SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/10/2023 8:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “Intro to Matthew 22:15-22”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 22:15-22
Message of the verses: “15 Then the
Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. 16
And they sent their
disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we
know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no
one; for You are not partial to any. 17 “Tell us then, what do You think? Is it
lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?" 18 But Jesus perceived their malice,
and said, "Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19 “Show Me the coin used
for the poll-tax." And they brought Him a denarius. 20 And He said to
them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21 They said to Him, "Caesar’s."
Then He said to them, "Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s;
and to God the things that are God’s." 22 And hearing this, they
were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.”
I want to end with a short quotation that goes back
to yesterday’s SD where John MacArthur writes “It is with the ever-present
issue of paying taxes that Jesus deals in the present passage.”
A
reminder to those who follow my blogs and that is we are still in what we will
call Passover week, and the day is Wednesday.
Jesus was teaching in the Temple, which He had violently cleansed on
Tuesday, the day before. We have
recently looked at the three “judgment parables” against unbelieving Israel,
and particularly against the Jewish leaders. These are found in the last part
of chapter twenty-one and the first part of chapter twenty-two. What these religious leaders were doing was
charging His authority. I know that this
is hard to believe, but people still do that today. Back at that time they had a process to go
through before your were qualified to be a Rabi. Jesus never took that course and that is what
they were challenging Him on. MacArthur
writes “It was bad enough that He had devastated the physical domain of their concession
booths in the Temple. Now He also
devastated their religious domain, exposing their unbelief and ungodliness
before all Israel.”
These
religious leaders were prideful, hypocrites, and self righteous which Jesus
exposed. I realize that it was planned
out from eternity past that Jesus would come to earth in order to die for the
sins of the world, and that there was a plan for this to happen. I also realize that Jesus was in complete
control of these things while here on earth.
I think that it is far to say that in speaking the truth to these Jewish
leaders that that fueled the their hatred to have Him die, but again He was in
control of all that happened to Him as to exactly when He would die, which was
when the Passover Lambs were killed.
I
will quote the last paragraph of MacArthur’s commentary which usually gives us
a clue as to where we will be headed as we go through this section of
verses. “Following Jesus’ series of
three judgment parables against them those religionists responded by
confronting Him with a series of there questions, all designed to maneuver Him
into condemning Himself either politically or religiously. The first question was devised by the
Pharisees but asked of Jesus surreptitiously by their disciples (22:15-22), the
second was asked by the Sadducees (vv. 23-33), and the third by the Pharisees
directly (34-40). Instead of taking
Jesus’ warnings to heart and asking Him how they might avoid the judgment and
receive mercy from God, the only word they wanted from Him was that which would
bring about His own destruction.”
Well
it turns out that Jesus gave us a introduction to the three questions that
would be asked of Him on this day, and then as memory does not deceive me that
will be the end of Jesus speaking to the crowds as the rest of the book will be
on what will happen to Him before, during, and after His crucifixion.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I do not want to every take for granted what
Jesus did for me, and as I continue to study this gospel of Matthew I also see
many things that Jesus did in order to go to the cross for me.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to cause me to be thankful
always for what Jesus did for me. Also I
want to say that I am looking forward to tomorrow when my wife and I celebrate
50 years of being married, and that was all by the grace of God.
8/10/2023 9:43 AM
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