Podcast Introduction Our reading today is _Matthew 20-22_, and I’m calling the episode “Fig Tree and Invitation.” After my comments, we will of course learn what happened On this day in church history. Comments on the Reading Thoughts on Matthew 21 Let’s take a look at Jesus and the fig tree from verses 18 and 19. Jesus was hungry and he saw that the fig tree had leaves on it. A fig tree with leaves should have fruit on it. That’s the way they’re supposed to work. So when Jesus saw the leaves, he expected fruit. But when there were none, he cursed it. The natural question here is, “Why are we given this picture? What are we to learn from this?” If we profess to be followers of Jesus, there are certain expectations God has for us. When we ask Jesus to come into our lives, when we ask Him to be our Savior, we are also asking Him to be our Lord, our King, our Master. In John 14:15 He said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” In John 15:10 He said, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” So yes, there is the expectation that when we ask Him to save us, we will give Him the authority to expect us to exhibit different behaviors than we did before. If we don’t, then we have not really put our faith in Him. We call ourselves Christians, or followers, but we really are not. If we truly are followers, our lives will bear fruit. What kind of fruit? The Apostle Paul, in Galatians 5 tells us some of the fruit. Listen: “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. If we call ourselves believers, but our lives do not begin to produce this fruit, we are like the fig tree that had leaves but no fruit. From a distance it looks good, but get close enough to really see it and its barrenness is obvious. It is good for nothing. When we accept Jesus, we must surrender ourselves completely so that the Holy Spirit can begin the process of making us in the image of Christ. When we do that, the fruit of the Spirit will begin to grow, and we will be amazed at how God will begin to use us for His glory. Thoughts on Matthew 22 Some parables are easier to understand than others, aren’t they? Today’s reading started with one of the harder ones, so let’s look at it. This is the parable that Jesus told to the chief priests and elders, about the wedding dinner. Here it is again, briefly. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like this. A king prepared a wedding dinner for his son. He sent his servants out to those who had been invited to tell them that all was ready for them. But they refused to come. So he sent more servants out to tell them that he had lots of food for them. It’s all ready for you. Please come. But they ignored the servants and went back to work. And some of them beat up the servants and killed them. So the king was understandably angry, and he sent out his army, who killed the murderers and burned their city. Then the king said, “Look. Everything is ready, but the people I invited weren’t fit to come. So go out to the highways and byways and invite everyone you see. And the servants brought back so many guests that the wedding hall was full with all kinds of people. Some good, some bad. And when the king came to see the guests, he saw someone who was not wearing wedding clothes. And the king said, “Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?” And the man was speechless. So the king told his servants to tie up the man and throw him outside into the darkness, where people cry and grind their teeth. Wow! So what’s going on here? What is Jesus saying? Remember who Jesus is talking to. The chief priests and elders. The religious Jews. These are the folks who hate Jesus and have been trying to trap him and trick him into saying something for which they can charge him with blasphemy. They are the ones who should have been able to see that Jesus is the Messiah that they have been waiting for, but instead are blind. And because of their blindness, they are keeping the people from seeing the Messiah. And in the parable, they are the ones who were first invited to the wedding dinner. God first invited the Jews to partake in grace. But they rejected Him. And we know that they ended up killing not just Jesus, but those who would go out to tell others about Him. Many early Christians were martyred for spreading the message of the Good News. The second group invited to the dinner, the ones found on the highways and byways is the non-Jews, the Gentiles…everyone…the world! John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world…” When the Jews reject
