These words of Jesus in Matthew 22 are similar to Jesus expanding the parable of the seeds:Matthew 13:
18 "Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When people hear the message about the kingdom and do not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their hearts. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to people who hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to people who hear the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to people who hear the word and understand it. They produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
When the Lord tells us about His compassionate heart, He tells us that He is our Father, He is our shepherd, He does not condemn us, but loves us:
Matthew 22: Verses 1- 13, 29-44- we are told that heaven and the invitation to heaven are from a Father who will be part of our lives and will discipline us to listen to His words. This is not a push-over parent. This is Lord of the Universe who invites us.
Verses 15 -22 -, taxation, government & earthly authority are issues in this life & can distract us. God tells us He is in charge and life is arranged that it would be easy not to have a root in the eternal part of our lives. There are worries of life: deceitfulness of wealth (or lack thereof), unfruitful parts of existence, but we are to search for the word and understand what is important in life.
Verses 23-33-, relationships, religious order versus God’s order and human judgement are complex and we are entirely capable of tying ourselves into rules to accomplish our human goals. The Lord told us when we judge, we need to use right judgement. (John 7: 24). The men want to know to whom the woman ‘belongs’ to after all that marriage and intercourse. In the days of multiple marriages, these men are interested in their afterlife. The Lord is more interested in the soul of the woman and the men, than the ‘knowing’. Father God is more interested in the soul; His relationship with each person, than the sin or the worldly indulgence.
He tells us in our invitation to be part of His eternal kingdom, and explains He is the Lord. He tells us in the invitation, the earthly issues & our spiritual dilemmas that He is in charge. We are to hear the message, understand the message and take hold of it in joy. To be rooted in the Word of God, to look to His message in times of trouble or persecution. Do not let the worries of this life and money cares choke out the message. God gives us fruit and blessings in the midst of the business of life. Proclaim your hope in joy!
Matthew 22
1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 ”The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
4 "Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
5 "But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8 "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11 "But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.
13 "Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14 "For many are invited, but few are chosen."
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
21 "Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
23 That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 24 "Teacher," they said, "Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for him. 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. 26 The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. 27 Finally, the woman died. 28 Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?"
29 Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. 30 At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, 32 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'[a]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."
33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42"What do you think about the Christ[d]? Whose son is he?"
"The son of David," they replied.
43 He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him 'Lord'? For he says,
44 " 'The Lord said to my Lord:
"Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet." '[e] 45 If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Footnotes:
Matthew 22:32 Exodus 3:6
Matthew 22:37 Deut. 6:5
Matthew 22:39 Lev. 19:18
Matthew 22:42 Or Messiah
Matthew 22:44 Psalm 110:1
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