In last few weeks …
Israel has been rejected … failure to worship God.
religious leaders … failure to produce the fruit of the kingdom.
Entry in the kingdom is on the King’s terms
BUT they have met together to make plans to trap Jesus.
Matthew 26:1 … It is roughly two days till Jesus is put to death.
United in their anger
Attack #1 – The Pharisee’s and the Herodians
Pharisee disciples …
& the Herodians.
Matthew 22:16, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You are not swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are”
“Should we pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”
“You hypocrites why are you trying to trap me?” “Show me the coin… whose image… whose inscription?”
“Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s”.
Attack # 2 – The Sadducees
… the aristocratic priestly families
they do not believe in the resurrection
OT Levitical law – Deut 25:5-10
“Whose wife will she be in heaven?”
“You are in error because you do not know scripture or the power of God”.
Exodus 3:6 … God IS … NOT God WAS.
God’s plan for our eternity is not simply a repeat of what happens on earth.
Attack #3 – The Big Gun
Verse 35 …an expert in the law
“Which is the greatest command in the Law?”
Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18.
From … being able to boast … to being people who are forced to rely on God’s mercy.
One last opportunity
Matthew 22:41.. Jesus asks them a question.
“Whose son is the Messiah?”
“The son of David”
Psalm 110:1.
If King David calls the Messiah Lord, how can the Messiah only be King David’s descendant.
For us today
… turned following God into something that was all about them, their security, their world, their expectations.
… if we really are giving God what he deserves?
… earthly marriages are not eternal and that there is an eternity.
…the Law pushed us towards the mercy of our loving, gracious and merciful God
…if all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to him… what might this really look like?
Take home assignment …“How did this last week reveal how I obeyed Jesus words and probably just as importantly how much did it reveal of my desperate need for his ongoing grace?”
How do I love God with my whole being?
“How do I love others as an expression of my love for God?”