When I originally wrote this song, it was in my mind to be sung as an anthem; similar in feel to the hymn from which I borrowed a part – “O Worship The King all Glorious Thou Art.” (William Croft’s famous tune Lyon.)
You’ll no doubt recognize my variation.
However, the producer at the time had a much different take on the piece, and what you hear recorded here was his “vision” not mine. That said, I pray it can be an encouragement.
His name was Richard. He had severe disabilities. Not as much physically as those brought on by his circumstances.
Richard (as I was to find out later) was born with normal intelligence, but with such profound deafness, being without inner-ear apparatus, he could not even feel vibrations properly. By the time I met him, he was in his late 20’s, and as a bus driver, I was picking him (and others with other various disabilities) and transporting all to a facility which was helping each learn to navigate the things in life most of us take for granted.
Richard, being born so completely deaf to parents who just plain had no idea what to do with such a child, just kept him in the house for the first 20 years or so of his life. He didn’t know how to tie his own shoes or much of anything else. Over time he developed a whole host of tics and odd behaviors. In his isolation, he declined further and further.
He was a big guy, over 6′ and well built. He squinted chronically. And if I didn’t arrive just on time to pick him up, he would scour the street for discarded cigarette butts and pack them in his upper and lower gums. Sometimes he would sort of shriek out loud. But he was never violent. However, one time he did stand up in the back of the bus, his hands pressed on the ceiling and began to rock the whole vehicle, to the delight of some and the terror of others of his fellow passengers.
I felt for this guy. If he had not been trapped in the house for decades, and deprived of useful interaction, he probably would have developed quite normally. His case worker bemoaned his condition as she shared it with me.
I wept.
One day, after dropping him off at the center, I sort of unloaded on the Lord. How could this be? How could this happen to an unsuspecting and (in earthly terms) innocent? I raged inwardly in my consternation. I prayed loudly, tearfully and in distress.
The Lord has big shoulders you know. He can take it. I had learned that from Job, David, Jonah and especially Habakkuk. So I went to Him with my distress and complaint.
In the silent aftermath, the words from the first line of Psalm 46:10 came to my mind. They came with such force that I began to sob: “Be still, and know that I am God.”
I would not receive the answers to my “why?” questions. But the Scripture did refocus me upon the more necessary “who?” question. My God. My sovereign God. My loving, all-wise God. My God.
And from that line in Ps. 46:10, I almost immediately scratched these lyrics, and set it to music later. I pray it may be a comfort to someone struggling today.
Slight of hand magicians – prestidigitators – rely on misdirection. If they can get your eye fixed in one place, you won’t notice what’s going on in the other place. Satan relies on the same technique.
In C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, Older demon Screwtape writes to his younger nephew on the finer points of moving the spiritually minded away from God. He closes letter 12 with this: “You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” Lewis, C. S.. The Screwtape Letters: Annotated Edition (pp. 60-62). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
And this reality is true regarding sins, or anything else which can edge one away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Even theology if need be. For so it was with the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the rest who kept putting questions to Jesus which all avoided asking and answering the most eternally important questions of all: Those concerning the person and work of Christ.
And so it is, when Jesus’ detractors have spent themselves questioning Him – He now questions them. And the issue: Who is the Christ? Who is God’s Messiah? And what are the implications of answering those questions? Indeed, Jesus has already visited this issue with His own disciples back in Matt. 16. And as we saw then – This, and this alone is the foundation of the Church: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Apart from this we have nothing but man made religion. Everything hangs upon and is founded upon this revelation. And any who have not had it revealed to them, are not of or in The Church. Indeed, this is THE question everyone must answer for themselves. And make no mistake, the mere truth of the data is not salvific alone. The Devil and all the demons know who Jesus really is. The question is, having received the light of who He is, have you been reconciled to God through Him?
So Jesus re-directs their attention to the Scriptures, and getting them to focus on dealing with this most critical issue – and especially in terms of how it applies to Him.
More important then Sabbath rules. More important than divorce and remarriage. More important than paying or not paying taxes to pagan governments. More important than anything else in the universe is answering who is Jesus? And then sorting out the implications of His being the Messiah, the eternal Son of God in human flesh. If that is who He is – what does this mean for you and me regarding what He said and taught, and what He did by dying for sins and rising from the dead? And what does that mean when He says He will return to judge the living and the dead?
Reader – what does all this mean to you? Think about it. Contemplate it deeply. It cannot be brushed off while you concentrate on your family, career or world events. What are you doing with Jesus? Whose son is He? How is it that David can call Him Lord when He is also His son? If this is the revelation of the incarnation – then the whole of cosmic and truth and reality – and the nature of our relationship with God places its full weight on this question.
So Reader – who is Christ? And how are you responding to that reality? Let nothing else ca[pture you until this is answered in full.
From Matthew 22:34-40 / The Impossible (Great) Commandment
Having soundly rebuked the Sadducees in the previous portion, the Pharisees now want to test the waters to see if Jesus is one of them. Maybe they can use Him to their ends if He is clearly not in the Sadducean party. But it is here where He shows that any party that does not have God’s interests first is the problem. He’s of no-one’s party. He is God’s alone.
Note first: Jesus’ citation from Deut. 6 comes right on the heels of God having given the 10 commandments. It is part of the “Shema” – the most fundamental concept in all of Judaism. While the Shema is comprised of all of Deut. 4-9, the opening statement: ““Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” heads everything else. And it is at this revelation of God’s unique oneness, that when we “hear” it, take in the full wonder of it, calls forth the only fitting response: “You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
This forms a divine summary of all that is incumbent upon humankind as created in God’s image. The knowing Him for who and what He is, that revelation would so resonate with our entire being, that we should be in perpetual rapture considering it. Which then ought to overflow in wanting our neighbor to enter into the same transcendent glory in experiencing God.
But in context, we are reminded of God’s words leading up this in Deut. 5:29 – “Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!”
God knows full well, that His people, even given the most extraordinary of revelations concerning Him; even experiencing their miraculous deliverance from Egypt and His continuing supernatural signs, are not inwardly changed by such exposures. Such is the depravity of the human heart. Such is the need for true inward transformation by the Spirit. Such is the promise of the New Covenant, and why the Old Covenant must pass away and give way to it.
This transition, the Pharisees would not be prepared for. They would not be willing to cede their power, position or construct. Jesus, was not of their party.
Note second: Just what the law of God actually commands. It commands, it demands, the impossible given our current state.
Think what it is to love God as stated here; to love God in this way, and all that reflects or represents Him to the mind as well.
With all the Heart: So that He, is valued and prized above all else. Not for what He does, but for who and what He is.
With all the Soul: Not compartmentalized. So that who and what He is, informs every part of me. My thoughts, emotions, priorities – how I govern my entire life and thought process.
With all the Mind: With truth as revealed about Him in the Word. Not an imagined God, but the God who has been displayed in His Word and ultimately in Christ.
This is more impossible than drinking in the entire ocean through a straw.
How can we ever become so drawn out of self and set in our entire being in this way? Only if we are radically transformed from the inside out. Only if the entirety of the being is redirected, refocused, cleansed from its former distortions and brought face to face with the living God in all of His glory. And how is this to be done? 2 Cor. 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
This is why the Scripture calls us to see Jesus in every part of Scripture and in the fullness of His person and work. We will only get this “Son tan” as we make Him in His full revelation the ultimate and consistent pursuit of our lives.
Oh, that the Lord would grant us to grow in this way as Paul prayed for the Ephesians: “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
And again: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
And so we say with The Spirit here too: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
He gets how rebellious against the rule of God we are.
He gets how unbelieving we are.
He gets how wickedly we treat each other.
He gets how shattered the image we were created in is.
He gets how violent we are.
He gets how selfish we are.
He gets how we love ourselves supremely.
He gets how dreadfully sin has distorted every last vestige of His image in us.
He gets how truly lost and unwilling to seek Him, His Kingdom and His righteousness we are.
What we don’t get is that all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.
We don’t get that outside of Christ we are: Dead in Trespasses and sins; Following the course of this world; Following the prince of the power of the air; Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind; We’re by nature children of wrath; Separated from Christ; Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel; Strangers to the covenants of promise; Having no hope; Without God in the world.
We don’t get that unless we are born again, we cannot even see the kingdom of God. And that we are at present under the wrath of God.
And we don’t get that God sent His only true Son, God in human flesh, Jesus Christ, to take on the wrath of God against human sin, so that all who put their trust in Him as their sin-bearer, might be forgiven all of their guilt and sin, be born again, and have everlasting life.
He gets us alright. And gave Himself to rescue us from ourselves and the just wrath of God we have brought upon ourselves by our sin.
He gets us.
Which is why there is salvation in no other name, than that of Jesus Christ.
The Judaism of Jesus’ day, like today, was not monolithic. There were four major groups, each with further nuances within them. There were the Zealots, the Essenes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
The Zealots: According to Josephus, they tie their origin with a man called “Judas the Galilean.” In 6 AD, he led a revolt against Roman rule. His party continued, and even one the 12 – “Simon the Zealot” (Luke 6:15) is listed as having been a part of them, at least at some point. They were more politically and nationalistically oriented. Not so much theologically focused.
The Essenes were an influential separatist sect who appear to have gathered mainly around the Qumran district, though not exclusively. More of their written material exists today than any of the major four from that period. They lived a very strict lifestyle with some communal aspects. They had a strong view of an afterlife with rewards and punishments, and of divine intervention in human affairs.
The Sadducees probably took their name from Zadok, the high priest during the reigns of David and Solomon. They were a wealthy sect (whereas the Essenes saw all wealth as corrupting), and at the time of Jesus, the ruling class in the Temple. They show up in the inter-testamental period as more politically motivated. But they also had a distinctive theological base. Josephus says their predominating marks were: emphasis upon human free will a denial of divine action in the world, and a rejection of any notion of an afterlife. They believed and taught the soul perished with the body. Annas, the high priest was a Sadducee. They rejected anything not strictly found in the five books of Moses.
The Pharisees. The were the popular “evangelicals” of the Judaism of that day. They were serious about serving God. Rigorous in their study of Torah, rich with the oral traditions, faithful to a strict lifestyle. Like the Essenes, they held to strong notions of an afterlife and a resurrection from the dead with rewards and punishments. They were Jesus’ main antagonists.
While it is true that the Old Testament does not emphasize the realities of the resurrection and afterlife, the New Testament, especially from the lips of Jesus – places much weight upon it. The truth is, there were always strains of Judaism from the beginning who made much of the afterlife and strains which did not. But the topic comes to the fore in the preaching and teaching of Jesus as this passage evidences.
Note first: Those who wish to debate theological issues often use absurdisms right out of the gate to prove their point, rather than simply going to the Scripture. Hence Jesus’ first response – “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures…”
Note second: When one rejects part of Scripture rather than taking it as a whole – we cannot help but form skewed views. The Bible must be read as a whole. And this is where the Sadducees made their first and biggest mistake. Ignoring God’s progressive revelation through the prophets and other inspired writers, they developed a truncated theology which had little or no room for formulating the entire truth.
It is all the more interesting then that Jesus in His wisdom makes His point even out of the only portions the Sadducees did hold to – and quotes Ex. 3:6. And at that, His argument hinges on the simple use of a present tense reading of the passage. The Scripture could not have God saying “I AM the God of Abraham” etc., unless they were still alive. The text would have to have read “I WAS the God of…”
Note third: How carefully we need to study the Scriptures, even down to the tenses of the verbs, if we would know what the Bible teaches, and not just what the words say. Bible study takes work.
Note fourth: Jesus’ appeal to the power of God appears to reference how different things will be in the resurrection. Why would we be raised only to remain as we are, with sexual needs, marital relations intact, etc? The God who raises us is the God who made the angels who do not live under such constraints (angels being something the Sadducees denied as well). He was showing how their thinking of God’s power, greatness and program was so limited, they could not even imagine another existence. Like so many sadly today.
Note fifth: How Jesus in the process of rebuking His interlocutors, provides Believers with the doubly promised blessing of what is to come. First, that Scripture affirms that there is indeed life after death. Second, that in that life, God is still our God and we are still His people. And third, that the life He promises will be so much higher, so much greater, so much sweeter, so much more wonderful than this one, that even one of the highest blessings we can have here – marriage – will be off the table in comparison to the bliss to come.
Most of us tend to like things simple. We like black and white understanding and answers to questions. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that desire, it can be a real hindrance to truth if we make it iron clad. We must make room for nuance and subtlety when and where required.
Wisdom dictates that we understand that some things in Scripture present us with clear antitheses – So we have Isa. 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Some things are truly evil and they cannot be construed as good under any circumstances. And, some things are good and cannot be construed as evil under any circumstances. It is never right to deny Christ, and it is never wrong to acknowledge Him for who and what He is. Black cannot white nor vice versa. Clear either/ors exist. One is either born again or not. There is no middle road.
At the same time, there are also both/ands in Scripture. So if we ask “is God one or is He three?” we cannot choose one or the other but have to answer – Yes! Was Jesus God or man? Yes. Was the Bible inspired by God or written by men? Yes. In these cases and others like them, the perfect antitheses we so long for, if answered in pure black and white, will rob us of the whole truth. It is true the Bible was breathed out by the Holy Spirit. But that is not the entire truth. Jesus was indeed God, but that is not the entire truth either.
You get the picture.
All of this leads us to the confrontation contained in our text.
The Pharisees and the Herodians, typically not friendly to one another, shared one common view – they disliked Roman rule. However else apart they were theologically and even practically – on this point they were agreed.
They were also agreed that Jesus, in gaining popularity among the masses, might prove to be less than helpful in their quest to martial the people in opposing the Romans. Both parties wanted a free Jewish state. They would iron out how theocratic that state would be after the Roman yoke was dissolved.
So it was, the two groups came together to to try and entangle Jesus in His words, so as to get the Jesus fly out of their joint ointment. If He answered a definitive “yes” it is right to pay taxes to Caesar – without qualification – then they could use that to sway the people against Him as a Roman sympathizer. And if He answered a definitive “no”, that it was unlawful to pay taxes to Caesar, they could offer Him up to the Romans as anti-Caesar. Either way, He would be out of their way.
Jesus won’t satisfy their imposed either/or construct. He knows full well that according to the Scriptures, Israel would only be under foreign rule as a chastisement for spiritual infidelity. A straightforward fact no one seemed to be addressing. They needed national repentance, not an anti-Roman movement or program. Rome wasn’t the problem, only the symptom. Sin was the problem. And only Jesus was the answer to that. Living fully under God’s rule would mitigate the need for foreign rule. But that wasn’t the answer they were looking for.
Given that they were nationally unrepentant, especially in the religious leadership – then their responsibility was to yield as fully to the foreign yoke as they could, until God would deliver them in grace. Just as they were called to do when under Babylonian rule. Because of sin, they were in this place where human rule was imposed upon them in judgment. The very same way human government has been established by God all along, due to the fact that men will not live voluntarily under the just rulership of God as individuals. So He ordains human government so as to prevent total anarchy until men’s hearts and minds are ruled by Christ. Until then, we will have to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Is this the ideal and permanent arrangement? No. One day, Christ will rule the nations. But it is what we live under until then.
Now how is that to be lived out by Christians? And the answer, as given here by Jesus, was lived out in principle by Daniel and others during the Babylonian captivity. And the guiding principle appears to be: If the State requires of me anything Scripture expressly forbids, I must refuse; and if the State forbids me to do anything the Scripture expressly requires, I must disobey. Beyond that, I flex as far as I possibly can – recognizing the fact that we are still in some form of exile until Christ returns.
Some will argue, “but what if the State is not acting justly?” This does not mitigate their authority as it is an imposed authority by God. Rome, was a far from just state. But we read of no Christian resistance to the State in general at any time. That is not our domain. Ought we to call out sin and injustice when we see it? Of course. But someone else’s wrong does not dissolve the order automatically. And thankfully, in our present society, we have many forms of redress available to us, those in Jesus’ day and circumstance did not.
The joy is, we do not need to live in constant chaffing. We recognize the temporary place we are in. This is not the end of the story. Christ is coming. All other kingdoms will eventually fall under Him. He will crush them all to dust.
Human government as we know it both a blessing and a chastisement. We must live under it as such. Praying for and hastening unto the Kingdom to come. In due time, all will be made right. Until then, we will often be found living in the cross-hairs as Jesus did. May His Spirit of Wisdom rest on us in the intervening years.
We now come to the end of this particular exchange with the Jewish leadership at the Temple. In it, Jesus advances a third parable. Their response, will in fact be a living out of the parable’s point – they will seek to disregard His words, and plot His downfall.
Now as is true with all the parables, we must be careful not to force them to walk on all fours. I.e. we must not try to over-strain each detail. The general concepts are what is being majored on, not the minutia.
In the end, there are three main thoughts:
a. God has been sending out invitations to celebrate His Son’s wedding since the proto-evangel in Genesis 3:15. The majority of those who had the most personal of invitations – have responded either with indifference, or outright hostility. Now that the Son has actually come, He has sent to all once again saying: “You knew the day was coming, now it’s here – come and dine. Celebrate My Son with Me.” The overwhelming response was – “no.” And so the King widened the circle of those invited, to include those outside the original circle who had been so favored from the beginning.
Many are the excuses for failure to hear the great invitation of the Gospel.
a. Simple Unwillingness (v3). We just don’t want what you have to offer. We have other things we want more. We want what pleases us more.
b. Indifference (v5). We just don’t care about what you care about. It doesn’t interest us at all. We have no taste for your “food”.
c. Opposition (v6). We utterly oppose you and what you offer. We disdain you and what you have.
d. Self-Determination (v11). We want what you offer, but on our own terms. We are sufficient in ourselves.
Any and all 4 attitudes toward the Gospel bring the same judgment.
Note that the very point of this parable is that there is a prepared sufficiency for a guest list who decline to take advantage of it. The invitation is issued on the basis of what has been made ready. The preaching of the Gospel must always rest on the fact that God has already made every preparation, and that the invitation is personal.
Jonathan Edwards preached: “Come to Christ and accept salvation. You are invited to come to Christ, heartily to close with Him, and to trust in Him for salvation. If you do so, you shall have the benefit of His glorious contrivance. You shall have the benefit of all, as much as if the whole had been contrived for you alone. God has already contrived everything that is needful for your salvation; and there is nothing wanting but your consent. Since God has taken this matter of the redemption of sinners into His own hand, He has made a thorough work of it. He has not left it for you to finish. Satisfaction is already made; righteousness is already wrought out; death and hell are already conquered. The Redeemer has already taken possession of glory, and keeps it in His hands to bestow on them who come to Him. There were many difficulties in the way, but they are all removed. The Savior has already triumphed over all, and is at the right hand of God to give eternal life to His people. Salvation is already brought to your door; and the Savior stands, knocks, and calls that you would open to Him so that He might bring it to you. There remains nothing but your consent. All the difficulty now remaining is with your own heart. If you perish now, it must be wholly at your door. It must be because you would not come to Christ that you might have life, and because you virtually choose death rather than life.” – (Sermon on Matt. 23:37. Quoted from Soli Deo Gloria’s Devotions from the Pen of Jonathan Edwards.)
b. Many of those outside of the original circles will respond favorably, and mindful of the context of a royal wedding will arrive having dressed appropriately. They will seek to honor the King and His Son.
Here is glory of the Gospel unfolded. What others who have been privileged to be the first invitees may discard for whatever their reasons; there are so very many yet whose eyes are opened to the wonder of such grace, and will flock to respond. Prostitutes. Tax collectors. Murderers. Adulterers. Sexually immoral. Thieves. Abusers. The weak and the heavy laden with their sins. Men and women like you and me – from every tribe, tongue, strata of society and unclean in every way – hear a call, recognize it for what it is, and come. Even as the Spirit and the Bride still say come. Come recognize the glory and authority of the King. Come celebrate how His Son has made a Bride who is adorned without spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of The Lamb. Rejoice in His saving grace and glorious provision for all their lack.
c. Some, having heard the more general invitation, will seek to respond and desire the joy and privileges of a such a celebration, but will try to do so on their own terms. Their thought is not to honor the King or His Son, but to simply get in on the benefits. Such will be cast out.
The object here is that one came in, or tried to, who nonetheless did not want to abide by the terms of being there. As a wedding guest, a wedding garment was appropriate. He did not wish to comply. He wanted to partake of the feast, but on his own terms. And that is unacceptable.
Throughout the Old Testament, God gives very specific instructions regarding how He is to be approached and worshipped. Men were not just free to make up their own minds about what that looked like. So it is we have more than 60 references to unacceptable worship in the “high places.” Places where the Jews built their own shrines. First, ostensibly to worship God nearer to home, to avoid the ardor of Temple worship, and second, those became places of idol worship. As early as Exodus 20 God gives instructions on what kinds of altars they could make and what kind He would not approve. And how each sacrifice had to follow prescribed features or they would not be acceptable.
Acceptable worship is not a matter of personal choice, preference or creativity. We must inquire into who He wants to be worshipped and what that looks like. We must see it first and foremost as honoring The King, and His Son.
We must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ if we are to be partakers of the glories He has for us. We cannot come on our own terms – we must come on His. We must believe His Gospel. We must trust Him as the only sacrifice acceptable to the Father on behalf of our sins. We must follow Him as He calls us. We must love His people, seek His glory, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, advance His causes and obey Him as Lord.
Certainly, we will fail in doing them all perfectly. Certainly we will need to grow in grace. We will falter at times. Fall at times. Grow weary at times. Doubt at times. But for those who are His, we will seek to live on His terms. To do what is right and fitting as His own, purchased with His blood. We will not balk at the terms and conditions He has set.
We now come to the 3rd portion of Jesus’ exchange with the Jewish leadership in the Temple during His last week.
He has already put forth 2 parables: The first was one regarding who it is that REALLY serves God; those who say “I will” but in the end, do not, and those who at first say “No”, but grow convicted of their sin and at last obey. This, He clearly applies to the tax collectors and prostitutes who heard John’s preaching and repented versus the Jewish leadership who scorned John’s prophetic ministry and wrote him off.
The second was that of the “master of a house” who, after leasing a vineyard to tenants, came looking for His proper yield, but found those who had the care of it rebellious and wanting it all for themselves – even to the point of killing the Master’s son.
He will give yet another in 22:1-14. But even before that one, verse 45 says they got the message. “They perceived that he was speaking about them.”
But moving beyond the parables, Jesus goes on to cite Ps. 118 and brings this down to an actual Scripture prophesy being fulfilled in these very circumstances. He says that He Himself is the “cornerstone” of the Psalm, and that as Isaiah 8 also proclaims, all those who reject Him, will not escape unscathed. And in an unambiguous condemning word tells them plainly that “the kingdom of God will be taken away from YOU and given to a people producing its fruits.” (Emphasis mine)
These are the spiritual leadership of God’s covenant people. And Jesus says they are about to lose the “kingdom” they think they rule over inviolably. The Judaistic system they know, represent and champion, will not be theirs anymore. Something cosmically profound is about to transpire, and it all has to do with rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, the cornerstone upon which God’s Kingdom is truly founded. And if you don’t have the foundation, you don’t have the building either. John will reiterate this in crystal clarity later: “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” (1 John 1:23)
And make no mistake here, no one, irrespective of any religious affiliation – Jew or Gentile – has God the Father as their God, if they reject Jesus as God’s Son. No one. There is no ambiguity here. None.
Nothing, nothing could possibly have been more offensive in the moment than for Jesus to say this. That the entirety of God’s kingdom rests upon Him, and not their brand of Judaism.
Now the key issue in this final portion revolves around that Jesus says in vs. 44 “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Note first: That some will find taking Jesus as God’s Son and the promised Messiah, simply too much. They will be offended at Him. And in doing so, in stumbling over Him, they will themselves be shattered in due time.
This applies not just to the Jews of Jesus’ day. It is the same problem the Latter Day saints have, and that of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other Christian cults, as well as Roman Catholicism and all other religions. Men will not yield to Christ His proper place. They will make Him one of many prophets or wise men, or “a” Savior, or a key to salvation to which other things must be added like good works, specific rites and rituals, etc, etc, ad infinitum. But that He alone saves by His atoning work on the Cross? That faith in Him alone is what is needed for one to be reconciled to God? That He is the singular, uncreated Son? That His blood is sufficient, and that alone? His exclusivity, divinity demand of faith in Him and His finished work alone are simply too much. They stumble over Him. And in the end, this will be their destruction. They will be utterly and irreparably – shattered.
Note second: Those who imagine they can sit on the fence regarding Christ, or who simply choose to ignore His person and work and opt either out of religion altogether, or find some other system preferable – will still be shattered. Maybe they didn’t reject Jesus outright, but simply sought a different way. They will not escape either. In due time, on the final day, He will fall on them, even if they did not as others, stumble over Him. It is a most sobering reality. He will one day judge all of mankind. All of mankind.
Everyone must reckon with Him.
Note third: the glory of the Gospel here. First, in that Jesus confronts His detractors with the truth once more. While men breathe, there is still time to repent. Oh that multiplied millions might still even now before His return and it is too late! But even in this moment in the text, they are met with truth. How gracious He is. He could have not engaged them at all, and been perfectly just.
And it is with this Gospel connection that Peter will Jesus as the cornerstone in Acts 4 “let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Peter was gripped by this theme he repeats it again in 1 Pet. 2:6-8 “For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.”
And notice how for the Believer, we are reminded that trusting alone in Christ as God’s cornerstone will prove in the end to be certain. We will not be put to shame that we rested all on Him and Him alone. Such certainty belongs to those in Christ.
Paul too will come to the same place when expostulating on the wonder of where trusting Christ brings we Gentiles who were once so far off from the covenants and promises of God: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Eph. 2:19-22)
Oh Christian, you stand in the most secure place in all the cosmos when you cast yourself upon Jesus as foundation of all we have and will have in God. He truly is our sure and unshakable cornerstone.
ResponsiveReiding 