St. Matthew, Chapter 22, verse: 17b; Is it lawful.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Tribute to Caesar) Part 5.  

And there it was the question of the season.  The question that they knew would cause Christ to stumble, the question that would cause him to hesitate because he was a man of God and did not care for the person of man.  Yet Caesar was the emperor and they knew that all had to bow to Caesar and pay tribute.  So they waited with glee to hear what would be the response of this man of God who called himself the Christ.

Yet still with all their learned knowledge and their wisdom, they did not understand the words that they had studied, the words that they had heard, the words that came forth from the mouth of Christ.  They were blind and deaf and without understanding of the knowledge that comes from the children of God so they asked the question:  "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?"  

How he must have felt for them at that moment that they asked him this question.  What volumes it must have told him about the persons that were before him at that moment and what they wanted from him.  How shallow they must have seemed as he gazed upon them and through them to see the emptiness within, that they did not or could not comprehend the nature of the question that they asked of him.

He was the Christ, the Son of God, who came down from heaven to walk and talk among the children of God.  He came to experience first hand the nature of who we are and the life we live.  He wanted to be an example to us, to show us how life should be and is in heaven without hatred and lust, and murder and slander, false witness, and all the other sins that have came from the fall of man and the triumph of evil on earth.

Yet there were those who were under the influence of evil and wanted to continue the reign and dominance of evil for all eternity.  But Christ came to bring an end to death, an end to the dominance of evil.  He came to be a light in the darkness, a door open to those who sought a new life, a life without the influence of evil.  Oh what a glorious day it must have been to walk in the presence of the Lord, to experience his light, his mercy, his love, his peace.  Heaven awaits those who have not seen but still believe.  For the soul hungers for the presence of the Lord and nothing can satisfy that hunger except his love.  

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 22, verse: 17a; Tell us thy thoughts.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Tribute to Caesar) Part 4. 

Now that the foundation was laid the real question comes.  They want to know the inner workings of his mind since they have laid the trap for him and set the parameters surrounding what they thought would be his response.  They were wise in their own conceited way.  They believed that they were knowledgeable enough to know more than this simple man called Jesus. They had met many others like him and brought about their downfall.

They did not know.  They did not understand.  They were blinded by their own arrogance and conceit in thinking that this man was the same as the others that they had met.  This was the Messiah, the living Christ, Son of God the Father.  But they did not know him.  So they asked him:  "Tell us, therefore, what dost thou think?" 

They wanted to know his thoughts, how he processes the questions that they would ask of him, and how he would respond since he is a man of truth and teaches the way of God.  They had set this trap with the knowledge of how they thought that he would respond but their knowledge was limited.  Their knowledge was flawed, their knowledge was human.  It was influenced by the desires of evil and wickedness that drove them to be blind to the truth that was before them, drove them to be deaf to the word that came to them, they could not hear, drove them to not believe in wisdom that had come down through the ages from the prophets that came before him.  They were lost without hope.  But they wanted to know his thought even though they could not comprehend them.  They could only anger at how their plan would fail.    

Yet Christ was loving.  Christ was gentle.  Christ was understanding in his knowledge of where they were and what they were doing.  He offered a way out.  He is merciful in that he never relents in his mercy.  He never stops offering his mercy to us no matter what we do, no matter how often we turn away, no matter how often we let go of him, he is always there waiting for us to call out to him.  He hears our voice.  He knows our cry and he will come to our aid if we are true to him in our need.  

That inner voice will tell us to give up, to not believe, to end it all.  But I am here to say that he, Our Father, is real.  Our God will come.  Our God will provide.  Our God does love you and will demonstrate his love for you everyday.  Patience is the key.  Belief is the way.  Once you taste the fruit of his love you will know that there is nothing else on this earth that will satisfy you.  You will walk your hand in his hand and no one or nothing can take that away.  And now your  journey begins.  

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 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.