St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verse: 21b; Caesar's things.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Tribute to Caesar) Part 10.  

And now we come to the meat of the issue.  They wanted to know what Christ thought of the tribute to Caesar and he told them.  He gave them what they wanted to hear.  He knew that they wanted to trap him in his own words so he gave them words that they could not use to trap him and words that would not contradict his teachings.

Caesar was the face on the coin of tribute and the inscription.  They wanted to know if it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar as he was the national leader of the Roman Empire.  Christ told them:  Then he said to them, "Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are Caesar's."  

They wanted to know so he told them what they wanted to know.  What they did not know was that Caesar belonged to God and not to Caesar.  God created him, raised him, gave him power, allowed him to do the things that he did in order to fulfill his plans.  So Caesar was a part of God's long range plan and not the other way around.  When the time came for the Son of Man to walk the earth and to submit himself as a sacrifice for the sins of mankind all would be in place according to the long range plans of God.  Everything came to fruition.

There is a saying that God smiles at us each day that we wake up and plan our days and what we want to do with our lives.  We believe that we are in charge and that we make things happen according to our own will.  He gave us free will and we can make our own decisions as to what we want to do each day.  This is what gives him smiles. 

We set our course down the road of life not knowing what lies ahead or what paths we take.  We are in charge.  We have rosy dreams of what we are going to make of our lives and how we are going to make it big in life.  We are going to have this happy life ahead of ourselves.  And when the roadblocks come and the letdowns and setbacks come we become broken and scared.  Our dreams fly out the window and we settle for something much less.  And this is the part where our morals and values are compromised and changed.  

We are born rich.  Our dreams are already fulfilled.  We are who we want to be already.  That is what is given to us from birth.  But we must accept who we are and not compromise with what the world has to offer.  Christ came to give back what was loss to us from the beginning.  Our treasure awaits us in heaven.  We are a humble people, a loving people.  We are a forgiving people, a merciful people like our Father.  This is our realization.  This is our hope, our dream, our love, our desire, to be like him who came to live among us, to show us how to live.  There is nothing here on earth that can satisfy the hunger that is within us.  Only he can fulfill that need.  And the joy and peace that comes from his presences is so overwhelming that once you have had that a tiny experience of it, you will want for nothing else.  

Come then and seek that which is yours, freely given at no cost.  His love awaits you.  The door to his palace is open and the angels are preparing a feast in your honor.  Let us celebrate and rejoice to your awakening.

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, verses: 41a; Evil men.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The vine-dressers kill the master's son) Part 4. 

They killed the master's son, the most precious gift of all.  Greed had turned them into evil men.  They sought to steal and kill to get what they wanted.  They sought to lie and cheat to take what was not theirs.  They sought to influence others to support their evil schemes to enrich themselves to reach their goals.

How often do we see these themes today.  They are presented to us as normal and an accepted way of life, what one must do to get ahead.  This is true especially in business.  You have to be ruthless to get ahead.  Destroy the competition.  Slander their products.  Take over their customers and you will win.  And what did Jesus ask will happen to this type of person:   They said to him, "He will utterly destroy those evil men." 

Who are our idols?  What do we look up to as our model in life?  What do we desire more than anything else in this world?  We want to be like the rich and the famous.  We want to have money, and leisure, and yachts and penthouse condominiums and gold chains and diamond rings and fur coats and travel in our own jets.  We want all that is shown to us each and every day in the media.  They advertise to us.  They project to us the way that we should live.  They provide the model by which we dream.  They are our motivation for all that we desire.

What must we do to get there?  What must we forsake, what must we give up to get what we want?  We must change.  We must turn away from what was freely given us.  We must become ruthless and focused on our target.  We must not be distracted away by morals and ethics, those boundaries that hold us back from reaching our goals.  What would you do given the chance, the opportunity to reach your goals?

How blinded are we?  How deceived are we?  How innocent are we to accept the vision that is given us on a daily basis.  We are the children of the creator of the universe.  We are created in his image and likeness.  We are children of light and not of darkness.  Yet the world would have us become dark, to turn away from ourselves, to give up that which was freely given through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. 

He came to give us life.  He came that we would know.  He came to show us a way to find him in his kingdom.  We are his children and he is our savior.  It is he who purchased us with his blood.  It is he who was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  It is he who seeks to help you find the way into the light and out of the darkness of this world.  The shell will be broken but what comes forth will be in your hands.  Will it be the child of God or the creation of darkness?  The choice is yours and the opportunity is now.

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.