Holy Week // Matthew 22
Matthew 22, Ecclesiastes 8:16-17
Much of Jesus' ministry was directed toward challenging people, religious leaders, and national leaders in how they think about God. In this chapter, Jesus gives three different examples of how God’s version of grace and homecoming is far different than theirs. He does this in the form of a parable, asking rhetorical questions and clearly telling them.
He describes God’s limitless grace and acceptance in the parable of the wedding feast; how some will reject it, but there is no logical reason to. In the parable, the King is hosting a grand royal feast, and those invited clearly reject it. As the reader, we don’t see why but Jesus uses the parable to reveal how we reject the gifts God gives us in his grace – we are not far from them.
Jesus then challenges the Pharisees in their narrow thinking around the law and Jesus as the Messiah. They are trying to trick them, but Jesus is Jesus and knows their thoughts and malicious intent. He surprises them and calls them out, as well as gives them the perfect answer to their question. He then continues to give correct thinking around marriage and heaven. When we are in heaven, we are no longer connected to our spouse but instead, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven” (V30).
So often, our view of Jesus is defined by culture, upbringing, neighborhoods, and interactions with other Christians. Jesus saw that in his day, too - and that was what he sought to correct. Jesus cannot be put into a box or fit our narrative but extends outside of that. He fulfills all narratives and brings the correct view of God and of us. Like the Pharisees, we, too, want to comprehend Jesus fully, but we can’t. Our sin limits us in our view of who Jesus is, but that’s exactly why Jesus died for it - so we could be unified in our relationship with God.
Jesus comes to define a few things; who we are, who God is, and the invitation set before us. What’s holding you back from embracing it? What limited view do you have about God? What is that view defined by?
