Month: March 2020

Matthew 22:1-14 NIV

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “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.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “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.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:1-14 NIV

Marriage at the Resurrection

²³ That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰ At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹ But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^[b]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

God of the Living: Jesus, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive

³³ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Revelation 22:1-14 NIV

Wedding supper of the lamb

⁹ Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

References & Reflections

[1] https://www.biblestudytools.com/video/why-does-paul-use-the-word-mystery-so-much-in-the-book-of-ephesians.html
[2] http://marriage-mystery.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-do-you-mean-marriage-and-family.html
[3] https://www.gotquestions.org/many-called-few-chosen.html
[4] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-did-jesus-mean-by-many-are-called-but-few-are-chosen/

God’s Priority & Plan — Procrastinate No More!

Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD.

Genesis 12:8(NASB)

What is Faith?

References & Reflections

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW7lSFGKfHQ
[2] https://www.slideshare.net/DavidTurner28/having-the-faith-of-abraham-genesis-1219
[3] https://dailyverse.knowing-jesus.com/genesis-12-8
[4] http://lectionarypondering.blogspot.com/2019/08/hebrews-111-3-8-16.html

Matthew 22:1-14 NIV

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

22 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: ² “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.

⁴ “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.’

⁵ “But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. ⁶ The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. ⁷ The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸ “Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. ⁹ So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ ¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

¹³ “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.’

¹⁴ “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Matthew 22:1-14 NIV

Marriage at the Resurrection

²³ That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”

²⁹ Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰ At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹ But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^[b]? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

God of the Living: Jesus, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive

³³ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Revelation 22:1-14 NIV

Wedding supper of the lamb

⁹ Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

References & Reflections

[1] https://www.biblestudytools.com/video/why-does-paul-use-the-word-mystery-so-much-in-the-book-of-ephesians.html
[2] http://marriage-mystery.blogspot.com/2012/02/what-do-you-mean-marriage-and-family.html
[3] https://www.gotquestions.org/many-called-few-chosen.html
[4] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/what-did-jesus-mean-by-many-are-called-but-few-are-chosen/

Jesus Clears the Temple

Matthew 21:12-17

¹² Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. ¹³ He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”^[f]

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him in the Temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the Temple shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David.”

But the leaders were indignant. ¹⁶ They asked Jesus, “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

16 “Yes,” Jesus replied. “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, ‘You have taught children and infants to give you praise.’^[g]”

Matthew 20:16

¹⁷ Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.

In Mark 12:40 and Luke 20:47 Jesus accused the Temple authorities of thieving and this time he names poor widows as their victims, going on to provide evidence of this in Mark 12:42 and Luke 21:2. Dove sellers were selling doves that were sacrificed by the poor who could not afford grander sacrifices and specifically by women. According to Mark 11:16, Jesus then put an embargo on people carrying any merchandise through the Temple—a sanction that would have disrupted all commerce.^[3][6] This occurred in the outermost court of the gentiles.

Article from Wikipedia, Cleansing of the Temple

REFERENCES & REFLECTIONS

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleansing_of_the_Temple

[2] Jesus and the Money Changers (John 2:13-16) – Bible Odyssey

[3] https://catholicexchange.com/deeper-meaning-story-jesus-moneychangers

[4] Bethany https://www.gotquestions.org/Bethany-in-the-Bible.html

[5] https://www.seetheholyland.net/bethany/

[6] https://medium.com/ctliotta/a-den-of-thieves-and-a-fig-tree-905617073efe

[7] Why Jesus Opposed the Moneychangers in the Temple

[8]  The Bible Knowledge Background Commentary by Craig A. Evans2005 ISBN 0-7814-4228-1 page 49

[9] The Fourth Gospel And the Quest for Jesus by Paul N. Anderson 2006 ISBN 0-567-04394-0 page 158

[10] Quaker’s Wisdom http://laquaker.blogspot.com/2015/04/jesus-at-temple-widows-mite-money.html

[11] Women and widows in God’s Temple