It is important to remember, when following the Revised Common Lectionary cycle, that this cycle and these readings do relate to each other. This week, Miss Justine’s reading helped us to witness the peaceful passing of the first Hebrew leadership baton from Moses to Joshua, setting the stage for the Israelites to take possession of The Land. Sister Mary-Ann read the only psalm written by Moses, a prayer, most likely written around the same time that the Hebrews were arriving at The Land as a transition from the past to the future. Miss Justine then read from the second part of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, which is one of Paul’s earlier epistles, and we were again reminded of the fundamentals of Christianity and our origins that go all the way back to Moses and Joshua. Finally, Sister Mary-Ann wrapped everything up in a bow with her Gospel reading. Here, Christ schooled His detractors not once, but twice: first with an elementary-school level Bible Study and then with a quick reminder of His own authority.
Someone said once, “I don’t trust the Republicans and I don’t trust the Democrats; but what I really don’t trust is a Republican and a Democrat working together.” Okay, that someone was me, but come on, when you really think about it, if they stopped fighting each other, they could team up against something else. With literally the Bible as the only place in our lives where we can feel safe from fear and conquest, everything else in our lives are a challenge. This week, a certain governor’s race came to my attention as theweek.com published “UTAH'S DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR RELEASE JOINT AD URGING CIVILITY AND A FAIR ELECTION” and I felt a shot of redemption in a dismal news cycle.
The more we here about this election or that nomination or those people on that side of the isle, the more we pray for an easier way. But we know, because Christ told us on multiple occasions that it’s not this life that is going to be easy; this life is going to be tribulation after tribulation if we chose to follow Him and live in His Holy Name. But the life to come when this one is over will hold us to known of our earthly fears. No virus, no election, no masks and/or sanitizer ever again (does that not remind you of “No more pencils, no more books… no more teachers’ dirty looks”?)!
They were coming at Christ from all sides; the Sanhedrin, in the allegorical form of the Pharisees/Sadducees (or more modern Democrat/Republican [or Republican/Democrat if you please] equivalent) attacked Him separately and then ganged up on Him. And not only did they gang up on Christ, they sent a lawyer after Him to try and switch Him up. I wonder if it will work. Let us pray…
Over the past few weeks, we have walked with Matthew and the other Disciples, and witnessed through his detailed account, his Master baffle and bewilder and betwixt the most learned of the learned. He spoke of the PARABLE OF THE WEDDING BANQUET and explained how what we wore on the inside was more important that the trappings the world sees. In other words, it does not matter how attractive, well dressed, or a tangent thing in the physical world, what matters is how clean and well-kept our heart is, as a vessel for the Holy Spirit.
Then, we witnessed through Matthews eyes the IMPERIAL TAXATION QUESTION, as the Pharisees buttered his Master up with faint and false praise, only to then challenge His views so that they could get Him on tax evasion; they tossed Him a denarius, which was worth about a penny, and demanded He basically give them a lesson in microeconomics. Of course, Jesus did not fall for this trap and flat-out agrees that Caesar has the right to demand taxes. But the interesting thing is we should recognize here is that this is being told to us by a former tax collector himself. What Matthew might not have realized at the time is that his Teacher was not only talking about coinage; He was also referring to the old tithe laws, whereby the Hebrews (and eventually the Jews) were to bring a tithe, 10% of their harvest. In other words, give to God what is God’s (which includes but is not limited to everything) and give to Caesar the trinkets of man’s world.
What we did not read together is the parable of the MARRIAGE AT THE RESURRECTION. But it’s important to know (please read it on your own or together with me sometime) that it was the Sadducees who were getting into the act this time and they were challenging Jesus’ theological understand, and assumedly teachings, regarding resurrection. Now, this is curious since that faction did not believe in the resurrection or even study certain books of Scripture. So, Jesus speaks to them in a language they will understand and highlight why they do not understand what they, themselves, teach. There is a huge difference between an earthly marriage and a heavenly marriage. He goes just short of dismissing them and saying that in heaven the only relationship that matters is the one between ourselves and the Lord Jesus Christ. He saves that for His next lesson, which we just heard Sister Mary-Ann read a few minutes ago. So, let’s examine that for a while.
As I was saying before the flashback, Jesus had silenced the Pharisees and Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, and so now they sent Him a question about the Law from a man who knew the Law. Now, it is important that we remember a few things. If we were to be in a Jeopardy mood, we might give the answer as: Deuteronomy 6:4-5. In other words, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” This was/is The Shema, the central prayer in the Jewish prayerbook and one of the first prayers a child would learn. In other words, it does not get more basic than this. Love God! I love God! You love God! God is, plainly literally and figuratively, the One.
And then He did something so profound that we are still talking about it today. Now some have misperceived this as being a new commandment. I mean, think about it. That first commandment is literally the First Commandment. But nowhere in the remaining Nine does Moses or God talk about loving your neighbor… He comes close with that coveting thing, but not really.
Now, some of you have seen or read or heard my math lesson (aka, the original draft of my doctoral thesis): “1>2>10>613”, where as we take from one (God), those two important commandments, and from there understand the Ten Commandments, and from there, all 613 laws found in the Torah, you know where I am going with this, but for the rest, no, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” is neither new nor hidden, it literally encompasses the remaining Nine, No fake gods, Respect God’s name, Respect God’s day of rest, Respect your parents, Do not kill people, Respect marriage, Do not steal, Do not lie, and Do not be jealous.
For many years, I taught that those two commandments Jesus mentioned were split down the middle with the first referring to the one through five, and the second referring to six through ten. But that’s not what Jesus was saying, really. He was explaining that there is that first commandment from the Shema (again, which every faithful Jew recites three times a day [remember Daniel in the window?] everyday). And the second really does incorporate the other nine. Hear me out.
Going backward, you all are pretty familiar with how the second half of the Ten Commandments relate to loving your neighbor. All you have to do is start the saying with “In order to love my neighbor as I love myself, I must…” 10. Not be jealous, 9. Not lie, 8. Not steal, 7. Not cheat on my spouse or 6. Not kill people. Even 5. Respect your parents can find its way under that neighbor umbrella. But what about the next three? Don’t they relate to the relationship with God? Of course, they do, but don’t they all? Think about it… how horrible are we being to our neighbor if they we knowingly worship an idol or fake god? And what about when we lay down a colorful metaphor and our friends look at us like we have said a word they’ve never heard. And do not get me started on how disrespect of His day of rest is harmful in our relationships with our neighbors. It is literally God’s way of saying “Give people a break!”
I think of Ray Comfort, who is always asking people if they deserve to go to heaven. Most folks analogize that they deserve to go to heaven because they are not horrible people. And that’s when Mr. Comfort hits them with his metaphoric clipboard and starts asking questions like: “Have you ever lied?” or “Have you ever stolen?” and of course the famous, “Have you ever, in your life, taken the Lord’s name in vain?” and the respondent says he is guilty of at least one of those at least once, and that’s when Ray socks him with the Truth.
Well, that is what Jesus was doing right there. He was saying that God made man and that we all had to live together. That is, it. It was not difficult. Jesus was telling them that they were overthinking that 613 thing. I mean really, He was being nice here. But He had a reason for that.
If we have learned anything from this week’s, and prior, debates, it is that when someone is put in his place, even politely, they need to find an entirely different method of attack. And when someone is on a roll, it behooves Him to keep up the momentum. Jesus did just this; it was His turn to confront their understanding, or lack thereof. He asked them directly about the Messiah; not who was he going to be, but from where would he come.
And of course, the Pharisees answered with the simplest of responses: King David. Now, let us think about this for a minute. Exactly who was David and where did he come from? David, from shepherd to king, was of the line of Judah and from David’s line would come the Messiah. The Pharisees took the easy way out with their response, but they were more on the ball than they knew, since Jesus Christ Himself was of the line of David. Did they know from where He came? Matthew knew; this whole book begins with Christ’s family tree, linking Him directly to David and Judah.
But Jesus did not just give them a direct answer. Instead, He chose to use Scripture to highlight their ignorance. Jesus quotes the beginning of a popular psalm of David: Psalm 110. In this psalm, as Christ teaches, David is talking to God, asking about the coming Lord; then, it becomes evident that David is talking about someone, in addition to God and that can only be the Son. This makes sense since the Son has been with God from the beginning. God’s response is, about His own Son, not David’s own son; the Messiah will be “A priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” In other words, “If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" If those learned men could not contradict Him, who am I to add insult to injury.
I think the thing that I am most grateful for right now is that the debate season is over, and we are less than ten days away from Election 2020. In a couple of weeks, the hard part will be over and regardless of who wins or loses, at least the campaign advertisements (include the four or five we receive in the mail each day) will stop. But, when one door closes, it is not necessarily logical to assume that another will open. I know that many folks think that the Bible says “When God closes one door He opens another” but we can file that away with “God won’t give us anymore than we can handle” and “God helps those who help themselves.” The closest we come is in Deuteronomy 31:6 where Moses tells Israel to “be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you.”
Yes, God is always with us in one way or another. Those who have accepted Jesus host the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We are never alone. Christ was trying not to have to tell these folks, “Hey, you are teaching the wrong lesson. You are feeding their egos with your propaganda, but you are starving their hearts.” Maybe He was just too polite. But I’m not. To those of you who know the Lord, that is wonderful. You know the Truth; you are able to differentiate fact from judgment from opinion from fiction from bald-faced lies. Some might say that is just logic, but we know that the Holy Spirit is involved on our decision-making process. And if we were just the church family, this might be able to end right here with a fluffy affirmation and a closing prayer. But, in thanks to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and our friends at freeonlinechurch.com, an entirely new audience can reach us. That is to whom I am speaking…
Friends, if you do not have a personal relationship to Jesus Christ, I am talking directly to you and I hope you will answer me. Do your current beliefs comfort you? Do you have a feeling that something is missing from your life? When I was referring to Ray Comfort’s television show (with Kirk Cameron), did you defend yourself and admit that, hey, I’ve lied every once in a while; I’ve felt feelings for someone other than my spouse; I pocketed a pen from work the last time I was in the office. Or have you caused someone else to stumble in his or her walk with Christ. I’ve been there; I understand. We’ve all made mistakes and if we want to get into heaven on our own merits, it just isn’t going to happen. None of us, not a one, is “good enough” to get to heaven on our own; I’m not even sure what good enough means.
What I do know is that the Bible, Old Testament and New, both promise us heaven that is too wonderful to imagine. Every drawing or artist representation I have ever seen will no doubt do it injustice. But none of us are getting there without God’s permission and that permission can only come with an invitation from the Son, Christ Jesus. So, have you sinned, even once? Give it to God. I’m not going to lay a series of prayers on you; there is no one prayer that is the answer. Praying is simply you talking to God or you talking to Jesus or you listening to the Holy Spirit. Give your sins to Christ and let Him take your burden. Pray with us now…
