1Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, 2“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a wedding feast for his son, 3and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4Again he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’ 5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise; 6and the rest grabbed his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. 7When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
8“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren’t worthy. 9Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the wedding feast.’ 10Those servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests.
11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless. 13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness. That is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’ 14For many are called, but few chosen.”
15Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk. 16They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach; for you aren’t partial to anyone. 17Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? 19Show me the tax money.”
They brought to him a denarius.
20He asked them, “Whose is this image and inscription?”
21They said to him, “Caesar’s.”
Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
22When they heard it, they marveled, and left him and went away.
23On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him, 24saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26In the same way, the second also, and the third, to the seventh. 27After them all, the woman died. 28In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.”
29But Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. 30For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven. 31But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, 32‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
33When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
34But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. 35One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and great commandment. 39A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying, “What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?”
They said to him, “Of David.”
43He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
44‘The Lord said to my Lord,
sit on my right hand,
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?
45“If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”
46No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forward.
Believe and Be Blessed
Portrait of a Man in a Suit
Have you ever heard someone described as a “doubting Thomas?” That’s referring to the disciple we’ve just read about in the passage above. So I have a question for you. Have you ever felt like a doubting Thomas yourself? All of us have probably been a doubting Thomas at one time or another. When I was about 15 years old, I went through a time of wondering if any of this business about my Christian faith was real or not. I think I actually fell on the side of being a doubting Thomas. At the time, I attended an Episcopal School that had a chapel service every morning at 8:10 am. That semester (I believe the fall of 1971), I began arriving at school an hour early every day as I was catching a ride with a neighbor who was a nurse. She had to be at work very early, so she would drop me off at school (with her own children) about 7:30. I decided to go into the chapel and sit there and pray. I did this every day for about three months. In those conversations, I told God that I wanted to believe that He existed, but I wanted Him to show me that He was real. I was a doubting Thomas.
I don't remember exactly when it happened, but it seems to have been in late winter or early spring of 1972 (the photo above is me in my school uniform about that time). The headmaster, Mr. Walters, got up to officiate at the morning prayer service. As the service started one morning, I heard Mr. Walters read the "Shemah Yisrael" as quoted by Jesus. I had heard it read a thousand times, but that morning IT READ ME. He said in a loud, clear voice, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is One God, and Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (See Matthew 22:37-40).
I am not sure what happened, except that in one split moment, God revealed to me that I pretty much loved only myself. I realized that I didn’t love God at all. I did not love others that much either. I realized that I just loved myself. I was filled with something between dismay and conviction, and I asked God to forgive me for this and change me. I began to weep, so I got up, left from the front where I had been sitting with my classmates, and made my way into a hallway to regain my composure. I felt God was real and He was speaking to me. I asked for forgiveness and asked Him to change my life. I have never been the same since that day. This account shows us that we, too, sometimes have doubts. With God’s help, we can overcome those, and when we do, we are blessed. You and I can be among those who have not seen, and yet we believe. Bring your doubts to God. He is waiting. He is listening. Believe, and you will be blessed!