AUGUST 25 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#27 “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:12)

 AUGUST 25  THE JESUS QUESTIONS   JQ#27  “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”  (Matthew 22:12)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer    

JESUS, You are worthy, You are the Holy One, You Lord and only You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. What is man that God the One True Creator with Infinite Wisdom and Knowledge would create a universe of this magnitude and then create man to have dominion over the creation?! Why did God create only man in His image and  endow man with the greatest of all gifts — Freewill!! God then in His Infinite Wisdom allowed for our shortcomings by providing for our Salvation through the sacrifice of Himself ——— the Creator giving Himself for the created!!! O Jesus, what a great Sacrifice  You made for a world that has so horribly abused our gifts that You so freely and abundantly bestowed upon us — and with our abusing and defiling Your Gift of Freewill we have brought shame upon ourselves as a consequence of our disobedience! Praise You O Lord, my God, my Savior. I pray for anointing daily from Your Holy Spirit that my sin against Thee will be no more!   AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus was confronted as to His “authority” by the chief priests, religious leaders and the elders and Jesus responded by Teaching them in three consecutive parables that only God has “authority”! The first parable was about a man asking his two sons to go work in a vineyard, the second parable was about a landowner that built a vineyard and leased it to vinedressers who refused to give the landowner his rightful “fruits” and the vinedressers not only refused to surrender to the landowner his rightful dues but they killed, beat, and stoned the landowner’s servants who came on the landowner’s “authority” when they tried to collect from the landowner’s vinedressers. When the landowner sent his son to the vinedressers they killed the son as well. The second parable was prophetic of the purpose of Jesus being in Jerusalem on this Passover and it was also God’s judgement on the chief priests and religious rulers that refused to accept Jesus as Messiah at which point Jesus pronounced, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you [Israel] and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” (Matthew 21:43) The chief priests and the Pharisees which Jesus had been in confrontation with throughout His earthly ministry “perceived that He was speaking of them” and instead of repenting they “sought to lay hands on Him”.  (Matthew 21:45-46) Jesus continued teaching them by parables as He gave them the 3rd parable “The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son…” (Matthew 22:1-2) Jesus has now used parables that include (1) a man who sent his sons into his vineyard to work and asked the Question “Which of the two sons did the will of the father?”, (2) a landowner that built a vineyard and leased it to vinedressers who did not meet the obligations of the “lease” and actually killed the landowners son, and now Jesus presents (3) the third parable that ties all three together and adds additional impact to the Question: Where does authority originate from, heaven or men? In the third parable Jesus starts out with “the kingdom of heaven” which is clearly where True Authority comes from and then Jesus says that heaven is like a “certain king” and announces that the king “arranged a marriage for his son” which brings in the traditions of Abraham and Isaac and the start of the nation of Israel through the twelve sons of Jacob. Surely all the chief priests and religious leaders that spent all their time studying the Holy Scriptures had to see that Jesus is painting a picture of God the Father arranging the Marriage of His Only Begotten Son, the Messiah!!! The parable continued as the “certain king” [God] sent out his servants [God’s prophets] to call those that were invited to the wedding [Israel], and they were not willing to come.” (Matthew 22:3)  It seems hard to believe that the religious rulers could not see that the work Jesus was doing could only be done through and by the True Power and Authority of God just as Nicodemus had said upon observing the miracles that Jesus was doing among the people, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him.” (John 3:2) Even with seeing the works of Jesus and knowing that He was sent from God they were nonetheless blinded to The Truth of God that Jesus is God’s Only Begotten Son and the “Chosen One”, the Messiah. Our generation has all the God-Breathed Holy Scriptures and a “cloud of witnesses” that Jesus is the Son of God but we are blinded by our “selfish desires” and we too are “not willing to come [to the wedding feast” — when will we ever learn?