Matthew Chapter 22 Verse 23

• Bet that made Lazarus feel awkward! HA! But isn’t it amazing that something can be right in front of someone, a truth plainly evident, and yet they can deny even what is obvious!? (Don’t agree too hard, you and I do that too! HA!)

Matthew Chapter 22 Verses 24 – 26

• Ok, if you were like the fourth brother, wouldn’t you hesitate just a little bit!? HA! (What has worked for others? What has caused others to fail? Are you learning?) A famous preacher tells a story of a time that he taught on Ephesians Chapter 5 and specifically on the subject of wives submitting to their own husbands and afterward a lady approached him quite upset. She said to him, “I am disgusted at your sermon and if ever I was your wife then I would mix poison in your tea!” The preacher thought for a moment and responded, “Madam, if I was your husband, I’d drink it!” HA!!
• The custom laid out in Deuteronomy chapter 25 says that a man had to do this…and if he refused then the widow would take him in front of the elders, remove one of his sandals from him and spit in his face. Sounds a bit like a better fate to me than what these seven brothers met!!

Matthew Chapter 22 Verses 27 – 28

• Jesus had spoken of the resurrection and specifically His own resurrection several times and so the Sadducees no doubt had used this “go to” question numerous times in the past to ridicule the thought of the resurrection. And so they bring it to Jesus and He responds…

Matthew Chapter 22 Verse 29

• That is a huge statement and even a huger truth!!! Jesus assigns to them a title. He gives them a name. He identifies their office. Their title, name and office…? Mistaken. This word is the Greek word, “planao,” and it literally means, “Deceived, wandering astray, led into error.” And the cause of the condition is simple, they do not know the Scriptures!

• Hosea 4:6 God says of His people, “My people perish for their lack of knowledge…” And what’s more, not knowing the Word of God, being deceived daily and wandering astray following after emotions and senses in this world…you totally miss the power of God in your life! God has a plan for you, a vision for you, things to show you, teach you, reveal to you, give to you and increase in you…and He has clearly given instruction, “This is the way, walk in it,” but if you miss His path then you miss His plan! The concept is simple and the truth is sure…and yet many wander and lead themselves into continual error not know the scriptures nor the power of God.

• And this is interesting because these are highly religious men Jesus is saying this to…they definitely knew the scriptures! It is possible to know/learn the Bible and yet not receive/perceive the scriptures! They had them memorized but knowing is only half the battle. Thank you GI-Joe! Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart…”

• They know what the scriptures say but they have not submitted their hearts to the author…and so we see that knowledge without love puffs up…but knowledge of the scripture with a heart that is sick of sin and a heart that is seeking God where He is at…not seeking to where they can get God to move…that’s the power of love!! And in that, the power of God…the heart of God is revealed.

Matthew Chapter 22 Verses 30 – 33

• Jesus is really stumping the Sadducees with this answer. They did not believe in life after death, they did not believe in any type of resurrection, and they did not believe in angels. His answer incorporates all three, but here’s the stumper! The Sadducees only accepted the Torah and so Jesus answer them, quotes from the Torah! The scene in Exodus 3:6 when Moses is standing in front of God at the burning bush…!

Matthew Chapter 22 Verses 34 – 40

• Do you ever wonder what God would have you to do? In this situation or in that relationship or in some moment…? Well, this is it! (And I mean IT!) In the presence of love, there is no law. It’s not needed because it is surpassed! Love seeks no harm of others and seeks no advantage for self. Love simply seeks service to others and selfless service at that.
• The world has love as a concept all twisted. This life, this world, this flesh preaches that love is sensual, self-ful and involves heavily if not completely as the center-stage beneficiary…self. Even the most powerfully wonderful and important phrase to express in any relationship…to simply say I love you…bears with it a concept of mutual attraction, benefit and emotion when truly love, (what love really is), is blind to attraction, self benefit and emotion. [Listen up] To love is to lay down one’s life…to place another in the position of priority to the point of self not even being included anywhere in the equation or statement.
• Love is a decision. A resolution. A denial of self for the active physical constant service to someone else. It is to accept serfdom…to embrace and welcome and cultivate an attitude of being someone else’s servant…now read 1 Corinthians 13 and it makes sense. And then you’ll see how the world has so twisted what love really is…and thus we have meaningless hook-ups and irreconcilable differences and adultery and folks in dead end jobs and dead end lives…let me tell you…the key to purity and life end jobs and life end lives is this…hang every commandment of God on this…love God and love others…with the correct definition of love.
• The Jews had taken the Ten Commandments and had exploded them into 613 do’s and don’ts details…so many…365 don’ts and however many remaining do’s…and there must have been a bit of humility and genuine intent in this question from this lawyer…because Jesus does not rebuke him at all by saying, “You have not read…” He simply answers the question…almost like He’s been waiting for it.
• Have you asked Him this question yet? Lord, what is the most important thing for my life? I want to follow You. I want to be Your disciple…what should I do? It’s almost like He’s waiting for this question from you too…the person may change, but the most important question does not…and neither does the answer.
• Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul and your mind. He gives them the Shema. Deuteronomy 6…the verse that would be whispered into the ear of every newborn…the verse that would be rolled up and strapped to the foreheads of the strictest of the Jews and nailed to their doorposts…the verse that would be taught to this lawyer as a little boy over and over again at the dinner table of his father’s house…the answer is so very personally perfect.
• Covers the entire Ten Commandments. 6 of the 10 deal with man’s relationship with man and the remaining 4 deals with man’s relationship with God…just as with this answer given by Jesus…

• The great commandment is to love God and the second is like it…in other words, it is linked…you cannot have one without the other. 1 John 4:20, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” Jesus says that the love of God and the love of your fellow man are inextricably linked…just like they are in the Ten Commandments and on these two truths, these two statements, hang all of the law and the prophets. It’s the conceptual strategic spirit behind it all…because if you do these two things…all the others will naturally follow…the law is surpassed in the presence of love.

• And I wonder did Jesus turn His face to the ground and did His eyes drop when He made this statement…On these two commandments hang all of the Law…since He would soon hang on a cross to show us how to walk in this commandment and to fulfill the law…what a moment this must have been…

Matthew Chapter 22 Verses 41 – 46

• Even in the midst of all of the rejection and the hate, Jesus reaches out to them. You see they taught and thought that the Messiah would simply be a man…not divine. Later they accused Jesus of making Himself equal to God which in their mind was blasphemy, not a sign of the Messiah…and Jesus knew that…So one last try…After this question He will pronounce woe upon the scribes and the Pharisees, but not all of them…some of them heard the scriptures through Him and knowing them for years, they finally did receive them…
• Even in the midst of great rejection, public humility, open disdain towards Him, Jesus yet reaches out to them to save them…He puts love on display because that’s what He is…