Second Moses

"But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘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.”

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

- Matthew 22:31-33

Matthew describes a season where three political factions came to him - each with their own perspective.  These were the nationalistic Pharisees, the pro-Roman Herodians and the Sadducees, who did not hold to the resurrection from the dead.  While Jesus answers their questions, He remains on-message and that message remains: Give your life to God.

That God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (who are dead) does not necessarily prove that they are alive in a resurrected state.  The Sadducees are trying to find out if Jesus holds to that idea.  But Jesus' answer is from the Torah, namely the Pentateuch to which the Sadducees do hold.  The quote "I
am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" refers to two verses in Exodus 3 - verses 6 and 15.

Exodus 3 is a recounting of the encounter Moses has with God at the burning bush that was not consumed.  Sandwiched in between the two verses stating that God is the God of the Patriarchs is the commission God gave to Moses - to set His people free.  It is a microcosmic parallel of Jesus' mission for all mankind.  Instead of Moses, the freedom fighter is Jesus.  Instead of Egypt, the place of bondage is sin and death - the human, mortal condition.  Instead of Pharaoh the tyrant is the prince of darkness.  Instead of the land which is to become Israel, the promised land is Jesus' kingdom.

Indeed, Jesus is announcing in one reference that He is the second Moses of whom God Himself prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:18.  And this Second Moses is the one who is the Life for all who believe Him.  And He challenges all to give their lives to Him in not only His answer to the Sadducees but also the Pharisees and Herodians (verse 21).  Truly He is the God of life and the living!

Sons of Abraham

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’

“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

- Matthew 21:42-44

There are two ways to encounter the Son of God, and both of those ways end in death.  It is better by far to be broken than to be crushed, because if you're broken, that means you can be put back together.  To be crushed is to be decimated beyond recognition.

Jesus is the cornerstone that was taken outside the city and rejected.  But the chisel was taken to that Rock and fashioned into a cornerstone.  This hearkens to Hebrews 5:8 - "Although he was a Son, he learned obedience by the things which he suffered."

But again we circle back round to fruit, and the Kingdom of God has been given to those who will produce the Kingdom's fruit.  These are the sons of Abraham that John spoke of in Matthew 3 - "I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham."

So then, Jesus who was rejected has been fashioned into the Stone who then fashions those who have been broken - both the good and the bad - into those who bear the wedding clothes of righteousness; this is the same righteousness that was reckoned to Abraham.  And so they become the living stones, the sons of Abraham - all through Jesus, the Son of God.

Like Father, Like Son.

Which of the two did the will of his father?”
“The first,” they answered.

- Matthew 21:31

With this parable, Jesus instructs them of their error by pointing out that those who don't follow the Father at first but then later repent are doing the right thing over those who say they will follow but do not.

But there's a sweeter, deeper dynamic than the issue of the parable at hand.  This is probably the only extended dialog with the religious elite noted in the Bible.  Jesus is taking the time to reason with them through parables.  They won't answer His question in the previous section: was John's baptism ordained by God or just another human idea?  To put a fine point on it, they won't take a stand.  They are taking as politically correct a position as they could.

They start out by asking Him a direct, confrontational question.  But Jesus refuses to "knock that chip off their shoulders" until He gets them to take a stand of their own.  Because it seems they are honestly more comfortable in their scrutiny and judgment of Him than they are in choosing whether He's the "real deal" or not.  So He addresses them indirectly with a parable and then, after they answer His question about that parable, He gets back around to John endorsing him as one who needed to be heeded.

(Regarding their original question about the source of His authority, the documentation of this answer to them in that area is found elsewhere in the gospels. See Matthew 5:36, 37 and Matthew 10:25 are just a couple incidences.)

But the deeper dynamic is this: Jesus meets with us even in the thick of our contention with Him.  Don't be surprised when He confronts us in our struggles with Him.  But neither be surprised that He will likely not answer us in the manner that we expect.  He doesn't play by our rules.

The Fig Tree Incident

Then he said to [the fig tree], “May you never bear fruit again!”

Immediately the tree withered.

Matthew 21:19

If Jesus was so hungry, why didn't He just turn a fig leaf into a fig and be done with it?  Jesus does and says everything with a purpose.  In this case He was making a point, pronouncing judgment and extending mercy in one fell swoop.

The point: Faith is fruit.  "If you believe and don't doubt, then whatever you ask in prayer will be done." (verse 22)  While this may sound like a genie-in-a-bottle statement, there are some significant differences.  First is knowing the one in Whom we put our faith - he is not our slave; He is our God, and believing Him (not just believing in Him) is the lynchpin that puts supernatural things into motion.  Secondly, this faith is expected of us before anything else is to occur.  To put our belief in the Creator of All is a fruit that only human trees can bear and angels long to look into.

Pronouncing judgment: The days of religiosity and its influence over men had been pronounced as over.  Finished.  The power that the religious establishment had was prophetically announced as dead in this key moment.  Withered.  Weak.  Fruitless and completely powerless.  This was on the heels of clearing the temple - evidence that Judaism was not producing the fruit that was expected of it (verses 12,13).  (As if it could every provide answers in the first place, but it had devolved into something tragic and even wicked.)  This was also on the heels of a short, curt answer to the chief priests.  And He did not pause to listening to their answer.  Rather, from there He went to Bethany, the  House of Answer.  This was as if to say to them, you have no answers for these people anymore; I'm proceeding to a place (or time, if you will) where we will get on to providing answers for them.

Extending mercy: Jesus was also provided a stern warning to all that fruitlessness was a very grave condition, yet there is still time to make a change.  He is not a God of sugar and spice and everything nice.  There are boundaries to the love that He extends.  (Indeed, to have no boundaries to love is to cheapen the love itself.)  To respond to this love in faith is the fruit that He craves.  To refuse beyond this boundary is a tragedy that ends only in death.  Yet until the boundary is crossed His mercy remains to extend the opportunity, that all may enter into this life-giving relationship.

John Reichardt sums the passage well:

The Fig Tree Incident wasn't a capricious act by Jesus, but rather a deliberate teaching moment and the result of his motivation to make a level path for God to come. The shock value of the miraculous object lesson was a history lesson in microcosm on the relationship between God and Israel from the Old Testament.

Jesus, fresh from his frustrating second cleansing of the temple immediately realizes the spiritual parallel of this disappointment with the disappointment of his encounter with the beautiful yet barren fig tree. His response is apocalyptic in nature and consistent with Old Testament Biblical themes of God's repeated disappointment with Israel and repeated near destruction.

May we all bear fruit in adoration of this King!

Turf Wars

But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw ... they were indignant.

Matthew 21:15

To Jesus, the gig was up.  The temple courts was the place where Gentiles could go to worship the God of the Jews - the only real God.  It was designated to be the place where all nations could go to pray.  (Isaiah 56:7)  But instead, the priests and teachers had allowed it to be something akin to a gift shop in a 911 museum of sorts, where people could go to exchange foreign for local currency and then buy sacrifices on the cheap - turning a profit in over the sacred.  At face value, it was not quite extortion.  But it was indeed holding the act of worship to God in full contempt.  And it smacked of Eli, Hophni and Phineas at Shiloh where the tabernacle. (Read 1 Samuel chapters 2, and 4)

So when the chief priests and teachers got indignant over a) his healing the blind and lame, b) over the kids enjoying this new celebrity in their midst, and c) over driving out the profiteering in the temple, the straw had broken the camels' backs and they just had to express their indignation.  It was enough that he challenged their system of traditions, theologies and hierarchies.  It was enough that he was showing them up in the performance of their care for the people.  But now He was encroaching on their home base - the temple.  As if it was theirs in the first place.

Indeed, they had lost sight of the intent of this dear place.  But now the time for them to understand had come.  And they were either going to repent and fall in line or they were going to draw the line and sacrifice the Lamb for the sake of every soul.

The final battle had begun, and the children were at stake in the very heart of it all.

Autopilot

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Matthew 21:9 

Events are beginning to take over all of their own, and this is one of those moments.  All of His teachings, all of His challenging, all of His miracles are now squarely backstage as Jesus is escorted into the climactic reason for His coming.  In the celebration of it all, the people even praise Him with an appeal - the same appeal of the blind men at the end of chapter 20.  For Hosanna literally means "Lord save."  Their praises are escorting Jesus the Messiah into answering the very prayer with which they are hailing Him.  He is not praised like this before or after this moment; the moment stands by itself.

It's safe to say that they didn't know what they were doing, but it is the unfolding of an ancient psalm (part of the Hallel recited on Jewish holidays) into its fulfillment.  And it's all playing out without any intervention from Jesus.  His destiny of the saving of our souls has firmly gained impetus, and He is simply riding this wave to its final end - the horns of the altar (Psalm 118:27).

And all we can do is observe, receive and abide in gratefulness.

Redemption Lived

in consolation is journeyed hard and far

the wedded times of water and wine

what price to pay has found us here

where trees and shadows remain

then dance with me and we will be

as never before this moment now one

- revel8r 5-26-19 -