Jesus Verse by Verse

an expanded commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

Jesus Verse by Verse...

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22:4 Everything was ‘ready’ for God’s Kingdom in the first century, but the Jews rejected it.
22:5 Just as people today allow the busyness of their lives to stop them from responding to the Gospel.
22:7 Jerusalem was burnt by the Roman armies in AD70. They were God’s armies in the sense that He controlled and used them. Those who persecute us are also in a sense directly under God’s control.
22:10 There will be both bad and good people who accept the invitation; just as the weeds grow together with the wheat in the field of the church (Mt. 13:29). We shouldn’t be surprised at the sense that this is the case; but it’s not a reason to leave the church. We will not find any pure church.
22:11 The wedding garment represents the righteousness of God which is given to us when we are clothed with Christ in baptism. In weddings of those days, the white wedding garment was given to the guests as they entered the feast. To refuse it was arrogant- presumably the person thought that his own clothes were better than the wedding garment offered by the host.
22:21 The coin had Caesar’s image on it and therefore should be given to him. Our bodies are what has God’s image on it, and we should give them to God.
22:30 We are to be made as the Angels; we will be eternal and unable to sin, therefore the Angels are like that today. There are no sinful Angels in Heaven.
22:32 Those men are dead and unconscious, but their memory lives on with God, to the extent that when He says “I am [still, now,  today] the God of...  Jacob”, He means that He visualizes Jacob as actually alive. Jacob will be resurrected and given eternal life when Jesus returns; but God speaks about those things which are not yet as if they are, because the future is totally assured from His perspective (Rom. 4:17).
22:39 The Jews were always arguing about which commandment was most important. Jesus answers by saying that there are two commandments which are in fact one- to love God and to love our neighbour. His point is that these two can’t be separated. We can’t be Christians in isolation from people; we can’t love God and be indifferent to our neighbour.
22:45 The Jews thought that David was greater than Messiah; Jesus is saying that it’s the other way around.