Matthew 22:33-46: “The Pharisees Test Jesus Asking Him What The
Greatest Commandment And Then He Tests Them Asking Whose Son The Messiah Shall
Be”
by
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we saw that the Pharisees and
Saducees were continuing to put Jesus to the test by asking Him questions in
order to try and find a reason that they could use for putting Him to death
1.1.1.
The Pharisees asked Jesus if it was lawful to pay the
poll tax
1.1.2.
The Saducees asked Jesus whose wife a woman would be
in heaven if she had multiple husbands on earth
1.1.3.
In each of these questions, they considered that it didn’t
matter how Jesus answered that they could use His answer in order to either
incriminate Him with
1.1.4.
As in all of the tests that these groups put Jesus to,
He showed His wisdom, foil their tests, and actually put ‘them’ to the test
1.1.5.
In His answer to these tests, Jesus simply revealed a
little bit of true spiritual wisdom to the people in order to confound them and
foil their plot
1.2.
Today, we are going to look at one more test that the Pharisees
put Jesus to, then Jesus puts them to a test
2.
VS 22:33-34 -
“33 And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His
teaching. 34 But when the Pharisees
heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves
together. ” - In these verses we see
two opposing ways of reacting to Jesus’ answer to these tests put to Him by the
Pharisees and Saducees
2.1.
The multitudes were ‘astonished at His teaching’, which was an
appropriate response since Jesus showed in His responses that He had the
inscrutable wisdom of the Almighty and Omniscient God.
2.2.
The Pharisees gathered themselves together again so that they could plot
their next strategy for finding a convenient and painless way to have Jesus put
to death.
2.2.1.
We see in verse 35 that their next ploy ends up being that they coax a
very intelligent and skillful lawyer, or scribe, to try to put Him to the
test.
3.
VS 22:35-36 -
“35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”” - The lawyer asked Jesus which is the greatest
commandment in the Law
3.1.
I believe that in this test, as in all of the others, the Pharisees had
schemed that no matter which commandment which Jesus picked as the most
important commandment that they could use His answer as a reason to bring
charges of blasphemy against Him.
3.2.
This question posed by the lawyer is an interesting one, for we might
debate whether or not one commandment might be more important than another one,
for after all every commandment in the scripture came from the same God.
3.2.1.
James, in James 2:10-11, spoke to this effect as he taught that a person
who breaks one commandment has broken them all since the same God gave all of
them, “10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point,
he has become guilty of all. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do
commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”
3.2.2.
I wonder what the Pharisees might have answered back to Jesus if He had
responded to their question by saying that the same God gave all of the
commandments, therefore all of His commandments are equally important to keep?
3.3.
In Matthew 23:23, in Jesus’ rebuke of the
Pharisees He revealed to us that in God’s commandments there actually are
matters that are ‘weightier’ than others, “23 “Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have
neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and
faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting
the others.””
3.3.1.
As a side note here, it has been the case many times throughout history
that the church has made issues out to be huge which should have been minor, and
visa versa. It is important for us to
react appropriately and make the big things be the big things in the church.
4.
VS 22:37-40 -
“37 And He said to him, ”‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 “This is the great
and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your
neighbor as yourself.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and
the Prophets.”” - Jesus answered the
Pharisaic Lawyer that the greatest commandment was the first of the 10, to love
the Lord with all of your heart, mind, and soul
4.1.
In Jesus’ answer to this lawyer we discover that there are really two
dimensions of commandments that God has given us:
4.1.1.
Those that deal with our vertical relationship with God
4.1.2.
Those that deal with our horizontal relationship with men.
4.2.
Of these two dimensions, the vertical relationship is the one that is the
most important.
4.2.1.
In the mainstream churches today, we see that often this priority is reversed
as we see that often there is more emphasis placed upon our relationships with
others, Christian and non-Christian, than there is on our relationship with
God, and with some groups there is an emphasis on more of a ‘social gospel’
where the church concentrates primarily (or completely) upon helping people
with their physical and social needs rather than upon getting their lives right
with God so that they are walking in fellowship with Him.
4.2.1.1.The problem with making a
‘social gospel’ the main emphasis of the church is that though you may have
helped a person temporarily with a temporal need, you have not changed their
hearts or lives, and thus whatever way in which you helped them can have no
real lasting effects, and it surely will not help them to get their soul to
heaven after they leave this physical life.
4.2.2.
In many churches today, there seems to be the mentality that what is most
important is the healing of our relationships with people, and thus many times
there is much emphasis on interpersonal skills and upon psychology and
counseling.
4.2.3.
We would be wise however to realize that until we get our vertical
relationship with God healed, we will have no ability for us to have our
relationships with others healed. Also,
when we get our relationship with God healed, we find that our relationships
with others begin to get fixed in the process.
4.3.
In order to assist people in having their vertical relationship with God
healed, the gospel must be preached, and we must tell people the straight facts
about what is necessary for a person to be saved.
4.3.1.
We must tell people that they need to trust in Jesus alone by faith for
salvation, and we must repent and turn our lives over to Him in repentence in
order to be saved.
4.4.
In Jesus’ response to this Pharisaic Lawyer, we see also that Jesus is
teaching that all of the commandments that God has given us can be summed in
the two commandments, one of the vertical nature and one of the horizontal
nature.
4.4.1.
Vertical:
4.4.1.1.You are to love the Lord
your God with your whole heart, mind, strength, and soul.
4.4.2.
Horizontal:
4.4.2.1.You are to love your
neighbor as you love yourself.
5.
VS 22:41-42 -
“41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a
question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?”
They *said to Him, “The son of David.”” -
Jesus turns the conversation towards the Pharisees and puts them to the
test, asking them whose son the Messiah is?
5.1.
Jesus quizzes the Pharisees about their knowledge of the scripture, and
in particular what the scripture teaches about who the Messiah might be.
5.1.1.
The Pharisees apparently never considered that the Messiah might be
divine, for it appears apparent from their dialog with Jesus here that they
thought of the Messiah as just being a man, a physical descendant from King
David.
5.2.
Jesus knew that these Pharisees did not even consider in their wildest
imagination that He might be the Messiah, and thus when He asks this question
of them they are quick to answer.
5.2.1.
The Pharisees tell Jesus that the Messiah is to be the ‘son of David’.
5.2.2.
The genealogies of all Jews were kept in the temple in Jerusalem, and one
thing that I think the Jews have never come to grips with is the fact that
since the temple burned down in 70AD, that the genealogy of every Jew alive on
the face of the earth cannot be proven or demonstrated. Therefore, since that time if a man were to
arise claiming to be the Messiah, they would not be able to prove that he was a
descendant of King David’s.
5.2.3.
Notice also, that since the Jews had the genealogies of every Jew in the
temple, and they never attempted to disprove the Jesus was descended from King
David, this means that they must have verified that He was indeed descended
from King David.
5.3.
Well, Jesus’ test of the Pharisees was as to whether or not they
understood the scriptures correctly since they reveal that the Messiah is
divine.
6.
VS 22:43-45 -
“43 He *said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’
saying, 44 ‘The Lord said to my
Lord, ”Sit at My right hand, Until I put Thine enemies beneath Thy feet”
‘? 45 “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’
how is He his son?”” - Jesus asks
these Pharisees how the Messiah could be the son of David and yet in the
scriptures David referred to the Messiah as his ‘Lord’?
6.1.
Jesus never questioned that the Old Testament scriptures were inspired of
the Lord, and thus He says that David said the words He quotes by him, ‘in the
Spirit’.
6.2.
Jesus quotes from Psalm 110:1 in these verses.
6.3.
In Psalm 110:1, David said that, ‘The Lord said to my Lord’, and this
indicates the plurality of the Godhead.
The scriptures reveal to us that God is one and yet three persons also,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These
words David writes depict God the Father speaking to God the Son.
6.4.
In these verses, we see that the
Messiah is to reign when He comes, for to sit at the ‘right hand’ of God means
to sit at the ‘place of honor’ as well as the ‘place of power’.
6.5.
Jesus’ question to the Pharisees is then, ‘If David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how
is He his son?’
6.5.1.
The Jewish culture was interesting, for a person’s forefathers were
looked up to and revered greatly, however one’s children were never revered by
their parents. Children were loved and
cherished, but they weren’t revered, therefore if the Messiah was just a
physical descendant of King David’s, how could it be that King David called his
descended son, ‘Lord?’
6.5.2.
The answer to Jesus’ question is that the Messiah cannot be mere man if
He is referred to as his ‘Lord’ by King David, He must indeed be the eternal
Son of God from all eternity, having come to us in human form.
7.
VS 22:46 - “46 And
no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to
ask Him another question.” - Matthew
records that no one was able to answer Jesus’ question, and that from this time
forth no one dared to ask Him another question
7.1.
Jesus foiled every test that Pharisee, Saducee, and even Herodian put Him
to, and in doing so in each test He confounded the people and they didn’t know
how to answer Him, for His words proved to be above reproach.
7.2.
With this the Pharisees and Saducees give up trying to put Him to the
test anymore as they realize that He is too wise to be tricked, so now they
will plot His arrest and the false charges that they will bring against Him in
hopes that they can have Him crucified by the Romans, and of course this will
happen upon Calvary and all according to the predetermined will of God.