we find the point is in verse 4: “…then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again…” When Moses wrote this, he was actually trying to protect women from whimsical, tyrannical men. Men would kick out their wives, abusing their power, but when they got lonely, they’d go out to find them and try to take them back again, even if their ex-wife had remarried.

What did Jesus say? Read verse 8. What did he mean that “your hearts were hard”? It means men’s hearts can become hardened by sinful desire. When their wives don’t satisfy their desires, husbands can harden their hearts and become so cruel. In Jewish society, women had to get special permission from the courts to divorce their husbands. It’s hard for modern people to digest. But Jesus taught against divorce to protect women. Matthew the former tax collector may have known many women who had to turn to “the world’s oldest profession” (cf. 21:31,32) simply because their husbands had cast them out on a whim. Jesus didn’t care that his view on marriage would make him unpopular. Because he was a shepherd who respected women, he strongly denounced men’s right to divorce them based on a vague interpretation of something “displeasing” or “indecent.” Based on God’s creation truth, Jesus upheld the union of marriage.

Read verse 9. Jesus was addressing all the hypocritical rabbis and Pharisees who thought they were so knowledgeable of the Bible, so strict, so spiritual. If they have divorced their wives and remarried, Jesus calls them “adulterers.” What a powerful rebuke! So often, the real motive for divorce is to switch partners. Instead of making many excuses like a smoke screen, we need to be honest about what’s really in our hearts. And we need to ask God’s mercy to help us to stay faithful to him and to our spouse. We really need the help of the Holy Spirit to do this. In light of the parable Jesus just told about the unmerciful servant, we need to remember God’s great grace to us so that we can forgive our spouse from our heart.

In verse 9 Jesus gives only one valid reason for divorce: “sexual immorality.” Why only this? Why not alcoholism, or physical abuse, or mental cruelty? It’s because all these other vices can be addressed, but sexual immorality undermines the very glue of marriage. We also should notice that even in the case of immorality, divorce is not commanded but allowed. It means that great effort first should be made to help the erring partner to repent. It reminds us of Jesus’ teaching on helping a fellow believer who sins. He said the relationship should be ended only when the person refuses to listen to repeated urging from more and more of God’s people (18:15–17).

Read verse 9 once more. Jesus is teaching people who divorced for superficial reasons not to remarry. It could also mean that instead of divorcing, it’s better to stay separated for a while and work on our problems, seeking godly counseling and God’s help. Let’s pray that God may bring healing to many people in our nation who have suffered through painful marriages and divorce. Let’s pray that we may share God’s mercy and forgiveness and help divorced people to have hope in God. And let’s pray that God may raise godly couples in our community who can be a blessing through their loving marriages.

Look at verse 10. The disciples were scared. They thought it was too hard to stay committed and faithful to one lady their whole lifetime. Men are still afraid of committing to marriage. What did Jesus say to them? Read verses 11,12. Here Jesus is saying that marriage is normative for most people. And he gives his followers the only valid reason not to get married. It’s “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.” It’s not to avoid the struggle of being a responsible husband and father, or wife and mother. And it’s only for the very few people who can accept it. Eunuchs, people who biologically cannot marry and have children, were looked down upon by the Jews. But Jesus isn’t making fun of them; he’s valuing them as precious human beings. He’s also valuing those who “live like eunuchs.” It may mean they never marry, or it may mean they choose to live apart from their spouses for some amount of time so that they can spread the kingdom message. Whether we marry or stay single, we should live for God’s honor and glory, for his kingdom and his will, regardless of what suffering we may have to endure.

Look at verse 13. It was a common custom among the Jews to bring little children to rabbis to be blessed. These little children may have been brought by their parents, grandparents or caregivers. It’s a bit surprising that the disciples rebuked them—especially after Jesus had just recently placed a little child among them and taught them to welcome children (18:2,5). Why did the disciples do this? Clearly they were not really listening to what he taught them. It may be their idea was that Jesus was too tired, or too busy, or too important to be bothered. Or it may be that they thought these people were being too demanding. The disciples’ idea was very different from that of Jesus.

Read verse 14. So many people around the world in history have been so comforted by these words of our Lord Jesus. So there’s the famous hymn: “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” What a beautiful king Jesus is! How humble, how loving, how gracious! He didn’t mind that some of these little children were dirty, full of germs, and smelly. He wasn’t too tired to welcome them, embrace them, place his hands on them, bless them and pray for each one, and they were not his own children or grandchildren! In the community of followers of Jesus, children should be welcomed, not sequestered or dumped somewhere. In his community, marriage is important, and children are also important. We should not sacrifice marriage and children in the name of ministry; we should build up marriages and children as the core of our ministry.

Read verse 14 again. Jesus says here that the kingdom “belongs to such as these.” He the same thing earlier, in 18:3: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” What does it mean to be like little children? It means to be humble, simple and trusting, instead of proud, complicated and suspicious. Jesus wants us to run to him with an open heart like a little child, even with all our weaknesses and sins, asking for his mercy, help and love. We should never become too proud to come to Jesus.

Read verse 14 once more. Jesus said, “do not hinder them.” Perhaps it’s connected with his teaching on divorce. When parents divorce, in many cases it hinders their little children from growing well. Especially when believing parents divorce or have a poor marriage relationship, it hinders their children from wanting to come to Jesus. Parents who truly love each other and are faithful to each other are expressing healthy faith in Jesus and are a blessing to their children. And if little children represent those who are seeking God, Jesus tells us not to hinder such people from coming to Jesus, either. It’s sad but true that many people try to go to church, but they get so disillusioned by the behavior or practices of the church members. We should make up our minds not to put any obstacle or stumbling block in people’s way—whether it be our cultural traditions, rules or expectations. We should do our best not to hinder but help people come to Jesus. May God make us a community that welcomes people who are like little children and shows them how beautiful a life in Christ is.