Wednesday Bible Study on Tuesday: What Jesus asked, part 23

 

So this is Vacation week, so I didn't get anything written this weekend for the queue, but today, it is pouring some much-needed rain for which we are grateful, and tomorrow is a car appointment, so the usual Bible study happens right now!  Matthew 22 gives us a fourplay of questions to look at and see what we draw from them.  And they are going to teach us the right and wrong about questioning God.

First up is the attitude problem.

Mat 22:15  Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words.
Mat 22:16  And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.
Mat 22:17  Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"
Mat 22:18  But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 

 
False motives will never fly. Flattery is not worship. And depending on others to do your dirty work (...and they sent their disciples to Him...") won't absolve your mind.  And Jesus, in answering with this phrase- which He previously told Satan- speaks of where that motivation really comes from.

Second, know the difference between God's concerns and Man's:

Mat 22:19  Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.
Mat 22:20  And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"
Mat 22:21  They said, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 

To them, the primary concern was the struggle with Rome- in other words, politics.  I've seen the new ad on SM for flags with the Image of Jesus wrapping Himself in the American flag.  I've said it before and will again- if you need to put a flag on your Cross, you're climbing the wrong Calvary.  Remember what He told Peter when Peter was concerned about John's fate- "YOU follow ME."

Third, don't come to Him trying to confirm your mistaken notions:

Mat 22:31  And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God:
Mat 22:32  'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

Once again, "Have you not read?"  This part is the Saduccees- who didn't believe in life after this world- making up that complicated scenario about the woman who married each of the seven brothers- who, by law, had to marry her as the older brother died.  For them the logic was simple- If this could happen, an afterlife COULDN'T make sense.  But because of their preconceived notion, they failed to understand that the next life wasn't a carbon-copy of the first.  And merely seeking God's Word would have explained it to them- if they didn't have a vested self-interest in being "right".  Recently, a person on the other side of a touchy political issue basically told me that I was only worth respect IF I agreed with his position.  Our problem now, their problem then.

And finally, read it right:

Mat 22:41  Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,
Mat 22:42  saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David."
Mat 22:43  He said to them, "How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,
Mat 22:44  "'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet'?
Mat 22:45  If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" 

The Pharisees never get past Jesus being flesh; thus, they only see the Messiah as flesh as well.  But there are many places in the Old Testament that destroy this thought, and Jesus quotes Psalms 110:1, the most powerful example.  As the commentators show, He had other passages He might have used, like Isaiah 9:6 ("Isa 9:6  For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"), Ezekiel 34:24 ("Eze 34:24  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken"), and Jeremiah 23:5-6 ("Jer 23:5  "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Jer 23:6  In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' "), all of which show the Messiah to be FROM David, but MORE than David.

So, if you want to question God on something, do it the right way:

-Not from malice, but reverence;

- Not from your angle and understanding, but seeking God's;

- Not trying to justify yourself, but seeking Wisdom from Him;

- And not, ignorantly, but after digging into His Word.