READ ALL OR PARTS OF Matthew 22:15-22,34-46 FROM YOUR BIBLE OR WATCH THE BIBLE STORY VIDEO.

DISCUSSION: Let’s see if you’ve been tricked by these “facts” you might have heard before.

• Camels store water in the hump (NOPE – but they do store fat in there so they can go a long time without food. As for water they have other tricks for retaining that, for instance they can drink up to 30 gallons of water in one sitting.)
• Don’t pick up baby birds because the momma will smell your human hands and abandon her baby (NOPE – birds don’t really have too good of a sense of smell. However, in most cases you should just wait and watch because mama is probably around and baby birds do get out of the nest before they’re ready for flight. So unless the baby is on a road. It’s still best to let the mother do her thing.)
• Napoleon Bonaparte was short (SORTA – you may have heard he was 5’2” if you’ve heard of him at all. But the French inch is actually shorter than  the imperial inch(the inch we use). So he was closer to 5’6” which was an average height of the day.

STORY: The 5 star rating system is all over the place – stores, restaurants, products, mobile apps, and more. It’s not that often you see a perfect 5 star product or service, because well…most of the time someone is always going to find a problem with it, it would have to sorta-kinda be perfect.  Unfortunately, not everyone is going to like something or something will go wrong to result in a drop of star power.

If there was anything or anyone that should receive 5 stars it should be Jesus, but that’s not at all what we have or will see. Jesus did and does make people irritated, jealous, or dismissive of him. Today in our story the Pharisees and Sadducees come together to try to test, trick, and teach Jesus a lesson. They had heard and witnessed so much about this man from Nazareth but were determined to be the ones to put Him in His place. They sought to do so by means of their own worldly wisdom. But all wisdom and truth are derived from Him alone.

While the religious leaders wanted to trick Jesus through flawed earthly insight, they missed the true wisdom that all Scripture speaks to: Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. We know from Proverbs 9:10 that true knowledge and power come from the fear of the Lord, as it is the beginning of wisdom and understanding. How heartbreaking it was that they saw Wisdom with their own eyes yet failed to believe and cling to His words of life!

QUESTION: Is it wrong to ask God questions?

ANSWER: No, it’s not wrong to ask God questions.

QUESTION: So then what was wrong with the religious leaders asking their questions?

ANSWER: Because they weren’t try to understand, or even wrestle or struggle with understanding a mystery about God. They thought they knew better, and that they could trick Jesus. They asked him questions to make him look bad. 

WORK ON MEMORIZING OUR SCRIPTURE VERSE!

Lord Jesus,

You have authority in heaven and on earth! We praise You because You are the Son of God. We look forward to the day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that You are Lord!



AMEN