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Who Said It … Bryan Loritts

Bryan Loritts is lead pastor of Fellowship Memphis—a multicultural church ministering in urban Memphis, Tennessee. He and his wife, Korie, serve together as featured speakers for Family Life—a ministry promoting healthy and godly marriages. Bryan is a contributing author of Great Preaching and the author of A Cross-Shaped Gospel.

What he Said … Jesus' Political Ambitions

When Jesus came claiming that he was the long-awaited Messiah, the Promised One, some Jews were waiting for him to ignite a political revolution that would take direct aim at mighty Rome. When Jesus chose Simon the Zealot to be one of his disciples, their excitement spiked, because the Zealots were revolutionaries—always ready at a moment's notice to rumble.

But they soon found themselves disappointed when Matthew was selected. Matthew was a Jewish tax collector, collecting taxes at unjust rates from his Jewish brothers and sisters and taking part of those proceeds to help fund the very empire that was oppressing his people.

By choosing Matthew, along with going to parties where tax collectors fraternized with one another, the average Jew had to assume that there was no way Jesus could have been the Messiah. After all, if one's going to start a political revolution, he needs to hang out with Simon's crowd, not Matthew's. But Jesus' political ambitions were a lot different from the expectations of his kinsmen.

Key Study Passage: Matthew 22:15-22

Adapted from A Cross-Shaped Gospel (Moody, 2011) by permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holder and/or the publisher. May not be reproduced.

Copyright © 2012 by Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Father, give me a clearer and deepened understanding of what Jesus meant by "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God" (Matt. 22:21).

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