THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT
Matthew 22: Jesus continues using parables to communicate to the crowd. This one is about the wedding guests who refused to attend the ceremony. When the king who had prepared a banquet for chosen wedding guests discovered this, he sent his servants out into the streets to find anyone who would like to attend. The custom in those days was for the guests to be supplied with wedding clothes. When a particular invitee was found not wearing wedding clothing the king ordered him to be cast out where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The point here is that many are called but few are chosen; Verse 14: “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
The Pharisees once again tried to trick Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar, Jesus told them to pay him what is due him and to pay to God what is His; verse 21: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” They asked him about marriage in Heaven and Jesus told them that there would be no such thing, but the people would be as angels. His answer to the resurrection was that He is not the God of the dead, but rather of the living; verse 32. “For I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” This is a very interesting statement by Jesus.
Then they asked Him which of the commandments was the greatest: His answer in verses 37-40 was to “love the Lord your God with all their heart and your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Jesus then quizzed them as to the identity of the Christ and pointed out to them that He was not the son of David as they ignorantly thought. They stopped asking questions of Him from that day on.
Two things impress me vividly in this chapter with regard to the two greatest commandments, When He said, “all the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” He was informing us we are no longer bound by the law, quite the contrary, if we want to use the word, bound, then we can say we are bound by the grace of God; “for by grace are you saved and not the law.” The second point is the word ‘chosen.’ Some might think that God chooses people to be saved and they have no say in the matter. Not so, because people must accept what God has offered, it is a gift. We should not allow ourselves to be trapped by arguing this point, because the issue is whether or not you have a relationship with the LORD GOD through Jesus Christ. How do you know if you have? Well, if you have not already accepted Jesus as your personal Savior to establish this relationship, I prayerfully urge you to take the time and ask Jesus into your heart as your personal Savior. Then you will be joyfully surprised.
No comments:
Post a Comment