St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verse: 16c; The person of men.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Tribute to Caesar) Part 3.  

The Herodians continue with their set up.  Their premise was to lead the conversation by beginning with a preset foundation upon which to build a trap for Christ.  They made conditions.  They made assumptions.  They made initial conditions upon which they believed that Christ would accept so that they could come back and use those same assumptions to tear him down.

He was a man of God who taught the truth.  He did not care for the any man.  He was truthful in his speech and words.  And he did not care who heard or did not hear what he said about them.  One of their premise:   "And that thou carest naught for any man; for thou dost not regard the person of men."  

You see these were the initial steps that they used to set the foundation to trap Christ.  They believed that they were smart and wise and cunning.  They believed that they knew who this Christ was.  So they had conceived a plan to trap him and to deceive him in his own words.  They had no idea who they were dealing with, who they were standing before, who they were speaking with.  All knowledge and wisdom was with him.  All things hidden were revealed to him.  And all that was under the influence of evil was open to him.  Nothing was hidden, nothing was covered up.  He knew all.

Yet here were the wise of the wise before him seeking to show that their wisdom was greater.  Here were the knowledge of the knowledgeable seeking to show that they knew more than he who held all knowledge in the palm of his hand, he who created the wisdom of the universe before they were even conceived in the mind of God.  Yet their arrogance brought them before him with the grain of knowledge that they possessed in an attempt to show how limited they were in their understanding of the master of knowledge.  Yet he was humble.  He was merciful.  He was loving in his judgement of them.

For they were his children and he was their Lord and Savior.  He knew them before they were conceived, before they were born into this realm.  He loved them because they were his own.  He forgave them of their ignorance because he knew that they did not know, they did not understand, they were influenced by others who would deceive them and lead them astray.  But such is the love of Christ.  Such is the love of the one who forgives and forgets.  Such is the love of the one who sees the good in what he has created and wants all to come to him of his/her own free will. 

Let it be known that the choice is ours to make.  Let it be known that the world we live in today seeks to turn us away from that which was freely given to us and paid for at a high price, the price of death.  The choice is yours.  Choose wisely, if you have wisdom.  If not then ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and the doors shall be open unto you, and you shall know the truth of who you are in Christ.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in. 

St. Matthew, Chapter 21, verse:27a; The Response to the Question.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The authority of Jesus) Part 7. 

Deceit had taken over.  Cunning was waiting in the wings.  And evil was ready to pounce.  They were back and forth among themselves and with Christ.  Yet he knew the outcome.  He saw their deceit.  He knew of their cunning.  And he was very much aware that the influence of evil had taken control of the chief priest and the elders.

They wanted an excuse.  They sought a way in.  They continued to set the tricks and traps for Christ hoping that he would fall into one of them so that they could have their way with him.  They had their way with the people.  They influenced and controlled them.  They taught them their ways and not the ways of God.  They transformed the Law and made it into their law and their rules, and their practices so that the people would not see what they were doing.

Could they answer the question?  Yes!  Would they answer the question?  No!  The simple answer would lead to their incrimination and their conviction.  So they chose not.  And they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know." 

So they chose not to answer the question.  They chose not to respond.  They chose to deny what they knew was the truth even though they knew the answer that John was from heaven.  They were the learned people.  They were the scholars of the Law the keepers of the history of Israel.  It was written in the books they studied all their lives, the books that they read and memorized from childhood.  Yet they chose not to answer it.

Most children grow up in some form of spiritual background.  They receive their beliefs and spiritual leaning from their parents, and relatives, and spiritual leaders that they encounter in their environment, be it Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhism, or what ever form of spiritual system in their environment.  We all believe in something.  And then there are those who profess to believe in nothing but themselves, the here and the now.  They believe that we are here today and gone tomorrow and after this there is nothing else.

So we are swayed by our spiritual background and influenced by our social living.  If we believe that there is no tomorrow then we live only for today, only for the moment, and anything goes.  If we have some spiritual background then we have some rules or some code to live by.  We have the law that guides us through life.  What guides you?  What set of morals do you live by?  Do you believe in tomorrow, an afterlife?  Where do you stand on the spiritual scale of life?

The chief priest and the elders attempted to be neutral, zero on the spiritual scale.  They did not want to answer the spiritual question concerning John the Baptist, "Is he from heaven or from the people?"  Was he spiritual or was he just physical?  Was he a man of God or just a man from the people?  And this is the question that we are faced with today.  Are we from heaven or just physical?  Are we of a spiritual being or just flesh and bones?  Did we originate through evolution or were we created from the breath of God?  Simple question, simple answer.  There is no neutral, no zero position.  We are or we are not.  Where do you stand?

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage nd then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ .   The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.