Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Matthew 22-23
Matthew 22:37
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Upon being asked “Which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus answered with the words in our verse today. Then He gave additional information, And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:39 Those two commandments of God’s law are the foundation for all of His laws, or commandments. Jesus said as much in the very next verse, Matthew 22:40. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. These things are rudimentary and agreed upon by all. But for a moment, consider them in light of an earlier teaching in this chapter.
Matthew 22 begins with a parable which relates the very nature of the Kingdom of heaven. Therein a story is told of a certain king and the marriage for His son. He sent servants, more than once, to bid those initial invitees, who as a whole rejected his invitation. He then sent His servants back out into the hedges and highways to invite strangers to the wedding feast. They did and the wedding was filled with guests, some good and some bad. Regarding the first group that was invited, the king had them destroyed and their cities burned. This sobering fact stresses to the reader the importance of the wedding of the king’s son. To the king it was a matter of life and death. To the first invitees it was a light thing, an unnecessary thing, a thing that they could take or leave. So, they left it. But to the king it was vitally important, supremely important.
In the multitude of the newfound guests, one did not have on an appropriate wedding garment. He could have been dressed properly in that it was a custom in those days for the king to provide suitable garments to guests. This man must have rejected the gift of the garment, thereby rejecting the king. This was a great insult. That man was cast out into outer darkness wherein only weeping and gnashing of teeth awaited him.
Back to the two great commandments mentioned later in the chapter. Loving God preeminently and loving one’s neighbor as self is righteousness. It is being right put into action. It is right because God commanded such, and His commandments are righteous even as He is righteous. An example of righteousness can be found in Luke 1 where we are introduced to Elisabeth and Zacharias, the parents of John the Baptist. God’s Word says of these two, And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. (Luke 1:6). They were righteous before God because they continually obeyed His commandments and ordinances. They were right with the king, for they wore righteousness as a garment.
The man in the parable was not right with the king, he did not wear the proper garment indicating that he did not obey or respect the king. This is a word picture of a physical nature to teach a spiritual truth. Notice though and be careful, for this man did not lose his life, nor was he tossed into the fire, but he did endure great sorrow, pain, and fear. How he must have wished that he would have put on that proper wedding garment. Job had on the proper garment for he said, I put on righteousness, and it clothed me… (Job 29:14). So be like Elisabeth, be like Zacharias, be like Job, be like Jesus and put on the garment prepared by the King. Put on His righteousness. Not to earn eternal life, but because of the preeminent love one has for God and His Son for the gift of eternal life that has been received.
Dr. William T. Howe
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