In this passage, we find Jesus answering some “questions” posed to Him by the Sadducees and Pharisees who asked them not because they were genuinely seeking to learn from His wisdom, but because they desired to catch Him in His words so they could smear His character in the minds of His followers and the others who were crowded around listening.
It’s more than just a name… Everything is in that name: reality, eternity, life, magnificence, glory, and it all can be had when you have a genuine relationship to the living God. To know the names of God is to know God as revealed in His Word.
What do we mean when we refer to salvation, or to being saved? It means you have been rescued from the inevitable results of living in your sin. It means death is not permanent. It means, because of Jesus and His work on the cross of sacrifice, in the tomb of victory, and through the hope of a heavenly future, you do not have to go to hell.
In this passage, we find Jesus teaching the parable of the wedding feast which was clearly directed toward the hypocritical and self-righteous Jewish leaders of the day who largely failed to recognize Him as their Messiah despite their clear invitation to join Him in His “wedding feast.” Afterward, we see them once more trying to discredit Him by asking whether it was “lawful” to pay taxes to the Roman occupiers. No doubt they saw their ploy as a dilemma from which Jesus could make no good choice, but Jesus didn’t fall into their trap.
The plan for man’s salvation was established from the very beginning. Foretold through the prophets, fulfilled by Jesus during the events of Passion Week, and continually echoed today through the apostle’s writings. Let us never forget that Jesus was the plan from the beginning.
Jesus taught two more parables concerning stewardship – one about a landowner who left his land in care of others until the time of harvest and anther about a man who had two sons, one of whom said he would obey his father but did not while the other said he would not obey, but in the end actually did his father’s will. Clearly the men in these parables symbolize God while the other characters in the stories represent the priests and scribes to whom God had entrusted the care of His people Israel.
Jesus said we are to thirst and to hunger for His righteousness. That means we are to desire an authentic Christian lifestyle. The fourth beatitude says those who are filled are not those who have their hunger and thirst met, but those who are continually hungering and thirsting. Don’t settle for the bits and pieces either. Go for all of it. If you want to be like Christ and live like Christ, then you must hunger and thirst for the full righteousness of Christ.
After Jesus cleansed the temple of the merchants and money changers who had defiled it, the Jewish leaders challenged Him asking by what authority He performed the works He had done and taught the things He had taught. By this, they hoped to catch Him in what they and the people would deem as blasphemy. But Jesus turned the tables on them asking whether they believed John the Baptist had been a true prophet. When they refused to answer Him, He refused to answer them.
The gospel is the best and most important news ever given to the world. It’s good news because it comes directly from the Creator. It’s good news because it tells us what Jesus Christ has done for us. It’s good news because it transforms those who put their trust in it. The gospel is the central message of the Bible.
The story of Jesus “triumphal entry” into Jerusalem at the beginning of the final week of His earthly ministry is very familiar. It is tragic to consider that many of those who shouted “Hosanna – blessed is He who comes in the Name of the LORD” would be the same ones who called vehemently for His crucifixion before the week was out. Jesus’ cleansing of the temple upon His arrival greatly displeased the Jewish leaders whose positions of power and wealth He had challenged by it.
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Mt. Freedom Baptist Church
