Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 364
352
IMMERSE
•
MESSIAH
22:31–23:7
neither marry nor be given in marriage. In this respect they will be like the
angels in heaven.
“But now, as to whether there will be a resurrection of the dead—haven’t
you ever read about this in the Scriptures? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob had died, God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob.’ So he is the God of the living, not the dead.”
When the crowds heard him, they were astounded at his teaching.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his
reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in
religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the
most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart,
all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these
two commandments.”
Then, surrounded by the Pharisees, Jesus asked them a question: “What
do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
They replied, “He is the son of David.”
Jesus responded, “Then why does David, speaking under the inspiration
of the Spirit, call the Messiah ‘my Lord’? For David said,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit in the place of honor at my right hand
until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’
Since David called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his
son?”
No one could answer him. And after that, no one dared to ask him any
more questions.
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of
Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their
example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with
unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
“Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide
prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra
long tassels. And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the
seats of honor in the synagogues. They love to receive respectful greetings
as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’
