Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.  They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.  Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?  Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

 “Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

When they heard this, they were amazed. So, they left him and went away.

Matthew 22:15 – 22

It seems as though every Jewish political or religious party was intent on attacking Jesus. Here, in his final days before his crucifixion, the Jewish leaders who should have been backing Jesus as Messiah, in fact tried to “trap him.”

This incident or conversation punctuates the problems of the Jews.  They were not independent but were under Roman rule.  They were reminded of this constantly.  Their dear Jerusalem sat on a hill, alone, so to speak, while the center of commercial life was the Roman city, Caesarea, not far from Jerusalem.  It was a powerful, growing city on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, a constant reminder to the Jews that they were just a province of the mighty Roman Empire.  Being ruled by Rome was a daily irritant.

That gives added meaning to Jesus’ story of the coin.  Representatives of two groups collaborated on their attempt to discredit Jesus. One of them, the Pharisees, were more interested in religious purity than politics and the “Herodians” who were Jews who wanted to compromise with the mighty Roman Empire instead of resisting them.  I believe the question they raised was a central issue of the Herodians, not the Pharisees.  And it had to do with how Israel should relate to Rome.

Remember the story – after they lathered up Jesus with nice words they unsheathed a sword in the form of a question, “Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”  Of course, this was the law of the land but highlighted the Jewish dilemma.  Under Roman rule they used the Roman currency, each with an inscription of Caesar.  They also had their own Jewish money that they used for religious purposes.  Jesus called for a Roman coin with Caesar’s face on it, then said “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Jesus had little time to discuss taxes.  His whole ministry concentrated on giving to God what is God’s.  His questioners did not ask about that.  The story ends with Jesus’ critics leaving the scene, bewildered.

When the grape hyacinth first bloom and attract the honey bee, then we know that Spring is here in our little plot.  I love to watch the seasons change – especially when it is warmer!

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:11 – 14

I admit, I have trouble understanding what next happened after the hall was filled with guests.  Being the climax of the story I assume I should be comforted by what happened, but I am left with questions.

It seems to me that the king’s invitation to the wedding feast was so general that everyone who wishes might enter the festivities.  Not so.  There is an additional point that Jesus wishes to make, a point we might miss if we read it without thinking much.

It must do with something I am not at all familiar with.  I have never seen nor worn a “wedding garment” that invited guests proudly wear.  The “wedding garment” is probably the central issue in Jesus’ story.

The king found that one of the many people he invited did not have on this garment.  We are left wondering why in the world did this guest not have on the garment that was evidently given to all invited guests – free!  And why was this such a terrible crime?  My question is, if it was free, why did the guest not get one?   Did he not know the customs?  Obviously, he knew that all who ate at the feast had on this expected special garment.   The person may have reasoned, “If the invitation is free, why bother getting one?”  Or was it perhaps an inconvenience for him or her to ask for one?

And then Jesus ends the story with a statement that does not seem to fit the story at all. “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”  Good – all in the hall were there by invitation.  That we know.  Did Jesus really mean to use the word, “chosen?”  Did they choose the wedding garment or was it offered to them? Probably both.

Is it that Jesus wanted to impress his hearers with the truth that many are invited but few “choose” to wear the free wedding garment?

The hour has come when Jesus is about to purchase full salvation for all who will believe.  Evidently, even though we are invited, we must desire and receive the special garment of grace!  It is not enough to mingle with the thankful but motely group there.  The important thing is to have on the important thing, the garment!  Only “a few” do.

Again, the mystery of divine grace.  I am pondering that again, even deeper, this season of Lent.

Anna Ruth and Sasha coat the peanut butter Easter eggs.  A delightful annual ritual!

“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So, go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’  So, the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

Matthew 22:8 – 10

The Jews loved to celebrate marriage.  I note the importance of the father of the bride in Jesus’ story.  Jesus did not even mention who is getting married, nor what their hopes and dreams are.  We read nothing of them, just the frustration of the father who has invested heavily in the marriage feast and all that goes with that. Custom demanded that the father of the bride spend huge amounts on the wedding events.  A successful wedding had nothing to do with the happiness of the couple, but the joy of the father.

So, the central figure of the marriage feast is the father!  I find that very interesting.  My wife’s father was involved in our wedding on December 24, 1949, but did not figure prominently as I recall.  Things were more or less in our hands – the couple to be married.

So, the father came to a decision.  Those invited did not deserve an invitation, but they got one.  He was a generous father, that is clear in the story.  Our sympathies go out to him, not to the people who spurned his kind and generous invitation.

We reenter the story. The meal is ready, hot.  Those for whom the feast was prepared turned their backs on the king himself.  So, the king, the father, who had invested so heavily in preparing the feast, sent out an invitation to everyone!  The first invitation was to the King’s circle.  The second one was for all who were hungry or who wanted to feast in the glad ceremony of the marriage of the son.  “So, go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’  So, the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.” Some, I notice, were good, some were bad, but all enjoyed the feast.  I responded to that invitation!

This, in a nutshell, is exactly what is happening in Jerusalem that day, and is the dominant story in the history of salvation, evermore.

Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.  He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.  The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”

Matthew 22:1 – 7

Another parable to illustrate the Kingdom of Heaven. A king prepared a wedding feast for his son and invitations were sent to invited guests.  All those invited refused to attend.  I find that almost unbelievable.  Not a friend among them?  Looks like it.  So, the king sent out his servants to personally appeal to them to attend this feast.

For some reasons, not given, the invitees not only refused to come to the feast but turned on the king’s messengers even killing some of them.  As we read this we are left with a question, “Why did the invitees refuse to attend the feast?”  We are given no answer. Maybe that is a major point in the parable.   Why were the prominent Jews and Jewish parties so vehemently against Jesus Christ?  One would have expected some Jewish party to embrace Jesus Christ.  None did, not one.

In any case the king was so enraged by the way his messengers were treated, some even killed, that he sent his army to kill those who mistreated the messengers.

Is Jesus implying that the invited Jews, those who were listening to him there in Jerusalem during the Holiest Week, were refusing the kind offer of the king for them to come to his prepared banquet to honor his son?

Jesus spoke again of the kingdom he came to establish.  The invitation is gracious, free, promising and more.  But, wait, the invitation is uniformly rejected by the Jews, the very people who we would have expected to rush to the feast.

That describes Jesus’ kingdom.  Those for whom it was prepared refused the generous invitation for no good reason at all.  The reason is not given.  That is just the way it is.

“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to ano Renrther place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Matthew 21:33 – 41

Even in his final hours Jesus told stories in which is embedded an eternal truth.  I am amazed that Jesus used this method of teaching.  That it was effective there is no doubt.  In fact the rulers of the Jews, upon hearing it, flew into a rage because they knew they were the target of Jesus’ teaching.

The point Jesus is making is that God did everything he could to prosper the Jews so that they could bring blessing to all mankind.  He left nothing undone – productive vines, wine press, a tower for protection.  All was in order.  He left it in the hands of the Jews.

Now, the time had come for the Jews to bring in a harvest of grapes.  Jesus came to the point, they assumed that they could do what they wished with the profits.  The story goes on, the owner sent for his rightful portion.  That is where the issue burst into the open, the tenants evidently forgot that the vineyard was not, after all, their property.  They were to tend the vineyard, not take ownership of it.  They could not possibly buy the vineyard.  They did not have that much wealth.  The vineyard is not for sale!

So, when the owner sent three servants, one after the other, to collect his portion, “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.”

“Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

This is the history of God’s chosen people, the children of Israel, whose descendants were now in control of the Temple.  They assumed they owned it.  Prophets came, preachers came, and finally the son of the owner, Jesus Christ, whom they killed.  Then they lost their rights to the vineyard.  Is this not the history of Israel in a nutshell?  For those with ears, what they heard was the key to the horrid events that were about to happen.  Jesus explained it all in a story.