Who is the Messiah?

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Deuteronomy 34: 1-12

Matthew Chapter 22: 34-46

Deuteronomy’s reading is quite straightforward and not so bloodthirsty as most of the Old Testament, though Moses’ death is still squeezed in.  I don’t normally have OT readings if I can avoid it, principally because it is my belief that when Jesus came and fulfilled his mission, he brought to fruition what we call the Old Testament, or God’s revelation to a specific group of people.  This isn’t meant to be defamatory to ancient Judaic or Islamic scriptures, however I believe that Jesus came and announced the fulfillment of the law, announcing a new age on that first Easter Sunday.   However the death of Moses, considered to be one of the greatest people in Jewish history, is important when laid against our second reading, because we have Jesus explicitly challenging the viewpoint of the time concerning the Messiah.  Jesus in claiming the title of Messiah, is claiming himself to be greater than Moses; something that the lawmakers of the day find extremely uncomfortable.

Let’s consider Matthew Chapter 22 in a bit more detail.  When is this debate occurring?  We are the day after Palm Sunday. Jesus has ridden into Jerusalem from the eastern end of the City with a ramshackle collection of followers mirroring in deep irony the arrival of Pilate with his security detachment and rich trimmings from the west.  Jesus as purposefully used imagery to announce himself as the Messiah, as God returning to Jerusalem, to his people.

There follows a skirmish in the temple and Jesus retreats to Bethany, perhaps after a brief diversion deep into the temple leading to another brush with a high priest; a story found in an apocryphal gospel which seems to hinge around the cleanliness laws.

And so we come to the Monday of Holy Week, and Jesus’ opponents are bringing out the heavy guns to embarrass Jesus and undermine his authority with his followers.  Earlier in Ch 22, Jesus is challenged by the Herodians whether it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not.  Jesus sideswipes them by asking them for a coin which they give him, thus showing that since they use the coin they are already part of a system that uses a graven image of an emperor that states he is a god, and his response is that they are to give the emperor what is his and to God what is God’s.   This should not be misread as a dividing of the spoils.  The state is secondary to God, so there is no defined loyal submission to the state implied here.  If the two are in harmony then all is well, if not then it is clear that allegiance to God trumps allegiance to any state.  If coins with Caesar’s image and inscription belong to Caesar, then human beings created in the image of God, bearing God’s image, belong to God.

The Sadducees then ask a question about resurrection.  The sadducees did not believe in resurrection, they were the sola scriptura part of the day.  A bit like the modern day creationists and rampant evangelists.  Reflecting on that is interesting to say the least.
However they concoct a story about a widow and ask Jesus who would be her husband after death if she married a succession of men in accordance with the law.

What Jesus says is actually very interesting, he says two things of import.  First the resurrection is nothing like they can imagine.  We won’t be married to any one person in the afterlife it seems.  From the horses mouth it seems we will be like angels.  “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels”.  Now that’s interesting isn’t it.  It pumps a huge hole in the whole spiritualist arguments of spirits existing in a void and trying to contact or not as the case may be.  It’s also a reminder to us as we approach Halloween not to get carried away with things.  God is not God of the dead but of the living.  Jesus seems to be implying here that there is no such thing as a resurrection of the dead.  Listen to what he says; “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”.  If  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead when God spoke to Moses he would have said that he was the God of them, so the implication is that they are still alive somehow.

Then a pharisaical lawyer approaches Jesus and challenges him regarding which is the greatest commandment.  Jesus replies with “You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind”

We shouldn’t love God just with an emotional viewpoint, or just an intellectual viewpoint, or just a spiritual sense, God demands the totality of our focus, because it is meaningless to just offer a part, if we are made in the image of God, then just offering a part means we are warping the image and we are left with a dysfunctional self.  A self that exhibits selfishness, anger, bullying, violence, hatred, prejudice.  They are the fruits of not following the first and greatest Commandment.  If we put love for the state or for money or for a way of life before God then what happens to our ability to keep the first and greatest commandment? How can we love God with all our heart and soul and mind if we love money or power or status or ourselves more?

Who then is Jesus, Who is the messiah?  Jesus is one of a load of sons of David.  There were no doubt many.  And yet one of the key points about being the Messiah was they they would be a son of David.    So Jesus is challenging the focus on the term here as being of any value at all by saying well if the Messiah is the son of David, why is David calling him Lord.  It is interesting that this question is posed by Jesus to the Pharisees and others rather than Jesus being questioned.

So I feel it is totally appropriate to leave you with this very question today. “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?

Depending on your answer may lead you to reflect on whether you are following the greatest commandment in your own lives, and if you aren’t then it may help you in reflecting on what you need to do to get back on track.
 In the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit Amen

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