SEPTEMBER 17 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#29 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42)

 

SEPTEMBER 17  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#29  

“What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”  

(Matthew 22:42)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, O the joy of calling on the Name of all names, 

for You are the Living, Loving, Redeemer and Lover of my soul. 

You are the Way, yeah the only Way to Live, for we spend our days

 in death when we do not turn to Thee for our Daily Bread. 

Lord, I praise You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit for the Grace

 and Mercy in the Plan of Salvation!!!  We, Lord, are deserving 

of death, yet even though we reject you time and again, 

You always extend Your Love and Forgiveness 

to us if we but Repent and turn to Thee. 

Lord, I am a chief sinner for I will lay my sins at the foot of Your cross

 but I do not let go of them and end up picking them up again 

with my selfish desires?!? O Lord Jesus, You are Loving and Forgiving 

and each time I return to Your Grace You receive me 

with open arms — so Lord I return yet again, forgive this sinner daily!   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus is now addressing a group of Pharisees and scribes

 that “were gathered together” and after they had responded

 that Christ was “The Son of David” to the Question Jesus had

 asked them about 

“Whose Son is [the Christ]?” 

(Matthew 22:42),

 Jesus asked them a final Question from a Psalm of David (Psalm 118)

 but the Pharisees and scribes were unable to answer His Question

 from the Holy Scriptures which they were supposed to be “the authority” on!

 Their inability to answer the Question Jesus asked them proved 

that Jesus knew more about the Scriptures than they did

 so the Pharisees from that day on 

“did [not] dare question [Jesus] anymore.” 

(Matthew 22:43-46) 

But Jesus had more to say about the problem Israel had because 

they were following the “doctrines of [the] men” that had defiled 

their “offices” for the sake of self-promotion. These “leaders” had

 “usurped the power of God” for themselves by imposing their 

false doctrines on God’s chosen people. Jesus had previously

 Taught His own disciples this Lesson about seeking positions of 

high office for Jesus had responded to a similar situation when He

 was asked to give special consideration to a couple of His disciples,

 Jesus stated about “True Power and Authority” : 

“…but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, 

but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” 

(Matthew 20:23) 

and then Jesus elaborated further about the problem with our

 assuming “power” without it being given by God when Jesus said,

 “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,

 and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it 

shall not be so among you…Whoever desires to be first 

among you, let him be your slave — 

just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, 

but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 

(Matthew 20:25-28).

 It is interesting to note that this Lesson on “True Power and Authority” 

and submitting to the will of God and being obedient to the 

Father’s Plan for our lives came just after Jesus had told His disciples,

 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man

 will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; 

and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him 

to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. 

And the third day He will rise again.” 

(Matthew 20:18-19) 

So it should have been no surprise that in this last week of His life

 on earth that His disciples would see that the events were unfolding 

just as Jesus had prophesied and that Jesus would expend so 

much of His energy Teaching about the abuse of power.

 What we as children of God should be aware of in our lives is mainly that

 God has a Plan for Salvation 

and that the 

Plan of Salvation includes 

“repentance and the remission of sin” 

and that our eternity is determined by how obedient we are 

to the Purity and Holiness of the Commands of God 

and His Plan of Salvation 

and not on the “defiled doctrines of men”!!! Jesus had taught

 “…no one is good but One, that is, God. 

But if you want to enter into life, 

keep [God’s] commandments.” 

(Matthew 19:17) 

The fact that Jesus continues teaching the multitudes about the 

abuse of power and seeking high office for self promotion can 

be understood as an extension of Jesus Teaching an earlier

 Lesson on humility 

“Assuredly, I say to you,

 unless you are converted and become as little children, 

you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. [but] …

whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin,

 it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck,

 and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” 

(Matthew 18:3-6) 

So now Jesus is going to conclude His Lessons on

 “True Power and Authority” 

as we read “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes 

and to His disciples, saying…” 

(Matthew 23:1) 

and Jesus calls out the “scribes and the Pharisees” by name 

and pronounces 7 “Woes” on them

 and on those who seek to “lord” their God-given “authority” 

over those under their rule!!! Surely it is obvious that this Lesson

 is not a “knee-jerk” reaction by Jesus, He has been addressing 

this problem all along and now He concludes by announcing

 7 "Woes" 

on those that are guilty. 

Let each of us stop and consider this simple logical question:

 “If this subject is so important to Jesus 

that He would be this thorough 

in His Teaching this Lesson 

throughout His entire ministry, 

then shouldn’t we give it a proportional

 amount of our attention as well?!?!?!?!”

SEPTEMBER 16 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#29 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” (Matthew 22:42)

 

SEPTEMBER 16  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#29  

“What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”  

(Matthew 22:42)

LIVING FOR JESUS Daily Prayer    

JESUS, Lord I thank You for those times that You make Your 

Presence “Known” when we least expect it, which in retrospect 

I see that it is those times that I need you most for I have drifted

 off the path and had You not given me a “course correction” 

I would have wandered off into the world and all its dangers.

 Lord, I better understand the necessity of “chastisement” and 

why David wrote of the Good Shepherd, “…Thy rod and 

Thy staff, they comfort me…” for You Lord know when to 

use Your “rod” and when to use Your “staff” and You always

 use them in “TRUTH” and in “LOVE” — 

Lord, I pray that my spirit yields itself completely to Yours 

and that my heart is always receptive to Your Love for I know

 that Your Plan for my life is to give me a “Hope” and a “Future” —

 Forgive me of my daily shortcomings 

and keep me forever on Your Path.   

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus has been “questioned” by the “legalists” as they have sought

 to prove that their “doctrines of men” and their “authority” was 

the ruling power in Zion and Jerusalem but they were blinded to

 the Truth of God that Jesus IS the Messiah and that God 

has sent Him to bring “repentance and salvation” to those that 

follow the “doctrines of men” instead of the “Commands of God”. 

The Pharisees and the scribes had been the loudest in their

 contentions with Jesus and had “questioned” Him on more occasions

 than any of the other ruling groups! Jesus had put the Pharisees

 in their place on more than one occasion, but now in His 

final week before the Passover in Jerusalem (where Jesus will 

complete the Father’s Work and fulfill all the Law and the Prophets), 

Jesus answers all the “questions” posed by each group and then 

Jesus, as the Master Teacher, 

Teaches the Final Lesson to the “legalists and power mongers”

 with a couple of Final JESUS Questions back-to-back —

 “While the Pharisees were gathered together, 

Jesus asked them, saying,” 

(Q1) “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” 

and when the Pharisees answered, 

“The Son of David” 

Jesus quoted the Holy Scripture from a Psalm (Psalm 110) 

that King David had written about the Messiah 

and then Jesus asked the Pharisees this followup question: 

(Q2) “If David then calls Him ‘LORD,’ how is He his Son?”  

(Matthew 22:41-45)  

The Pharisees were the ultimate authority in Israel on the Law of Moses

 and the Holy Scriptures and yet with all their combined knowledge they

 were unable to answer Jesus and Matthew records: 

“And no one was able to answer [Jesus] a word, 

nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.” 

(Matthew 22:45) 

Now that there would be no more questions taking up the precious

 last hours of His earthly ministry, it would be reasonable to assume

 that Jesus would move on from Teaching Lessons on 

“True Power and Authority” 

and leave the Pharisees to face the “judgement” that had already 

been assigned to them and to all that follow the “doctrines of men” 

as consequences to their disobedience to the Commands of God

 and the defiling of their Holy Offices:

 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be 

taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 

And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; 

but on whom it falls, it will grind him to powder.” 

(Matthew 22:43-44)   

However, once Jesus had finally silenced all the contention and 

confrontation from the “legalists/power mongers” He did not move on 

to another Lesson but Jesus gives one final summation to the problem

 and pronounces “Seven Woes” on the “scribes and Pharisees”

 as He once again calls them, “hypocrites”! 

Our common sense should tell us that if Jesus continues to Teach 

on this subject of the “hypocrisy” of “following the doctrines of men" 

and “defiling Holy Offices” and “usurping the Power of God”

 for themselves that this must be a

 Very Important Topic that Jesus wants to make very clear 

to all that “have an ear” to hear what the Spirit has to say about 

being “obedient to God” as the Number One Priority in our daily lives!  

Before looking at this 

“Final Summation on True Power and Authority”

 that Jesus is about to deliver on the subject, it is prudent for us to stop

 and consider the “gravity of the situation” in our own lives as we let

 the “doctrines of men” creep into our daily lifestyles ——— 

we must realize that those in power, regardless of their gender, 

generation or nationality, succumb to their own selfish desires as 

they gather unto themselves more and more power and these power

 mongers defile their respective offices and the fruit of their labor is

 “defiled doctrines" which Jesus is telling us

 as God told Adam and Eve in the garden, 

“…for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.” 

(Genesis 2:17)

 Remember also that Jesus had just Taught us 

“Take heed and beware of the leaven of the

 Pharisees and the Sadducees.” 

(Matthew 16:6)

 Perhaps since Jesus commands us to “take heed” that we 

should at least try to understand what the consequences of 

not listening to Jesus might be — 

or you can turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the 

Truth of God 

and consume the “leaven” and the “forbidden fruit”

 but then you must accept the consequences of your choice to ignore 

God’s Son Jesus whom God the Father has sent 

to bring “repentance and salvation” to us 

and Who has personally given us 

so many warnings by His Holy WORD!?!?!?