God has buried something deep within the soul of every man and woman. It is simply and profoundly a longing for immortality.
No king but Caesar?
Before we are quick to look down on the Jewish leaders we should stop to think about why this story is important enough to be in the Bible. It is important that it is in there because we are made of the same stuff and will fall into the same traps if left to ourselves.
What offices does Christ fill as our Redeemer?
Jesus is the only one who has demonstrated the ability and the authority to fulfill all three of these offices in combination in one person.
Forgetting what lies behind
The point is that all his religious accomplishment was not able to produce anything of ultimate value. When he came face-to-face with Christ Jesus, he understood that all his achievements totaled up to a pile of rubbish, trash, waste. He is forgetting what lies behind because it is of no value.
