Matthew

Chapter 22

The injunction against the scribes and Pharisees continues with another parable. This parable is about the “Wedding Feast.” This is an image about the eschaton, the end of time. The wedding feast has long been a favorite pictorial way of describing the kingdom of God with its full imagery of celebration. In this instance, the parent invites all of the “right people” and they refuse the invitation. The parable depicts the rejections as even violent. Those who were sent out to fetch the guests with mistreated and even killed. The king retaliates decisively with military attack. He then sends out messengers to fetch now the seemingly “wrong” sort of people. He invites those along the highways and corners and fills the halls with guests. This parable takes a slight twist that ends the story with discomfort. The tale reports that one of those invited in did not have the appropriate clothing. That one was ordered into prison for being ill prepared for the feast. One might ask of this parable, is this just? It was not the poor man’s fault. Yet, what the story leaves behind is the disquieting reality that we are capable of throwing over the invitation even when we say yes to enter by the King’s invitation. The parable reminds us that the man did not know what to say. Perhaps that was part of the point of the parable. One might ask, if it was I caught ill prepared at the master’s coming, would I know what to respond? If perhaps we are found in the need to justify ourselves at the accusation our lack is multiplied by our silence. However, what would have happened in the context of the parable if the man had turned to king with apology for his short fall and asked for mercy? Would the king have been so harsh with one that truly recognizes the short fall and appeals for help? In the course of Jesus’ life and ministry, he confronted many who recognized their short fall and appealed in faith to the one who could make up the difference. Every one of them was invited in and clothed with the mercy of Almighty God, through faith in Jesus Christ. The parable concludes with the saying, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Through out the telling of Matthew’s gospel, those who are chosen are those who approach Jesus with the humility of knowing their deficiencies while seeking Jesus’ help

The Pharisees knew what Jesus had been teaching them. They were the people first invited into the kingdom. They were those chosen by God to enter into the full and meaningful relationship with God on behalf of the world that all the families might be blessed. They turned the invitation down to prosper their own understanding and to support their own tradition. They understood fully that Jesus was counting them among those who did not come to the wedding feast, as they knew that Jesus was reckoning them those tenants of the vineyard who were being displaced on behalf of others who would take it over and produce a good crop for the landowner.

The Messianic Kingdom

The plot described in verses15ff is the trap surrounding the concept of the messiah. What kind of Messiah are you, Jesus? As the Jews saw the Messiah, or least the image of the messiah based in their history, that messiah would look and act a great deal like David. He was a conqueror responsible for the capture of Jerusalem and its establishment as the capitol of David’s kingdom. David took it away from the inhabitants of the land and made it his own. That was the kind of Messiah they were expecting. All of their prophets indicated that Israel and Jerusalem would be returned to their power. What they were asking of Jesus is his allegiance to the present Roman government. They figured that that they would trap Jesus into expressing Roman sympathy. Support the Roman rule, and you could not be in alignment with God. Jesus answer was two-fold. First, God’s kingdom can happen anywhere regardless of who the governing body in the world might be. God’s kingdom was not geographical. God’s kingdom arose wherever the people of God welt with Jesus. Where the church is established, there is the kingdom of God as well. Therefore, go ahead and pay your taxes to those regulating the government. You are not dishonoring God by doing so. Second, however, is the crucial element., as you render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar you need also render to God that which belongs to God.

The Sadducees entered the conversation regarding marriage. Again, they set up a plot to trap Jesus with hypothetical discussion of the woman who marries after the multiple deaths of her sequential husbands. They ask, “In the Kingdom of God at the resurrection whose wife will she be?” The question brings Jesus into dialogue about the vast difference between the Kingdom pre and post resurrection. Marriage fits into the discussion this side of the resurrection. After that miraculous day everything changes. In Jesus’ discussion, the resurrection sets up a new category unlike any that we are used to dealing with today.

Verses 34 – 39 continue the discussion about the difference, In the kingdom of God, the legal system has changed as well. This however, applies to the kingdom on this side of the resurrection from the dead as well. What lies govern the kingdom? The commandments that take the primary position are two: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life – totality), and all your mind.” The second states, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus teaches that “all of the law (Torah) and prophets rest on these the two commandments.

Jesus redirects the interrogation. This time he has a few questions to ask. Whose son is the Messiah? Their answer reflects the time tested Jewish definition of the Messiah. He belongs to David’s line. The Messianic line is from David, yet Jesus uses scripture to validate that the Messiah is greater than David. David in Ps 110:1 calls the Messiah Lord. Note: David is believed to have written Psalm 110. Jesus’ question relates to this idea: if the Messiah is David’s son, how is it that David would call him Lord? The great teachers went away confused by this teaching and could not answer the question. This serves as the conclusion to the polemic between the Jewish establishment and Jesus. In the end, the problem for them is that if they were to accept Jesus teaching, they would have to recognize the answer to the question lay in the fact that the Messiah has come, and that the Messiah is not only sent from God, but is God in the flesh dwelling in their midst.

Chapter 23

Jesus turns criticism toward the Pharisees, the teachers of the law. In the same breath, he acknowledges that they are teachers of the Law, however, they not to be emulated. Do as they say, not as they do because they do not practice what they preach. Jesus criticism lies in the burden of the law that they lay upon people. The multiplicity of the laws that they preach are a true burden to hard to bear. These teachers are all show. They wear their phylacteries (small boxes that contain the Torah worn on the forehead and the arms). They allow the tassels to hang very long so they can be seen. They hold the high seats of honor at banquets and in the best seats in the synagogues. They ask to be called rabbi Jesus’ criticism stems from these titles and places of honor. The place of the disciples and the leader of the church is at the bottom not the top. Titles are of little importance in the kingdom. Service is the determining factor of those who follow the Messiah. Be warned: All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

What follows is the list of woes to the Pharisees. Jesus puts them in their places. They are accused of:

Keeping people out of the Kingdom of God by their teachings.
Having their priorities mixed up that who they call holy is not and they do not recognize as holy is.
They focus upon their tithing of gifts but ignore the weightier matter of justice, mercy, and faith in the law.
They worry about the kosher of the outside without paying attention to true inner kosher of the heart.
They have beautiful outsides, like white washed tombs, therefore, while is the inside is full of dead men’s bone
They join their ancestors who killed the prophets because they did not want to hear what they had to say.

Jesus turns to face the city Jerusalem where he is headed and laments of the destruction that lies ahead. While God has always sought to gather the inhabitants to himself, they has persistently kill the prophets and stoned those that God sent, just as they are about to kill their Messiah now standing at the portals.

Friday, December 15, 2006