Devotion 10.24.26

Matthew 22

The Great Commandment

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Whose Son Is the Christ?

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

  until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46 And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions."

Christ is quizzed by the Pharisees, and in turn, he demonstrates he knows what is on their hearts, and ours.

Who called this meeting? Usually, it is a line meant as humor as a meeting is waiting to start or halfway through as it careens out of control. Who called the meeting Christ gets involved in?

Christ wastes no opportunity to suffer the religious leaders of the day a little humility, especially when they attempt in various ways to ensnare him. As usual, they eat crow at the end of the session.

What role does "game-playing" have in your life? In mine, it is minimized since I no longer work full-time for a large organization like a public school. Back in the day, when I was fully engaged, you had to assume that at some point in time during the course of the hour or meeting that you were going to be drawn into a game of some kind, or sadly, you were laying a few snares of your own.

You have to ask yourself, what would the world be like if we were just truthful with one another? How much more advanced would we be if we used the energy needed to play games toward a truthful end meant to help the team or organization move forward?

Christ has us where he wants us as a church. Does the church respond in kind? How many missed opportunities and dropped passes have occurred because our minds were elsewhere, focused solely on self and not the mission? How much precious time is wasted extinguishing a fire that took us away from our purpose?

Pray we all use wisdom given by God's Spirit. Pray that how we deal with issues we confront builds up the body of Christ in a manner pleasing to him. Pray that should we uproot the weed, we don't destroy the good portion of the crop in doing so. Pray that in all we do, we seek to bring glory to God. Amen.