Resisting the Kingdom The days were drawing very close for the Lord to be glorified on the cross, declaring his inward heavenly kingdom. The adversary was resisting ferociously, concentrating every effort to work against the kingdom. 1. The Apologizing Guests 1 – 14 2. Asking Him about the Taxes 15 – 22 3. Asking Him about the Resurrection 23 – 33 4. Asking Him about the Greatest Commandment 34 – 40 5. The Lord Asking them about Himself 41 – 46 + + + 1. The Apologizing Guests: The Lord Jesus offers us the kingdom of heaven as a wedding a king makes for his son. Despite this the wedding was unwelcomed by the guests who did not wish to attend it (Matt 22:3). They were not invited to come and share as if they were strangers, or onlooker, or merely as friends; but they were invited as bride will unite on an eternal level with the groom, the Son. It is an invitation to enter the constant wedding, of no intermittence. But the soul, due to its inner misery, it rejects the wedding, so as to live in depression springing out of no outward circumstances, but out of shut and enclosed heart, that does not wish to be opened to the Lord, the Giver of peace and joy. This parable as presented to us by the Lord Jesus applies to the Jews, particularly the chiefs who have rejected the Messiah’s heavenly kingdom. This applies in some way or other to every soul that rejects the real kingdom inside it. The Royal Wedding: The evangelist says, (Matt 22:1-3) “And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come.’” What is this heavenly kingdom other than the church, which is reality, is a permanent wedding? The father has made it for his son to be blessed with, and she likewise would be blessed with his coming in her midst. The church can lean on his chest, and receive from him the mysteries of his father, and be blessed with his divine capabilities, until she rises with him, and in him to the father’s embrace, and share in his glories. https://coptic-treasures.com/ This is the wedding eagerly desired by the fathers and the prophets to be blessed with. They had seen it from a far through the symbols and the prophecies, until the Saint Virgin Mary bent her head in obedience and submission to God, before the angel Gabriel. She said, (Luke 1:38) “Let it be to me according to your word.” She accepted the wedding inside her. Father Gregory the great says, “We can say clearly and confidently that the Father made for his Son the King the wedding by means of the mystery of incarnation. This is when the sanctified church bonded to him, and the Virgin’s womb was the place to be for the wedding. This is why the psalmist says, (Ps. 18:6) “that his shade was the sun, as the groom gets out of his house. He is like the groom coming out, because God the incarnate is coming out of the Virgin’s womb, the undefiled, so as to unite with the church.”” Indeed, the Holy Father sent his Spirit to the Virgin’s womb to fulfill the divine incarnation by the coming of God the Word in her. He has offered to humanity the real Groom, the aim of all the people, he who was rejected by the Jews. He wishes to make of every believer a heavenly kingdom by the Groom’s dwelling inside each one. He would make a spiritual wedding, and a heavenly celebration in him that could never be taken away by the world! The Lord has started his service by going to the wedding at Canaan of Galilee to sanctify it. He was proclaiming his mission began by his coming into us, to make our inward wedding, coming forth as the eternal Groom. He alone, is able to unite with us, and sanctify us, and uncover to us his immeasurable divine mysteries. For real, his invitation to us is actually to receive him as an eternal Groom who satisfies our souls. Sending the Servants: It is not possible for any groom to win the bride’s heart unless she is willing. Even if he is able to, he will not rest unless her love to him does not spring from her heart out of her own self will. Likewise, the Lord does not wish to usurp the hearts of his people unless it is out of their own self-will. He finds it enough to repeat the invitation, and declare his profound practical love towards them by offering them his everlasting promises. He leaves them the full freedom either to accept or reject him. The Lord says that he sent his servants, but they rejected. Once again he sent other servants (Matt 22:4) so they took them, cursed them and killed them (Matt 22:6). Regarding the Jews, the first servants were the forefathers such as Abraham Isaac and Jacob. These have obtained the promise, and have set the features of the royal road, for the Lord said, (John 8:56) “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.” But the Jews did not heed them, and did not follow in their way, for the Lord scourges them (John 8:39) “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.” Instead of rejoicing as their father did at the day of his coming, they rejected and resisted his divine work. As for the other servants, these were the prophets who very clearly, drew through the prophecies all that concerned the Messiah the king, in full detail. But the killers of the prophets (Matt 23:27) there rejected accepting the prophecies in actuality. Just as their fathers have killed the prophets, they two wish to kill them who prophesied of him. https://coptic-treasures.com/ St. Hillary, bishop of Poitier thinks the first servants were the apostles who came to declare the Jews the wedding about which their prophets spoke of. But they rejected it, and his disciples followed them offering the very same invitation. What the Lord did with the Jews, he does with us all. He does not get tired of sending servants to call us to this wedding in all different ways, so we accept him work in us. He calls us by means of servants, his gospel, and the surrounding events, as well as he talks to us by his Spirit that is in us. He is standing at the door, knocking, waiting for us to let him in to our hearts, as if it were his own paradise, and then we are blessed in being with him. The Invitation: It has always been and still is, that his call to us in by means of his servants (Matt 22:4) “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.” It is a divine invitation ‘Come to the wedding.’ It implies power and authority, which could entice the heart to the groom to unite with him, and be one with him, but yet with no obligation or enforcement. The groom paid the price of the invitation, by saying, ‘I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and father cattle are killed, and all the things are ready.’ The cost for the invitation is his own life, which he shed for reconciling us to his Father, the host to invite. He offers us his sanctified body and blood, spiritual food and drink, a feast for the new kingdom. It has all been prepared, waiting for us to enter the sanctified banquet, which in its essence is to rise up to the heavenly life. He has sent us his Holy Spirit in his church. His work is to release every soul from one glory to the other so as to go in with it to the divine temple. The soul will then share the angels in their liturgies and their praises, and it opens its mouth to accept stops. In this way the Holy Trinity is busy with this wedding; for the Father is the One to invite, and the Son is the Groom who pays the cost of the wedding, and the Holy Spirit is he who words in us to prepare us for the wedding. What is this banquet that has been prepared other than the fulfillment of offering the Lord Jesus’ work of salvation through the cross. He is a sacrifice of joy and contentment to the father, and satisfaction to the human soul. This is why he says, “My oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.” The table has been prepared, satisfying to God and people. The scholar Oreganus thinks this divine table of God, is the Work of God. The oxen that were slaughtered are only the wonderful blessings of God prepared for us as spiritual food. The ‘fatted cattle’ are his sweet words that are so delicious. It is as if by the coming of the incarnate word, and his rising on the cross, he took us in to the mystery of the word so as to discover its greatness and its richness. St. Hillary, Bishop of Portier, sees the oxen as referring to the glorified martyrs who have witnessed to the Lord, and have offered their lives as chosen prime sacrifice. The ‘fatted cattle’ refer to the spirituals who are nourished by the heavenly bread, so as to https://coptic-treasures.com/ soar up as birds. Then they offer to others, so as to satisfy then, the richness which they have eaten from. It is as if when we are blessed with the kingdom of heaven through our real partnership to the holy church, we then enter the banquet that will give us satisfaction. This is it for which the martyrs have offered their lives, as a price for their testimony, and for the spiritual people for their rich struggle, as a price for their love for him who redeemed them. Indeed, the blood of the martyrs, and the struggle of the spiritual ones, these are not lost, they rather remain as a deposits on which the generations survive. This will not end, but that they add to it new deposits through their martyrdom and lawful struggle. For this reason the church charts at the end of the theotokis the words, ‘the martyrs come, carrying their tortures, and the righteous come carrying their virtues, and the Son of God come is his glory and in his father’s glory.’ Those who accepted the Invitation and those who rejected it: This celebration, as revealed to us by the divine inspiration in the book of Proverbs, is presented not to the wise ones who rely on their understanding, but rather to those in the streets and in the alleys, who are hungry for the divine wisdom and are thirsty for it. To such people is the banquet offered; they therefore eat of the sanctified sacrifice and are blessed with the eternal joyful wine. It is then that wisdom builds its house in them; and they themselves become the house of wisdom. This is where the Lord Jesus dwells, and wisdom itself, in them. In the book of Proverbs it is written (Prov 9:1-6) “Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her sever pillars. She has slaughtered her meat, she has mixed her wine, she has also furnished her table. She has sent out her maidens, she cries out from the highest places of the city, ‘Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.’ As for him who lacks understanding she says to him, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding.’” It is an invitation to the those thirsty for wisdom. He who thinks within himself he is in a state of satisfaction, will be deprived of it. It is an invitation to the repentant sinners, with which they are blessed, more than they who think within themselves they are righteous. The banquet was held for the prodigal son, as the loving father requested (Luke 15:22-24) “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be marry; for this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.” But as for the elder son, even through he did not commit what his brother had done, yet he stood outside sadly, because of the banquet held, and the merriment that filled his father’s house. In the parable that the Lord spoke, the guests are shown as people disregarding the banquet, such as the elder son mentioned. He says, (Matt 22:5,6) “But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.” They are actually the elder son, for they are the Jewish people who were ahead of the Gentiles in knowing God. They did not make evil as the younger son, that is, the Gentiles. But they did not enjoy the banquet offered to the younger son. They took it ‘lightly’, relying on being the offspring of Abraham, and their obtaining the law, the promises, and being blessed with https://coptic-treasures.com/ the prophecies. On e went to his field, and the other to his business. The people returned to their field, that is, being preoccupied with worldly affairs. The priest also returned to the temple, practicing ‘trading with religion’ instead of the spiritual worshiping. In this way they left Christ, Groom and his heavenly banquet, to get preoccupied with earthly issues. These are miserable people who think lightly of the banquet. One gets deprived because of his field, or his ego that weighs him down. He is tied to his field which he thinks will last forever. He is connected to the earth, and can not raise above it, to the heavens. The ego ties hi down to his surroundings, and he can not free himself to rise above it, and let his heart widen above its limitation. Another is deprived from the banquet because of his commerce, and worshiping is changed to buying and selling for the ‘ego’ sake, just as in the temple in the days of the Lord Jesus. His heart will be focused on the human deeds for the account of worldly gain, and temporary praise instead of eternal glory, and the constant divine wedding. As for the third, he is deprived of the wedding because of his love of evil. He meets the messenger servants sent to him to invite him to the banquet by crying, insulting and even killing them. It was as if they were coming to harm him. The evil heart is suchlike, through the dark vision he sees even the invitation to the wedding, as an evil thing, and he faces it wickedly. What an amazing thing! When God invites the people the eternal wedding, they grumble and refuse to come. What is worse is that they curse his servants by scourging them and killing them. And when they are asked to weep in repentance, they rejoice and are thrilled according to the whims of their wicked hearts. Isaiah the prophet says, (Is 22:12,13) “And in that day the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth. But instead, joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die!’” This is why the Lord God says, (Matt 11:16,17) “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their companions, and saying ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not danced, we mourned to you, and you did not lament!’” He invited them to the wedding, but they refused to come, and he asks them to lament for their sins but they refuse. This is why the Lord proclaims his wrath against those people who reject the invitation, and said about them they were worse than the Gentiles, for he says, (Matt 22:7-9) “But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned u their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go to the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’” The king got wrathful for those who resisted the kingdom, who were supposed to be happy with the invitation, and to testify of it. But they rejected it, and even persecuted those who came to invite them. They obligated the Messiah the king to reject them, and hence open the wedding doors to the Gentiles. There are similar to the Queen of the South who heard of king Solomon for the glory of the Lord (1 Kings 10:1) and she hastened to hi to hear his wisdom. The inspiration says, (1 Kings 10:2,3) “She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore splices, very much gold, and https://coptic-treasures.com/ precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her.” The Gentile came to Jerusalem that killed the prophets, and she rose with her heart towards the city of the great king, towards heaven itself. She came in a very great procession, under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, so as to meet the real Solomon, the giver of wisdom, and the revealer of the hearts, where nothing could be hidden from him. She came to represent the Gentiles church, that approached with the camels loaded with good stuff, and very much gold, and precious stones. What are these spices other than the feelings of love which were previously absolutely such up in passions. But now it has become laden with the sweet fragrance of Christ. The gold which was used I the making of idols and atheist gods, has become a symbol of the new heavenly life, and the accepting of Chris’s kingdom in us. He precious stones which were used ornament the idol temples, and the atheist priests’ clothes have now become a symbol for Christ himself the ‘Priceless Pearl’ (Matt 13:46) and for the doors of the higher Jerusalem and its foundation (21:19,21). The Gentiles used to lead a life of luxury, full of defilement. Wealth was a barrier to them for knowing God, Justas the camel that cannot pas through a needle’s eye (Matt 19:24). But once they accepted the gospel message, the camel was able to go through the narrow gate, which is the needle’s eye, so as to present the Gentiles’ emotions and their wealth with all their gold and precious stones to serve the new wedding. The Gentiles church saw the real Solomon, the source of wisdom, and the source of wisdom, and the house he built (1 king 10:4) that is, the church as a royal house for God. They also saw the food at his table and his servants’ assembly (1 king 10:5) so as to sit and eat of the prepared table: the oxen and the fatted cattle. The church eats of the sacrifice for the mystery of its life and its people. The church has entered into the wedding mysteries (1 kin g 10:5) “There was no more spirit in her.” Such was the opening of the gate to the Gentiles, and the call has become to all humanity, for the Lords says, (Matt 22:9) “Go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.” The scholar Oreganus speaks of those servants sent by the Lord to the highways, as the apostles or the angels. These were entrusted to the calling of the Gentiles, for the wedding in truth is prepared. The roads refer to the world, and the highways refer, as St. Hillary, bishops of Poitier says, to the call for the forgiveness of all they past sins in which humanity has fallen. It is an invitation to everyone, and a forgiveness of all the past. The Wedding Robe: The door of salvation has become wide open so all would go I to the banquet. But they have to be clothed in the wedding robe, for the Lord says, (Matt 22:11-14) “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man to him; friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” https://coptic-treasures.com/ Indeed, the invitation is for all, for God (1 Tim 2:4) “Desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” But not everyone accepts the grace of God that sanctifies him, actually, they are few who receive it and respond to it. It is then that they receive the garment of ‘the sanctified life’, appropriate for the divine wedding. Zephaniah the prophet says, (Zeph 1:7,8) “for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has invited his guests. And it shall be in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king’s children, and all su8ch as are clothed with foreign apparel.” The invitation has actually been addressed to the Gentiles who were in the highways, and the have become rulers and the kings children, but yet, because they did hot have the sanctified garment in the Lord, they were cast out. As St. John Chrysostom says, “They will be as those people who are concerned about their outer garment, all embroidered in gold, but yet their inward soul is dressed in rags. Or, he is like someone who lives in a grand castle decorated with gold curtains, whereas he remains naked in rags.” The wedding garment for him is the inward sanctified life manifested through the practical actions. Actually, those ones who had rejected the invitation. For, the others have thought lightly of the invitation host, and hence have rejected it. But the former ones have scourged him by entering into the banquet in a defiled life, and with defiled underwear, unfit and inappropriate for the honor of the banquet owner. Some think the wedding garment is only the new man we are blessed with in the baptism water, in the image of his Creator. The believer is committed to preserve it and keep it growing by means of God’s Holy Spirit in a life of continuous practical repentance and lawful spiritual struggle. St. Hillary, bishop of Poitier says, “The wedding garment is the grace of the Holy Spirit, and the brightness that shines the heavenly state, which he accepts by the good confession of the faith, and so, the believer becomes with no defilement or drawback in the assembly of the heavenly kingdom.” The wedding garment is just like the new life which has become ours, as the gift of the Holy Spirit that we accept in real faith, through the baptism water, and in being blessed with the new man. But to everyone who is baptized keeps the wedding garment on….he is obliged through his faith to behave according to the gospel commandment by means of the Holy Spirit who dwells in him. For this reason St. Jerome says, “The wedding garment is the Lord’s commandments, and the deeds that fulfill the law and the gospel, and these become the garments of the new man. If anyone is found in the judgment day, having the name of a ‘Christian’ and yet he has not this garment on, he is condemned.” St. Augustine defines the garment in one commandment the Christian is to conform to, which is that of ‘love’. Indeed, all those entering the church, which is the kingdom of heaven, obtain the baptism, and they also may fast and pray. But the quality of real love is the bright garment, without which, no one will be blessed with the banquet. The saint specifies in particular the love of enemies, for this is the real proof that uncovers our love to God and the close ones. The Lord has declared his love to enemies when on the cross, and asked for forgiveness to them. The martyr St. Stephen had the same spirit when he was being stoned, and declared he was wearing the eternal wedding garment. In loving the enemies, all the commandments are fulfilled and the new man is declared, that which we obtained in the baptism water. The power of the Holy Spirit https://coptic-treasures.com/ working in us, is then manifested. In other words, what St. Augustine says, only completes what the other fathers have said. What follows are Rome brief excerpts from St. Augustine’s words concerning this subject: + The wedding garment, is it the baptism? No doubt, without the baptism no one could go in to God. But, not everyone who obtains the baptism, comes to him. Therefore we cannot regard baptism as the wedding garment. Here is the wedding garment…(1 Tim1:5) “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.” This is the wedding garment, but it is not just any kind of love. + The wedding garment is worn in honor of the wedding, that is, to honor the bride and the bridegroom. Therefore, let us honor the groom and the bridegroom, and be a son to then. + Have the faith that works in love, for this is the wedding garment. You who love Christ, love one another, love your friends and your enemies, let not this be a burden on you. + To love your wife and children is to enough for a wedding garment. Believe in God! Love God first, and let your love to him extend farther, by loving everyone who belongs to him. Do you have an enemy? Win him in love to God. Do you have a wife a child, a servant? Bring them to God. Is there a stranger? Win him over to God, bring your enemy, he will then be no more an enemy to you. Let the love in us be absolute. Let it be refreshed and so be perfect. In this way we can wear the wedding garment. St. Augustine. + In truth, love is called to be the wedding garment. Our Creator has been clothed in it when he comes to his wedding with the church. By means of God’s love alone the only begotten son has unified the chosen souls of mankind together with him. This is why St. John says, (John 3:16) “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” Therefore he who comes to the wedding banquet without having on the wedding garment, is like him who has faith yet no love. Father Gregory the great. St. John Chrysostom speaks of love saying it is the royal robe which a person wears, and be becomes as a queen going to the throne to meet the heavenly king, and none of the courtiers could stop her way. https://coptic-treasures.com/ Father Gregory the great thinks this kingly robe for the wedding is woven between two panels, which are the love of God and the love of a neigbour. Love is in the nature of anyone’s soul; you cannot separate God’s love from the love to a neighbour, or vice versa. We have spoken of this is our study of the book of Zechariah chapter 2. The Position of those not wearing the garment: The Lord says, (Matt 22:1,2) “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless.” The time is over when it was possible to weave the wedding gown. This is why those who have no gown are silent, for they have no excuse, neither have they any capability for work. + At this moment there is no opportunity to come forward, or apologize, this is whey all the angels and the world itself witness to his sins. St. Jerome. + He who commits iniquity, and is not reborn, neither has he worn the Lord Jesus Christ, this person is unexcused; this is why it is said ‘He was speechless.’ The Scholar Oreganus. The outer Darkness: (Matt 22:13) “Then the king said to the servants’ bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The man who rejected the love in putting on the wedding garment, and obtain the release from sin, entangling himself with his sins for his lack of love, this man is handed over by Christ the king, to the servants so they bind him. He will then be deprived of the freedom of the spirit and also the freedom of the body. He cannot move his feet or his hands, for he does to know where to go, or what to do. He has chosen to stay in the inward darkness, for, his inward vision has been dimmed in enjoying the new life, and in knowing the mysteries of his Christ. For this reason he also obtains the outward darkness. This is only an extension teeth, this refers to, as St. Jerome says, to the rising of the body to share with the soul the bitterness of outer darkness. Many are Called but few are Chosen: When the Lord Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven, he differentiated between two banquets; the first is the wedding banquet which we are speaking of here. This represents the current church that carries the Groom inside her, and it is where the believers assemble as members in Christ’s body. They are dressed in wedding garments, though some sneak in amongst them not dressed in such garments. As for the other banquet (Matt 8:11), it is an extension to the current banquet, where you find no one except those dressed in wedding garments. https://coptic-treasures.com/ The Lord describes the wedding feast we live in now, and he says that many are called but few are chosen. The father comment on these divine words as follows: + Many are those who come to the wedding, but few are those who sit at the table. The Scholar Oreganus. + The good ones are many, but when compared to the evil ones we find them only a few. The wheat seeds are many, but when compared to the chaff, they are counted only a few St. Augustine. Father Gregory the Great looks upon the church and sees the seeds have disappeared amidst the chaff. Many evil ones and sinners have appeared, and only a few of the righteous ones. This is why he compares it to Noah’s ask, when it is wide at the bottom, where the beasts and reptiles are. As for man and birds, they are in the narrow upper place. Those that are of the body fill the ark at the bottom, but as for the spirituals, these are only a few and are at the top. Indeed, the Lord looks upon the church to find the righteous ones as the lily that is clothed in the wedding garment says, (Job 30:29) “I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.” This is the church; it contains saints, but the wicked ones are like jackals, and the careless ones are like ostriches sneaking in it. 2. Questioning Him about the Taxes: The Lord has uncovered the Jewish religious leaders by his parables for the sake of their repentance. Instead of correcting themselves, and stopping their stubbornness, they actually increased in their cruelty. They joined themselves together so as to resist him in every way. (Matt 22:16,17) “Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do you care about anyone, for you do not regard the person of men. Tell us therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’” We may expect the Herodians to pose this question; for they were the ones to collect taxes. They would give part of it to Caesar, and take the rest for their personal account. But what is surprising is that the ones to pose the question were the Pharisees who were asking for their freedom from the Roman occupancy. They thought these taxes were a sign of slavery and humiliation. They looked upon the Herodieans as traitors against their nation and their law. But for the sake of getting rid of Christ, and for the resistance of his deeds, they worked with the Herodians, disregarding their concept towards them which they were used to for a long time. https://coptic-treasures.com/ But Jesus knew their wiles, and said, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? So they brought him a denary. And he said to them, ‘Whose image and inscription is this?’ ‘They said to him, ‘Caesar’s’.’ And he said to them, ‘render therefore to Caesar the, things that are Caesar’s, and to God the thing that are God’s.’ When they heard these words, they marveled, and left him and went their way.” This incident was an opportunity for the Lord to declare a spiritual principle for the disciples to conform to. This was to ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s! What is surprising is that he gave to Caesar his right before giving God his rights. The Christian attitude of obedience to Caesar or to the rulers, and giving the nation’s rights such as taxes and other obligations whether they be social or financial, this is a true testimony for the account of God himself. St. Paul says, (Rom 13:1-7) “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good words, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same…Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due taxes to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”’ St. Ambrosios says, “You must yield to him as to the Lord, and the sign of this yielding is to pay the taxes. The apostle stresses that we pay not only the money but also the honor an dfear.” Therefore, there is no dually her between giving to Caesar his right, and giving God his rights. They both sprint from the one heart that believes in testifying of God, through the honest obligation towards others and towards God, through the honest obligation towards others and towards God. In this principle, moreover, there is the church’s reverence to Caesar. The church gives him his dues in providing for the affairs, and it does not interfere in polities, but is rather committed to the spiritual work. For, the church is not a state within a state, and neither is it isolated from Caesar, it rather loved and honors him, and gives him his dues. In this way the church pays his dues, but to at the expense of God’s dues, and the testimony of God. Some fathers see in this divine statement a symbolic meaning; if Caesar represents the body, then God represents the soul. As the scholar Oreganus says, “Let us give the body some of the necessities such as Caesar’s taxes. But as for the matters that concern the nature of our souls, and that lead us to righteousness, these we have to give to God.” St. Hillary, bishop of Poitier says, “Let us give God what is God’s, that is, to present to him the body, the soul and the will power. Caesar’s currency is of gold, and on it his image is sealed, also God’s currency has his image on it. Le us give the money to Caesar, and keep the conscience that is unblemished to God.” https://coptic-treasures.com/ We are so much in need of opening our hearts by the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus, and he would become absolutely his. At this point we shall not be in need of any effort or offering our life to him, giving to Christ what is Christ’s. If all the senses get sanctified, and its doors are opened to accept what belongs to Christ, then it gives to Christ all of our life. But if the doors of the senses are opened to the pleasures and passions of the world, then we shall not have what is Christ’s to offer to him. We shall rather at this point offer to the world what is the world’s. Concerning this ST. Hillary says, “If Caesar has nothing in us that is his, then we are not obliged to render him anything. But if we rely on him, and enjoy the privileges of his rule, then we have to render his money back.” I wish therefore we would not be indebted to anyone with anything, not to Satan or to sin, so we are not obliged to render it doubled. But rather let us be indebted to God for all his free gift and his love, and hence we offer our life and our love. In another way of expression, St. Augustine says, “Just as Caesar asks for his image on the currency, likewise God asks for his image in us.” This means that he who finds his image in us, possesses us and enslaves us. If God sees his image in us, it becomes his right to possess us as much as we possess him. Likewise, if Satan sees his image in us, we cannot escape from him, but he rather has the right to possess us and enslave us. If the world, too, sees its image in us, then it enslaves us, and humiliates us under its feet. We can interpret this denarii’s the Lord held, having the seal of Caesar and his writing, is only the human soul that had God’s image and likeness. Even after its downfall, the Holy Spirit, once more, seal it all a new so it carries the kings image and documented on it his word. Let us be committed to presenting to the heavenly king his spiritual currency, carrying his image and his writing. Just as the currency, if neglected for a long time, needs polishing for the picture and the handwriting to appear all a new, likewise by constant repentance the Creator’s image appears in our life all transfigured and bright. The scholar Oreganus offers us a symbolic interpretation, other than the previous one for the Lord’s words, saying, “Many carries two pictures; the first was handed to him by God in the creation, as the book of Genesis says, (Gen 1:27) “In the image of God he created him.” The other picture is that of the man of dust (1 Cor 15:49) “Which he had taken because of his disobedience and sin, when cast out of paradise and he was enticed by (John 12:31) “The ruler of this world.” Moreover, the currency or the denarii’s has the image of the world’s authority. This is how the deeds of the ruler of darkness are fulfilled (Eph 6:12) and they carry his image. This is why Jesus commands to return this image and to detach it from us, so we receive the original image in which we were created in the likeness of God. In this way were render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. In the very same meaning St. Paul says, (1 Cor 15:49) “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. So, the words, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s https://coptic-treasures.com/ only mean! Leave the image of dust! Throw away the earthly image so as to be blessed with the image of the heavenly Man. At this pint you are rendering to God the things that are God’s.’””” 3. A Question Concerning the Resurrection: As the Lord was speaking of the heavenly kingdom as an eternal kingdom, one of the Sadducees came forward who was ruled by the materialistic way of thinking, particularly in the interpretation of the Holy Book, all done in a literal way. They were unable to accept the concept of the physical return of the body after its decomposition. They therefore denied the resurrection, and were shocked by Jesus’ words. They then asked him, (Matt 22:24-28) “Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after her lad married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her.” The scholar Oreganus says, “The Sadducees made the mistake of not understanding the words of the prophets, such as reading in Isaiah (Is. 65:23) “They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble, for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.” Also in the chapter of blessings in (Deuteronomy 7:13) “He will also bless the fruit of your womb.” They would then believe that this is fulfilled at the resurrection, without their understanding that he is prophesying of the spiritual blessing. Paul ‘the chosen vessel’ (Acts 9:15) is well aware of the blessings mentioned in the old law, does not mean the physical aspect, but he interprets it in a spiritual sense. He tells the Ephesians (Eph 1:3) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” The Sadducees fall into the same error when they read the Psalms in literacy (Psalm 128:3-5) “Your wife shall be life a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.” Whereas, those who understand the phrase about the spiritual Jerusalem, are aware that (Gal 4:26) “The Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.” They believe that in it is fulfilled these blessings mentioned in the psalm.” They told the Lord Jesus the above mentioned story, thinking it is a puzzle that cannot be solved. But the Lord, as usual, uses even the resistance as an opportunity to present the correct concepts of faith. The Lord seized this opportunity to tell us of the assured heavenly life concept, confirming it is not based on earthly concepts. The members are not linked together in physical ties, for he says, (Matt 22:29-32) “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by https://coptic-treasures.com/ God, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” The Lord answered their question from two aspects from the logical aspect the eternal life is a sublime one, on the level of angels, and from the writing aspect, God is the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is the God not of the dead but of the living. In the eternal life we live an angelic life where there is no marriage. At this point St. John Chrysostom draws our attention “It is not because they are unmarried that they are angels, but rather because they are angels that they do not marry.” This is why our aim even concerning the monks, is to be blessed with the angelic life, and not in essence no marriage. St. Cyril the great says the Sadducees in their wickedness dream near the Lord Jesus the Saviour of all, who is the Resurrection and the life (John 11). They sought to deny the resurrection so as to make the world lose all hope. It was possible for the Lord Jesus to confirm to them that the resurrection is from the prophets’ documents (Hos 13:14, Is. 36:19, Ps.: 104:29) but he did not want to wade into wordy discussions, but he rather offered them a new taste of the resurrection. He kindled the believers’ hearts towards it so as to be blessed with the exalted life of the angels. We might ask ‘In heaven, do we disregard the physical relations?’ St. Augustine answers, “In the kingdom of heaven there are no earthly relations of that sort (Gal 3:28) “”There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” (Col 3:11) “But Christ is all and in all”. If we ask a good Christian who has a wife, and he may have children from her, if he wishes to have a physical relation with her in the kingdom of heaven. He is concerned about this life in which the corrupt will be clothed with the incorruptible, and the dead with the undeadly. If I ask him one more time if he wishes to have his wife with him there after the resurrection, so she would have this angelic change that the Lord has promised his saints to have. He will absolutely affirm this positively, as much as he rejected in the first situation. This applies likewise to fatherhood, motherhood, and all other physical relations. There, you do not tell anyone ‘my father’. We do not tell anyone ‘my mother’ but we all speak of the heavenly Jerusalem as ‘Our Mother’. We do not tell anyone ‘my brother’, but each one calls the other ‘Our brother’. Indeed, there will be a marriage on our part, for we shall come forth as one wife to him who has saved us from the filth of this world by the shedding of his blood” St. Jerome answers, saying, “When it is said they do not marry nor do they get married, it is apparent there is not sex difference any more. In truth, they will be glorified and will be blessed with the angelic exaltation, but they will still be human; for St. Paul the apostle will still be St. Paul, and St. Mary will still be St. Mary.” Once again, in his words against the followers of Jovnianos he says, “If the promise for us was to be like https://coptic-treasures.com/ angels, and there is no two sexes among the angels, then we will have no sex differentiation as the angels. At any rate, when we are raised from the dead, we carry the kind of sex we have, but we do not practice the sex function.” St. Cyril the great says, “When every physical passion is taken away, and there is no place for any physical pleasure, then they are like angels. They present spiritual service, unmaterialistic, and they become as sanctified souls. At the same time they are counted worthy to the glory that appertains only to that of the angels.” If we reflect on the story said by the Sadducees, it could speak of the entire church history. The woman about whom they spoke, is no other than the church that got bonded to her eternal Groom who fills her heart. But through the actuality of time, this is referred to by the seven men, because time is referred to by number 7, for the days of the week are seven, which is linked to the deeds of the law, as a man to it. The Jews therefore thought they were righteous, yet they had to accept the eternal Groom, if they die of their personal righteousness or the human personal earthly deeds. This church when it rises to her eternal Groom it will carry the angelic nature, and death can not overcome it, and hence it will need no physical marriages at the end of ages. We in the world, need marriages because of the physical death. But when we become as angels, sin cannot reach us, and we do not fall under death, and therefore we need no marriages to beget other generations instead of the present one. 4. Asking Him About the Greatest Commandment.: (Matt 22:34-40) “But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer asked him a question, testing him and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your should, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these tow commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’” The Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees. The scholar Oreganus differentiated between the state of dumbness, and the state of sanctified silence. The Sadducees were struck with dumbness as a sign of their failure. They found not a word to utter against the truth. As for the sanctified silence, this is a state of willful stopping for any speech with the people, so that the soul could speak in private with God. Silence is not a sign of failure and inability; it is rather a release for the soul towards God, talking together sweetly. + The brightness of truth silences perpetually the voice of falsehood which is bitter and harmful. https://coptic-treasures.com/ + The righteous keeps silent; for he knows that for silence there is a time, and for speech there is another (Eccles 3:7) but he does not become dumb. This is particular quality that concerns the Sadducees, and all who teach falsehood, for they become dumb and not silent. Even though they are dumb to the truth, yet they are not silent. This is what the Lord said to the sea, and not to man, to be dumb, for he rebuked it when it was tempestuous The Scholar Oreganus. When the Pharisees heard that he had made the Sadducees dumb, the assembled together. They realized the reverence of the Lord Jesus, and they feared encountering him in singleness, so they came forward as a group. Then a Pharisee of the old law came forth in cunningness testing him in the law itself, asking him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” the Pharisee may have thought the Lord to differentiate between the Mosaic commandments, and in that case he would be scorning the law. Or, they may have heard his sermon on the mount in which he completed the law, and they assumed he would admit the old law to be incomplete, and that he had come to complete it himself. In that case they would find a pretext to accuse him of. But the Lord answered wisely and truthfully, declaring the foremost commandment and the greatest, is to love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. The Second commandment to follow was not any less, but of the same importance, which is to love you neighbour as yourself. In this brief answer the Lord showed us the commandment concept through the Christian outlook: that the commandments are all unified in one, undivided one from the other. If our love to God is boundless and is the greatest of all the commandments, our love to our brothers is not any less in importance. For, we cannot love God, who is invisible, away from our love to our brothers who are visible. By our love to God and to man we make perfect all the commandments and the prophets. This is on one hand, on the other hand the Lord wished to assure us of an important fact, which is that the commandments, it is rather a life of love lived and put into effect by man. + These alone are the ones to accept the greatness and the priority of love in their lives. Not only do they love the Lord, but they attempt within themselves to fulfill this through three conditions that is, with all their heart they inwardly cling to the perfection of this love, its thoughts and deeds. Also with all their souls, they have to be ready to sacrifice themselves for the service of God’s sake. It is he who has created everything, and when it is needed for serving his word, let this sacrifice be made. For God loves all of the soul, when he does not find any part of the souls that is away from the faith; and he find they love him with all their thoughts, and they think or speak of nothing but of godliness alone.” The Scholar Oreganus. + My brother is just like me, made in the image of God, it is appropriate for me to love him as much as I love myself. It is necessary that I care about him as much as of my own flesh and blood. I have to deal with him in love, in gentleness and tenderness, https://coptic-treasures.com/ forgiving him his thoughts as much as I forgive my own thinking, and as much as I desire the forgiveness of others for my own mistakes. Father John of Kroustadt. How do the law and the prophets depend on those two commandments? + He who fulfills all what is written concerning God’s love and the neighbourly love, is worthy of receiving God’s highest gifts. The first of these is the word of wisdom by means of the Holy Spirit, through which comes the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit (1 Cor 12:8), “For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit.” When he is well equipped with all of these gifts, he rejoices in God’s wisdom, and his heart is filled with the love to God. His soul is enlightened with the light of knowledge, and his mind with the Word of God. + He who has love, will not rejoice in injustice, he will rather rejoice constantly with the truth. + He who has love tolerates patiently all kinds of ordeals. He does not have partial faith, but rather full faith in everything. His hope is not partial either, but he rather hopes in everything. There is nothing not tolerated by love. The Scholar Oreganus. 5. The Lord Asks Then About Himself: The thoughts of the Jewish rulers were resisting the kingdom in every possible way. But the Lord put them to shame by uncovering who he is as the Lord to David the king. For, he asked the Pharisees, (Matt 22:42-46) “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is he? They said to him, ‘The Son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How then does David in the Spirit call him ‘Lord’, saying ‘The Lord said to may Lord,’ ‘Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool?’’ If David then calls him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question him anymore.” No one could answer him for he has revealed to them that the Messiah, the Son of David is his Lord, and those who resist him submit to him at his feet. It was as if the Lord was warning them of the resistance, for he came to save and not to condemn. He opens the door to receive them, so they would not be found in the great day of the Lord as resistant enemies. + Christ is the Son of David and his Lord. He is David’s Lord continuously and his song according to time. He is David’s Lord, born of the father. He is also David’s Son, born a son to the virgin May, and conceived through her by the Holy Spirit. Let us hold on strongly to both of them. https://coptic-treasures.com/ If our Lord Jesus Christ had not granted them that he becomes man, then humanity would have perished. St. Augustine. + The Word is with us for he is God. He has taken our image, and did not scorn our lowly humanity so that those under the sky would be saved. St. Cyril the Great.
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