Woe to you - Matthew 23:13-36

Like our last study, personal questions will be a significant portion of our exploration of today's passage, but we'll also look at some elements of Jewish culture to deepen our understanding.  Also note that today we reach the end of the long interchange between Jesus and the Jewish religious leaders.

Today we cover the passage known as the "Eight Woes," filled with the phrase, "Woe to you..."  So before we dive into Scripture, let's define that phrase really quickly.

• The word "woe" itself means distress, lamentation, grief, anguish, etc.
• So, "woe to you" isn't exactly an act of cursing the "you."
• Rather, in this context, the recipients (hypocritical religious elite) will experience that woe because of the implied curse because of their evil acts that Jesus lists out.

13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Under the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Law and sacrifices and festivals and all that were the way to serve God, but salvation (because Christ's death reaches both backward and forward in time) was still based on faith, a heart genuinely striving after God (see Romans 4).  Since these religious leaders were only interested in bringing glory to themselves, they had no true relationship with God.  But the situation was far worse in that these religious leaders were teaching common Jews legalistic principles instead of God's true intent in His Law, preventing them from coming to truly know the Lord for themselves and understand what it meant to really follow Him.  False teachers are extremely influential -which is why the Church is instructed to be constantly on watch for them, so no one is sucked in (see 2 Peter 2:1-3 and Romans 16:17-18,for example).

Are you diligent to keep false teachers' words out of your ears and eyes, checking all teachings against the Bible?  Do you also try to protect weaker Christians around you from false teaching's influence?

14 ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]

We've talked about how to handle bracketed verses before (verses found in some early manuscripts but not others), but if you are new here or need a refresher, click this post and scroll down to the blue sub-header that reads, "What about That Verse in Brackets?"  Based on my opinion on the bracketing issue, this verse qualifies as genuine Scripture.

Here, the religious elite were taking advantage of the people they were supposed to be taking care of, and engaging in religious activity just for the sake of appearing holy to others.  (For more on the issue of public prayer, look at Matthew 6:1-6.)

But what's the deal with the "greater condemnation"?  As I talked about in this post on Matthew 11 (under the sub-heading, "Speaking of the Judgment"), it's not a matter of different circles of hell like in Dante's Inferno; it seems more along the lines of those people having far more shame since they, as God's very own Israel, had far more opportunities to truly know Him than people of other nations had.

15 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."

FYI, a proselyte was Gentile convert to Judaism.  So basically, these religious elite were going on "mission trips."  Obviously, the few Jews who really did love Gentiles enough to go tell them about the One True God were amazing people, but the religious elite referenced here were doing it for all the wrong reasons - for their own glory.  That may seem like an odd manifestation of glory-seeking, but a missionary I know has told me that some missionaries have actually gotten saved for real on mission trips (perhaps they went because it's seen as simply a noble thing to do, or a related motivation) - so this still goes on today.

But since most of these scribes and Pharisees never came into genuine relationship with God, they taught the converts the same false teachings they themselves lived by.  Think of it kind of like Mormons going on mission trips today.

16 "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.'
17 "You fools and blind men!  Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
18 "And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.'
19 "You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?
20 "Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it.
21 "And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it.
22 "And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

There are a lot of little details here that may seem confusing, but the basic principle is actually quite simple:

• In Jewish culture, people often swore to do certain things in the service of God - like abstain from something for a set time, or give Him a certain percentage of their income.
• In the Old Testament, keeping your vows is treated as extremely serious (Deuteronomy 23:21-23, for example).
• But the religious elite decided to make up all sorts of little "word game" rules to let people get out of their vows.
• Obviously, this was an affront to God.

Have there been times when you've known that God wanted you to do something, but you tried to justify your way out of it?

23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
24 "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

The religious leaders were also big on counting tiny seeds and flecks of herbs to tithe the set percentage - because such time-consuming acts were seen as very religious.  But they totally ignored the big-picture commands like loving others, which cannot be quantified and are not as noticed - and are actually much harder to do, when you really think about it.

Modern examples include spending (say) 2 hours in prayer and Bible study each day - but that clutters your schedule so much that you don't have time to show God's love to your elderly neighbor by helping her with yard-work.  Or having rigid rules of exactly how many inches below your collarbone or above your knee the clothes you buy can go - but not dealing with your pride or judgmentalism.

Does this principle "click" with your life in any way?

25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.
26 "You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.
27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like white-washed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.
28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Jesus Himself interprets His symbols and sums it all up in verse 28, so I won't spend much time here, except to prompt:

Are there things you do to look religious when other people are watching, but that are the exact opposite of what you truly are like on the inside?  (For example, putting lots of money in the offering plate, but refusing to lend a family member money so they can make their rent.)

29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'
31 "So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 "Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.
33 "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?
34 "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in synagogues, and persecute from city to city,
35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
36 "Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."

Wow, there's a lot of information in this passage!  I think I'll focus on two main points:

First:  While there are many, many ways God uses the persecution of His saints for His glory (you can check out the "Persecution" tab under "Studies by Topic" on the left, if you're interested in studying this out deeper), in this passage, the focus seems to be to give the persecutors even more chances to repent through the testimony of the martyrs, and to heap more shame on them when they reject it (as we discussed above).  God doesn't waste the suffering and death of His martyrs - He offers mercy to the persecutors, but if they refuse to accept it, His justice will prevail for the martyrs (see Revelation 6:9-11).

Second:  We as humans always talk big, claiming we would have acted nobly during some time period where radical social change led to conflict.  But a major point I see in this passage is that, while we may think times have changed and we're not faced with that same decision today, we really are facing the same choices - so if we say we would have acted a certain way, why aren't we???

• "If I were alive during the Holocaust, I would have done whatever I could to help save the Jews!"  Unborn babies created by God are being slaughtered everyday - are you standing up to help save them?
• "If I lived around the time of the Civil War, I would have helped free the slaves!"  Slavery still exists in the world today - what are you doing to put a stop to that?
• "If I lived during the Protestant Reformation, I would have been willing to die for my faith!"  (Not picking on Catholics here; I've just heard this line a lot.)  Well, today, right here and now, are you willing to bear shame and be socially ostracized, and risk your job and your grades and your family for your faith?
• "If I lived in Jesus's day, I would not have been ashamed to minister to the outcasts and sinners right alongside Him!"  Today, are you showing God's love to homosexuals, and the homeless, and people who annoy you, and people seen as "weird" - not worrying what people will think of you for spending time with them?

I say these just as much as a challenge to myself as to you guys.  We need to take it seriously.  We need to actually do what Jesus would do, instead of throwing around the cliché acronym without putting any thought into how to put it into practice.

Image credit: "The Sermon of the Beatitudes" by James Tissot.  Wikipedia.  Public domain in the United States. 

The Bible's Summer Wedding - Matthew 22:1-14

Today we continue working through Matthew's multi-chapter account of Jesus's verbal assault on the Pharisees just before His death.  Missed our previous studies on this topic?  Here are the links for you:

Part 1, The Triumphal Entry and Fig Tree

Part 2, John's Authority and the Parable of the Two Sons

Part 3, The Parable of the Landowner

The Scripture

 

1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,

 

2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.

 

3 "And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

 

4 "Again he sent out other slaves saying, 'Tell those who have been invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast." '

 

5 "But they paid no attention and went on their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,

 

6 and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them."

 

7 "But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.

 

8 "Then he said to his slaves, 'The wedding is ready, but those were invited were not worthy.

 

9 'Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.'

 

10 "Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.

 

11 "But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,

 

12 and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?'  And the man was speechless.

 

13 "Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

 

14 "For many are called, but few are chosen."

 

Thoughts on the Passage

 

We'll approach this chronologically today, rather than topically. :-)

 

The King is God the Father, and the son is God the Son, Jesus Christ.  This wedding feast, as we see in Revelation 19:7-9, is basically ultimate salvation - eternity rejoicing with God.

 

As we saw last time, the slaves Jesus referred to were specifically the Prophets, as far as the original audience (the Pharisees) were concerned, but for modern application, we can view these slaves as evangelists.

 

Those originally invited were the Jews - and the Pharisees exemplified what much of the Jewish nation did, which was rejecting true relationship with God and instead embracing legalistic ritualism.  Notice that both in the parable and especially in real history, God gave them multiple, multiple chances to accept His invitation.  And he even tried to woo them with all the things he would offer at His feast - all the blessings and special protection He offered the Jews.  That shouldn't even be necessary, because God is so incredible that His character alone is far more motivation than any of us should need to draw near to Him!  Yet, the Jews rejected Him, just as so many people do today.

 

I see the Jews' refusal to accept God's invitation as sort of like bragging to all your friends that you got invited to a really exclusive party, then never bothering to actually attend the party, but still continuing to brag about the fact that you were invited.  Absurd, right?  The Jews acted exactly as people do today - they preferred their "real" lives, comfortable, secure, and spending their time how they wanted to spend it.  When a prophet came to tell them the truth about their life, and today when a true Christian tells someone the truth about their life, the reaction is to lash out.  Depending on the culture, it can range from verbal rudeness to grave physical violence.

 

The fiery judgment the first group faced is the same as that which the second group does - eternity apart from God, in hell.  We know that this is a just punishment for even one "tiny" sin, yet God in His grace always gives numerous, numerous chances for repentance - as His repeated invitation in this parable symbolizes.

 

Because the original invitees rejected the offer, God burst open the guest list.  You see, originally, Gentiles could come into relationship with God (for example, Rahab), but the way to do so was to actually become a part of Israel.  But one of the many changes that came with the New Covenant is that all people, everywhere, can have relationship with God right where they are.  Being born into or assimilating into Jewish culture are no longer prerequisites to following God.  Furthermore, Jesus is making extra clear here what has always been His policy - that not just the "religious," but anyone with a heart for Him, no matter how terrible their past, is welcome to come follow Him.

 

And yet, this isn't some Universalist Unitarian type philosophy where everyone or even just the "good people" go to heaven - that is a lie.  Our wedding clothes are "putting on Christ" (Romans 13:14) - truly making an effort to live like Christ in order to try to become more like Him - because that, not getting out of hell, is the entire goal of salvation.  It has nothing to do with what good works we accomplish, but rather if our heart truly wishes to please God.  Today, there are plenty of unsaved people who call themselves Christians, too, just like there were plenty of Jews who were not really following God.  So, this part of Jesus's masterful storytelling serves to both establish a point that applies for all the rest of history, and to underscore the point He was making specifically about the Pharisees.

 

Finally, I'd like to touch on the passage's concluding line, "For many are called, but few are chosen."  If you've read this blog for very long, you know that I don't shy away from sharing my views on controversial theological/doctrinal topics. :-)  But predestination isn't one I like to talk much about, because I'm still in the middle of a years-long process of figuring out what I think about that based on what I see in Scripture.  Honestly, I think it's like the Trinity in that our human minds can never fully understand it this side of heaven.  But what I will say for this passage is that I don't think this verse is arguing for predestination...  Everyone is "called" (God gives all humans the opportunity to come to Him, as that is His ultimate desire), and those that are "chosen" (saved) are those who choose to "put on their wedding clothes" (accept Christ).  That's what I see here. :-)

 

Have you made that choice for yourself?  Click here to learn how to become a follower of Jesus.

 

Any questions or comments you'd like to add to our discussion?  Feel free to leave a comment below. :-)

 

Image Credit: "The Boyars' Wedding" by Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky.  Wikipedia.  Public Domain in the United States.

Jesus's Parables Against the Pharisees - Matthew 21:33-46

Very Brief Recap

 

Remember, we're going through the part of Matthew's Gospel where Jesus spends a long time confronting the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and other religious elite.

 

Missed our previous posts on this war of words?  Here are Part 1 and Part 2.

 

Today, we'll look at Jesus's 2nd parable against the religious elite, both dissecting its meaning and looking for how to apply it to our own lives instead of just storing up head knowledge. :-)

This is a very link-happy post where I direct you to Scripture verses and passages, so if you're new around here, links appear hot pink if you're reading on the blog itself and blue if you're reading via e-mail subscription.  Be sure to check them out. :-)

 

The Scripture

 

33 "Listen to another parable.  There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.

 

34 "When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce.

 

35 "The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.

 

36 "Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

 

37 "But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

 

38 "But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'

 

40 "Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?"

 

41 They said to Him, "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons."

 

42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHEIF CORNER STONE; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?

 

43 "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.

 

44 "And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust."

 

45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.

 

46 When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because the considered Him to be a prophet.

 

The Symbols

 



Here's my take on them, anyway... :-)

 

The landowner is God.  God's always the easy one to figure out in parables like this - He's the guy in charge. :-)

 

The vine-growers are, in this case, both all of God's people, and specifically the religious leaders - the people who were given the commission to help God's people grow, but weren't doing their job.  In Matthew 15:14, Jesus called them "blind guides," and in Matthew 23:4, He says that they "tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders."  However, for applying this today (and looking in Isaiah 5, the origin of this parable), we should keep in mind that we all have a commission as "God's farmers," that is, to share His Gospel with the world, so we should view this in that light.  We all must produce fruit, we all have a responsibility.

 

The slaves here are the prophets (all the Old Testament ones, plus John the Baptist).  In our culture, the word "slave" is a very negative thing (as it should be), but in the Bible, it doesn't mean the same thing.  In the New Testament, we are referred to as bond-servants 24 times (a bond-servant was a voluntary slave who chose to serve a master they loved), and by my count, only as slaves 5 times (excepting the parables, which are symbolic so they don't count) - three times in Romans 6:16-19, and once each in 1 Corinthians 9:19 and Ephesians 6:6 ... and in all these cases, it is still presented as a matter of voluntary choice.  What's more, Galatians 4:7 is one of multiple verses that explicitly state that God views us as sons and daughters, not slaves.  So, then, being a "slave" is from our perspective - our willing choice to obey God, no matter what.  In the prophets' specific case, they were willing to say "yes" to God even to the point of dying brutal deaths.

 

The vineyard is a bit trickier to pin down.  It could be seen as the world (what we would call the missions field), or as God's people (for us, the Church).  For the Pharisees against whom this was spoken, their primary responsibility was to God's people (again, that's what is portrayed in Isaiah 5), but in modern times, God's followers' "vineyard" is both the Church and the world.  The landowner gave the vine-growers everything they needed to produce fruit in this vineyard (see verse 34), then went on a journey and left it in their hands - just like God gives us every possible way to come to Him, grow in Him, and follow His calling for our lives, but He ultimately leaves the choice of what to do with those gifts up to us.

 

What is this harvest time?  Elsewhere in the New Testament, it can refer to a final judgment scenario or bringing lost souls to Christ.  I don't think it's either of those here, but definitely related.  It seems to me that this is God calling His people to step out in faith in something, perform a good work He has planned for them, come back to Him after a time of rebellion - any of that.  Simply, God expecting fruit.  It makes sense, then, that the prophets would come to "demand" this when spiritual fruit wasn't being given to God.  Good motivation for us - let's serve God all the time so He doesn't have to send another of His followers to point out to us that we're not serving Him! ;-)

 

And finally, the last symbol is the landowner's son - Jesus.  That one's pretty obvious, but what I find interesting is the vine-growers' motivation: They wanted power they knew they weren't entitled to have.  The religious leaders could have seen that Jesus was Messiah far easier than anyone else since they were so familiar with the Scriptures, but I believe they refused to see that for this very reason - because the Messiah wanted to strip them of their wrongful power.

 

The Response

 

The response of the religious elite is disturbing.  They would have been familiar highly familiar with Isaiah 5, which Jesus was boldly alluding to and even directly quoting, and they knew in their hearts what justice would be for the vine-growers (see verse 41).

 

And yet, they were so blinded to their own wickedness that they couldn't see how it applied to them, so they proclaimed the judgment on themselves!

 

We need to constantly be aware of what's going on in our hearts, and ask God to reveal our sin to us, so we are not likewise this blind.

 

Corner Stone

 

For ancient buildings with stone foundations, the corner stone was the first stone laid in the ground, on which the entire house's measurements and alignments would depend - so it had to be flawless.  Jesus is here Himself the cornerstone (see Acts 4:10-12), but in this case, it also applies to the point He's been hammering into their heads and will continue to hammer: that the religious fakers who weren't really serving God did not truly possess the kingdom of God, because it belongs to we wretched sinners who repent and serve the Lord.  In God's eyes, it doesn't matter how badly we've screwed up, or what horrible people the world thinks we are because of those mistakes - when we ask His forgiveness and make Him our Lord, we become perfect stones in His sight, far more righteous than the religious elite who fast and maintain legalism - all because of Christ.

 

Let's look at verse 44 again:

 

And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.

 

Not as cryptic as it seems. :-)  Let's break it down very simply:

• Everyone will come into contact with the stone (that is, Christ) - but not in the same way.  Some (the saved) will choose to make their contact with Him here on Earth, but others (the unsaved) will refuse a relationship with Him, only to meet Him at the final judgment.
• The people the stone falls on are the unsaved (and in this specific case, the unsaved religious elite).  Christ will crush them in final judgment.
• We who fall on the stone are the ones who choose to bow to the True God.  We will be broken, too, not in judgment, but (1) as we willingly allow God to work in our hearts, removing our sin as we offer Him our "broken spirit" [see Psalm 66:10, Isaiah 48:10, Daniel 12:10, Zechariah 13:9, and Malachi 3:3]; and (2) as we suffer for our God at the hands of unsaved persecutors.

This is a tangent, but relevant:

 

If the devil were wise enough and would stand by in silence and let the gospel be preached, he would suffer less harm.  For when there is no battle for the gospel it rusts and it finds no cause and no occasion to show its vigor and power.  Therefore, nothing better can befall the gospel than that the world should fight it with force and cunning.

- Martin Luther

 

Powerless

 

Finally, at the very end of the chapter, the religious elite realized that they had been duped into condemning themselves, and have been publically ridiculed and denounced.  But Jesus was not done with them yet, and it was not quite the time when He chose to give His life - so we'll go further into this subject next study, as we start Matthew 22.  See you then. :-)

 

Questions for You

 

Is there anything you'd like to add to our discussion?  Maybe you saw something in the parable that I missed, or something really spoke to you that you'd like to expand on.  Or maybe you have a question.  Leave a comment to share. :-)

 

Image Credit

 

Image 1: "A Vineyard" photo taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.  Wikipedia.  Public domain in the United States.

Intensifying Blatancy - Matthew 21:12-22

Scripture Passage #1

 

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

 

13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ROBBERS' DEN."

 

14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

 

15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant

 

16 and said to Him, "Do you hear what these children are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?"

 

17 And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

 

The Basics of What's Going On Here

 

This is yet another of my favorite "scenes" in the Bible involving Jesus. :-)  I adore the idea of a warrior God defending the weak from evil, and that is certainly exhibited here.  But another thing I love about this event is that each Gospel seems to emphasize a different aspect of what happened, each on teaching us something unique.  Let's dive in and see what Matthew saw as important in this story.

 

In case you're not very familiar with this story, here's a quick run-down of what was going on:

• There were very specific rules in the Jewish temple about what kind of money you could use and what quality of animals were okay for sacrifices.  So, moneychangers and animal salesmen set up shop there...which seems very useful at first glance.  But the problem was that they were not there just to help people worship God and make a living - they were swindling the worshipers.
• The scribes and priests were totally okay with this system - they worked there, too!  It fit perfectly with the hypocritical, hyper-legalistic system they had set up to turn themselves into the "holy" elite.  Someone declaring this temple system to be morally wrong directly threatened them.

So, Jesus came in and caused quite the stink about this situation.  He acted as a one-man riot, overturning tables, scattering money everywhere, letting the animals free, and chasing the swindlers out with a whip.  Imagine if someone came running into your church and threw to contents of the offering bucket all over the floor, overturned the communion stands, and grabbed each of the pastoral staff by their shirt collars and drug them outside...  It was a radical act!

 

This wasn't just wanton destruction...it was an act of cleansing His temple through destruction.  In the Old Testament, when Israel turned to evil and its worship became mere lip-service, God orchestrated events so His temple would be literally turned to rubble - it's the same principle as here.  The message is that hypocrisy reaching all the way to God's own house cannot be tolerated.

 

But Jesus's act was far more than a message of disapproval - Christ also restored the Temple to its true purpose, and that's what I see as Matthew's main emphasis.  Just look at the contrast - the rich and powerful (who were evil in this case) were chased out, and God welcomed the lowest of society (children and the sick, who were viewed as sinful).  The Temple was the place for Jews to commune with God Himself - and they had the opportunity to do that.

 

Deity, Prophecy, and Other Gospels

 

I think the fact that the sick came to Christ for healing after He did this whole rampage-through-the-Temple thing shows that they genuinely believed He was Messiah.  If they didn't, they surely would have thought that He had no right to do what He just did.  I mean, if I had terminal cancer and knew of a renowned prophet who could miraculously heal, and he did some radical religious act like we see in this passage, I wouldn't go to him for healing unless I fully believed he had the God-given authority to do what he did!

 

Even if my assumptions on that are wrong, however, the children were definitely identifying Him as Messiah!  In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, God promised King David that his descendants would ultimately reign forever.  At first, this was an unbroken chain of his son, grandson, great-grandson, etc. serving as king of Israel, and part of the prophecy speaks to that; but in the eternal sense, Christ's throne would reign forever, and Christ was a biological descendant of David (see the genealogy in Matthew 1).  So, a common term referring to the Messiah in Jesus's day was "Son of David."

 

So, the Pharisees noticed that the children were identifying Jesus as the Messiah, and tried to call Him out on not correcting them.  He responded, "Yes," and further declared His deity by quoting another Scripture about God - Psalm 8:2!  Since He intended to let them crucify Him shortly after this, He could be very overt in declaring Himself to be both Messiah and God.

 

If you want to look into the Scriptures Christ referenced in verse 13 of today's passage, they are Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 (the entirety of Jeremiah 7 is related, so you  may want to check that out if you have time).

 

If you're interested in the other gospels' take on this story:

Mark 11:15-18 - emphasizing how much His radical act caused the priests and scribes to hate Him

Luke 19:45-48 - emphasizing how people responded to His authority

John 2:13-22 (actually an earlier event - Jesus did this twice) - emphasizing His Deity and authority even more

 

Scripture Passage #2

 

18 Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

 

19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you."  And at once the fig tree withered.

 

20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?"

 

21 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.

 

22 "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

 

The Fig Tree

 

Jesus cleansing the Temple started off what will be a long section in Matthew in which Jesus confronted the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders (scribes, priests, teachers, Pharisees, Sadducees...), and that is also happening here, and will continue into our next couple of posts, as well.

 

The point with this fig tree is that it was not bearing fruit.  This tree is symbolic of those who see themselves as religious (Pharisees, etc.) but are actually not bearing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23:

• love
• joy
• peace
• patience
• kindness
• goodness
• faithfulness
• gentleness
• self-control

These are not things we achieve in order to become godly; rather, they are the inherent result of allowing God to live in our hearts.  Over time, He changes us to become more like Him, so a genuine believer will show at least some progress in some of these areas over time.  But the religious hypocrites Jesus was referring to didn't, because they didn't truly have relationships with God - they only wanted to serve themselves.

 

So when Jesus curses the fig tree, He is declaring that His favor and His blessing are not with people like that.

 

Learn how to ask Jesus to become your Lord and Savior here.

 

How the Disciples Listened

 

But the disciples weren't really listening to what Jesus had to say - they were more shocked by the fact that Jesus was able to make the fig tree wither instantly with a word (even though they had already seen Him perform so many miracles, many more impressive than this!).  It turned out fine, because He was able to turn their poor listening into a teaching opportunity on a different topic, but still! :-)

 

Branching off of that a bit, we should be sure that we value churches and Bible teachers and such not for how good of speakers they are, or how flashy their sermon PowerPoint notes are, or whatever - we should be paying attention to the content of the message.

 

Miracles and Prayer

 

We've talked about the issues Jesus refers to here in His teaching on miracles and prayer recently, so I'll be relatively brief.

 

Sometimes, there is cause for a miracle, whether to demonstrate to a person that the person performing the miracle really is from the True God, or simply to bless people (e.g. healing).  God still works miracles today, and he promises that He will work through Christians to bring them about elsewhere, too (e.g. Mark 16:17-18, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11).  However, it's not as if a person who God has gifted to perform miracles is a magician for life or something - God will work miracles through that person for His purposes, in His timing, when He chooses to.

 

But the larger point here is faith - God works through us (in any capacity) when we believe that He can do it, and are willing to act on that belief.

 

Bear in mind, too, that verse 22 isn't just a blanket promise that you can force God to give you anything you want - as always, context is critical.  In this case, the context is things for His kingdom, according to His will.  If we feel in our hearts that God is prompting us to do something for His kingdom, and our own abilities don't cut it, if we ask Him to give us the ability, He will.  Definitely.

 

Question for you: When has God asked you to "step out in faith" and do something that seemed impossible, and He provided for your situation?

Any questions, or comments about something you see in our passages?

Leave a comment below. :-)





Laborers in the Vineyard - Matthew 20:1-16

The Scripture

 

1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

 

2 "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

 

3 "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place;

 

4 and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.'  And so they went.

 

5 "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing.

 

6 "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?'

 

7 "They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.'  He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'

 

8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.'

 

9 "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.

 

10 "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.

 

11 "When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,

 

12 saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'

 

13 "But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?

 

14 'Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

 

15 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own?  Or is your eye envious because I am generous?'

 

16 "So the last shall be first, and the first last."

 

Recap/Intro

 

Last time we were in Matthew, the disciples asked Jesus how they would be rewarded for all they were giving up for Him.  He did not rebuke them, as their question was justified at that early stage when the Gospel had not yet fully come to light, and he promised them that because of their faith, they would receive salvation - eternal life.

 

In today's passage, Jesus continues teaching on that theme, this time explaining a dangerous extreme we can arrive at if we fall into the trap of thinking of heaven as a "reward" for works.

 

Symbolism

 

Let's start by identifying the symbols in this parable before dissecting meaning.

 

Who

 

The landowner: Christ

Hired laborers: Christians

Laborers not yet hired: The unsaved

 

Where

 

The market place: The world

The vineyard: More of a concept than a geographical location - the "missions field" - the world from the perspective of a Christian sharing the Gospel and living his/her life for God

 

What

 

The work: Sharing the Gospel, living our lives for God, etc.

The wages: Salvation

 

When

 

The hours: Different times in our life - e.g. when we're a child, young adult, and right before we die

Evening: The final judgment

 

Theology

 

First off, I think it's important to clarify something: The laborers hired at later hours are not Christians who decided to wait to get serious about their faith until later in their lives; those laborers are people who did not get saved until later in their lives.  This is important because, while we can never earn salvation through good works, the fact still remains that genuine faith in Christ will "yield fruit" (meaning there will be positive change as the Holy Spirit living in us makes us more like Christ).  I encourage you to read John 15:1-11 on this topic.

 

Now, that doesn't mean that a person cannot be genuinely saved but only called to "visible" work for the kingdom (like missions or ministry work) at a later point in their lives after they are more mature.  My point is simply that this passage is talking about people getting saved at different stages in their lives! :-)

 

Second, we also need to be aware that the "wages" talked about here is salvation itself.  We have talked last time and before about special designations like heavenly "crowns" that honor martyrs, for example - that's not what's going on here.  Besides, those extra designations are still completely, utterly undeserved in light of how sinful we are, so we'd have no right to complain about who God handed those out to even if that were the case.

 

Rather, the point is that none of us, even the hardest "workers" for God (recognized saints, martyrs, etc.) deserve salvation, so we have absolutely no right to complain when someone receives salvation and does less work for the kingdom - because even our own work is not nearly enough to deserve it!

 

I'm sure you are familiar with Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Eternal death (hell) is true wages - it is earned.  But eternal life (salvation) is not true wages - it cannot be earned.  It is absolutely, positively, only a gift from God that we do nothing to deserve, so we cannot think of others as "less deserving."  A serial killer doesn't deserve heaven, but neither do you and I!

 

If you have not yet received Christ's free gift of salvation from your sins, I offer you to opportunity to do so right now by clicking here.

 

In Our Lives

 

So far, we've stayed more in the realm of theology.  Let's expand this to include how we act in our daily lives.

 

First, we need to be ever conscious of how we treat others.  Any person we look down on for any reason (level of intelligence, appearance, personality, behavior, social class, nationality, whatever), whether Christian or non-Christian, is no more undeserving of Christ's forgiveness than we ourselves are.  Even if we "know" this in our minds, we also need to know it in our hearts - by putting it into action.  Look at Paul's example.

 

Second, also keep in mind that another believer may be called to a different type of "labor" than you, and that does not make them any less of a worker!  You may be called to do something flashy like leading worship at your church or smuggling Bibles into China, but if God is calling another believer to make cupcakes for people in the hospital, that makes them just as much a "laborer of the month" as you - they deserve respect for doing what God has asked them to do, instead of seeking something more in the public eye.  Unequal labor does not mean unequal laborers. 

 

Deathbed Conversions?

 

One final note - this passage brings up the topic of deathbed conversions.  A question people sometimes ask is, "If someone asks Christ's forgiveness right before they die, is it real?"  Well, it can be.

 

In today's passage, verse 6 tells us that someone hired at "the eleventh hour" (5 o'clock p.m. - at the end of the workday) is saved.  And the man on the cross next to Jesus came to faith as he was dying, and was promised salvation.

 

So, if a person isn't just doing a last-ditch effort thing on their deathbed, but genuinely regrets how they've lived and honestly wants Christ's forgiveness, yes, they can be saved.

 

Questions for You

 

What stage of life were you in when you came to Christ? 

 

And how has this impacted your view of others when you find out they believed when they were younger or older than you were?

 

Anything else you'd like to add to our discussion?  Or ask?

 

Image Citation

 

"Laborer in bib overalls digging the fire pit" by David Goehring.  Wikipedia.  Used by permission.



The Sower: A Parable, and So Much More - Matthew 13:1-23

Setting the Scene

 

1 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

 

2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

 

We open with Jesus taking a little daytrip to the beach.  It could be that He needed some time to be alone with God and His thoughts, as we see Him do elsewhere, but when the crowds showed up He chose to minister to them anyway - as we also see elsewhere.  Or, it could be that He wanted to preach to a large crowd, and knew that houses could only hold a small number of peole (usually 30-35 maximum, at this time).

 

Now, what about that boat?  We see elsewhere in Scripture that Jesus has to get on a boat just to create a little distance so the crowds don't crush him in their effort to be in the "front row."  Here's another cool thing - open water acts as a microphone.  If you've ever been on a really big lake, you know how well this works (I saw it in action this past summer at the Great Salt Lake).  So, getting out on the open water would have been a way for Jesus to ensure that the entire crowd could hear Him.

 

Okay, so we've got some ideas as to what Jesus is doing and why.  Let's look at the first parable itself, now.

 

This is a long passage with related information separated by large spans, so for organizational purposes, we'll look at: < 3 > < 4, 19 > < 5-6, 20-22 > < 7, 22 > and < 8, 23 > to join the parable and Jesus's explanations together, and then we'll come back to the part in the middle < 9-18 > for His discussion with the disciples.

 

Fair warning: We're going to skim the surface of some very controversial issues today - predestination, losing your salvation, the role of good works, what happens to those who don't comprehend the Gospel, and God hardening people's hearts.  Yeah...we've got our work cut out for us, eh? :-)

 

The Sower

 

3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow;"

 

A sower is a planter whose job it is to scatter seeds on the ground.  In this case, the seeds are the Gospel, and the sower is God (God as Jesus or God as the Holy Spirit, in different cases and depending on your view).

 

There's something fascinating here: God scatters the seed - extends the Gospel, His offer of forgiveness - to every single human being.  What determines whether or not the seed takes root is what kind of soil they are - that is, the state of their heart.  If God predestined certain people to follow Him and certain people to go to hell, why would He bother scattering the seed to everyone?  Just a thought.  No, the answer is that the choice to accept or reject His offer is all on us.  We'll revisit this when we get to verses 9-18.

 

By the Road and Eaten by Birds

 

4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

 

19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.  This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

 

Here we see some people who God reaches out to, but they don't understand His message.  Then, the devil encourages them to not bother wasting time thinking about something too "difficult" for them to understand.

 

Here's the thing: We know that every person, even those in far-off countries who have never heard the Gospel in their live, has access to God if they're willing to respond to His presence, and He promises to reveal Himself and His forgiveness to them if they just seek Him.  I've actually heard of this in action in some Muslim countries - people have no access to Bibles or missionaries or anything like that, but God speaks to them in a dream and they come to accept Jesus from that.  God really, truly is not limited by human access - He can call anyone to Him, anywhere.

 

So, it is clear that He hasn't made some vague philosophy that require years of contemplation to catch a glimpse of like some Eastern religions.  "Understanding" here does not mean mental capability.  Rather, it is meant in the sense we will see in verses 19-23, and in the sense of John 1:5, "The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." - a refusal to understand.  God reaches out to everyone, but some people refuse to accept that they're wrong about anything, and don't want to consider the possibility that their worldview is incorrect because that is guaranteed to cause some serious changes in their life.  When these people refuse to let the Word inflitrate their hearts, Satan capitalizes on the situation and encourages them not to consider what God is trying to reveal.  Simply, they had the opportunity, and they refused to take it.

 

(Remember the < birds = Satan and his demonic forces > thing; we'll see that in another parable!)

 

On the Rocks

 

5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

 

6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

 

20 The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

 

21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

 

These people are fair-weather friends to God.  They want the happy part - forgiveness and blessings - but they're not willing to accept the persecution, the laying down your life (physically and in daily actions and interactions) for Christ.

 

Thomas a Kempis commented on this when He said, "Jesus hath many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few bearers of His Cross.  He hath many desirous of consolation, but few of tribulation.  Many love Jesus so long as no adversities befall them."

 

They sprouted plants - they were genuinely saved - but once they figured out that allowing God to transform you into becoming like His Son (the ultimate goal of salvation!) isn't easy, they decided it wasn't for them.  Yes, it is possible to lose your salvation by choosing to reject God - see Romans 11:17-24 and Hebrews 10:26-31.

 

It is NOT that your good works earn you salvation, it is that if you genuinely want forgiveness, that means you want to genuinely be like God - so if you refuse the ways He is using make you like Him (trials, tests, and tribulations), then clearly you don't really want to be like Him with all your heart.

 

In the Briar Patch

 



7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

 

22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the decietfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

 

These thorns are anything that distract us from God to the point that we put them above God - these are idols - it may be wealth, or fame, or power, or security, or a romantic relationship, or a group of friends, or a lifelong dream.

 

Now, please note, as we've discussed before, that this is not talking about struggling with sin - that's "growing pains," it's to be expected and is evidence of trying to overcome your sinful nature and become like Christ.  Rather, if you ever get to the point that you say, "I know it's wrong, but I want it anyway," that is when you need to honestly be concerned for your soul.

 

This parable could certainly apply to people who won't accept the Gospel because they like their current lifestyles too much, but it also applies to Christians who refuse (not struggle to give up - refuse) the idols in their lives.  The latter seems closest since verse 22 mentions it becoming unfruitful.

 

Healthy Plants

 

8 And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

 

23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

 

Finally!  The optimistic one! :-)

 

We see here that those who are true believers consider the Gospel and decide to accept it, are willing to act on it, and because they're willing to act on it, good results.

 

This good - the hundreds, sixties, and thirties bit - may be in the form of sharing the gospel with others, or discipling others, or ministering to others, or accomplishing work for God's kingdom in some other capacity.  It has absolutely nothing to do with numbers - it's just saying that when you strive to follow God, good will eventually come of it, even when you can't see it.

 

Those Aren't Exactly Uplifting Odds!

 

In this parable, there are three broad groups of people who ultimately reject Jesus, and one group that accepts Him and chooses to follow Him with all their heart.  That's not to say that exactly 25% of humans are saved; it's the point out how few there really are.  Jesus did say in Matthew 7:13-14, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."  You may have heard statistics of the number of "Christians" in the world that seems to contradict this, but remember, not everyone who claims to be a Christian really is, whether they're lying to you or to themselves.

 

So, I ask you today: Which type of soil are you?  Have you accepted God's forgiveness?  And have you stuck with it, or have you allowed difficulties or any idols in your life to pull you away?  Repent TODAY, and turn to God!  If you would like to learn how to accept Jesus as your Savior and as the Lord of your life, click here or click on the tab above titled, "How to Receive Salvation."  Is English not your first language?  Click here to learn the Gospel in other languages, as well!

 

More on the Parable, Besides the Parable

 

9 "He who has ears, let him hear."

 

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"

 

11 Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.

 

12 "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

 

13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

 

14 "In this case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCIEVE;

 

15 FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEM AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.'

 

16 "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and you ears, because they hear.

 

17 "For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see wha you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

 



The whole point is that those who genuinely want to understand what God has to say will be rewarded with understanding, and those who don't care or are offended by what God has to say will stop of their ears (psychologically, not physically).  I  love how the Amplified version of the Bible phrases Mark 4:24: "And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing.  The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you - and more [besides] will be given to you who hear."  The disciples (remember, this isn't just the 12; disciples means His followers) are probing deeper because they want to understand - they're asking questions.  Because of their diligence, dedication, and hunger for the truth, Jesus is blessing them with understanding.  While there were surely some among the crowd that day who genuinely wanted to follow Jesus, it seems the vast majority of them were just there for the show - they had no interest in hearing talk of laying down their lives, difficulties, and tribulation.

 

A quick clarification: Verse 12 sounds horrible when taken out of context, but within the context of this passage, it's simply saying that those who have a little understanding of God's Word (presumably) through their own efforts will be given more by God, spiritually, but for those who don't bother learning what God has to say, He will ensure they have no udnerstanding at all.

 

We learn two lessons from this: (1) We need to be diligent to contemplate and study God's Word if we truly want to understand the riches it holds.  (2) We need to be willing to truly hear what He has to say, even if it's not something pleasant.

 

Finally, look at how beautiful verse 17 is!  God waited until 2000 years ago to reveal His Messiah; before then, many godly men like the prophets yearned to meet the Messiah in their lifetimes, but could not.  We should consider it an immense blessing that we were born into a time when God's ultimate plan for salvation is clear, and when we can have our own Bibles and not have to rely on a priesthood for the source of all communication with God.

 

Talk to Me!

 

What types of soils have you been at different points in your life?

 

Do you have anything you'd like to ad?

 

Is there anything I didn't make clear, or did today's post spark other questions?

 

Giving Credit Where It's Due

 

Image Number One: Representation of the Sower's Parable from Sts. Konstantine and Helen Orthodox Church in Romania.  Photograph by Sulfababy.  Wikimedia Commons.  Public Domain.

 

Image Number Two: Two ravens standing guard at the Tower of London.  Photography by Cj005257.  Wikipedia.  Used by permission.

 

Image Number Three: The rocky side of a mountain creek near Orosi, Costa Rica.  Photograph by Dirk van der Made.  Wikipedia.  Used by permission.

 

Image Number Four: Rose Prickles.  Photograph by JJ Harrison.  Wikipedia.  Used by permission.

 

Image Number Five: Traditional apple orchard in Eastwood, Essex.  Photograph by Graham Burnett.  Wikipedia.  Used by permission.

 

Image Number Six: Image of a human ear showing vestigial muscles.  By Thomas Woolner.  Wikipedia Commons.  {{PD-1923}} Pubic domain in the United States.