Matthew 22:15-22 Mark 12:13-17 Luke 20:20-26


Matthew 22:15-22
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. 16 And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. 17 “Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites? 19 “Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius. 20 And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.
Mark 12:13-17
13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. 14 They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 “Shall we pay or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.” 16 They brought one. And He said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And they said to Him, “Caesar’s.” 17 And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.
Luke 20:20-26
20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and the authority of the governor. 21 They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. 22 “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 23 But He detected their trickery and said to them, 24 “Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and being amazed at His answer, they became silent.
 The Pharisees were desperate to discredit Jesus and be able to distract from His growing popularity.  They had been repeatedly embarrassed by His teachings and they felt that their authority was being undermined.  Jesus was rocking the boat and they wanted to throw him overboard anyway they could.  So, they tried to outwit Him and find a way to rebuild their own position of prominence.  We will see that they did not fare very well.  If we learn nothing else from this text, it will be worth the study just to remember how foolish it is to try to fool an omnipotent and omniscient God.  As obvious as that statement might seem, there are many times when we find ourselves thinking we can hide from or outwit the Lord.  We would never say that in so many words, but every time we rationalize our sin or look to see if someone is looking before we do something we know to be wrong, we are playing the “Pharisee game.”

A TRAP ABOUT TAXATION: It is interesting that the leaders began this attempt at entrapment with a long list of praise that they obviously didn’t believe.  They said that He was true and that He taught the way of God truthfully.  They also pointed out that He was not motivated by the fear of man and public appearances.  The first two statements were the ones they didn’t believe.  He had taught many things about Himself and God that they didn’t believe were true and they ended up crucifying Him because of it.  The last two they had experienced personally because they were used to being feared by men and Jesus clearly had no hear of them.  This reminder was perhaps a chance to bait Him into giving the answer they were looking for.  It is important to remember to be very careful when enemies praise you.  It is usually a trap.  Their question was about paying taxes to Caesar.  Nobody likes to pay taxes, but Israel hated paying taxes to Rome more than most people hate taxation from their own country.  This appears to be the perfect trap.  No matter how Jesus answers the question, they thought they had him.  If he said “yes” pay tax, He would lose popularity and credibility with the Jews.  If He said “no” they could report him to the Romans as a rebel.  In their minds, they “had Him.”  They had small minds.

A CONFRONTATION ABOUT TRUTH: Jesus was not confused or concerned with the difficult situation this question posed.  He asked for a coin, asked about the image imprinted on the coin and the answer just made perfect sense.  Caesar’s image was imprinted on the coin so he must have the right to receive taxes using this coin.  Jesus had fully answered their question and could have just stopped with that.  He didn’t.  Instead, He goes on to respond to their glowing review of His teachings.  Since they admitted that He was truth and taught the truth about the way of God, He went on to say that they should give to God that which belonged to Him.  In a few sentences, Jesus escaped the trap and then tuned the trap back on them.  Since they admitted He had taught them the truth about the way of God, they were now under the obligation of rendering obedience to that teaching.  Jesus made it clear we are to pay our taxes, but our allegiance of obedience belongs to the Lord.  Caesar’s tax must never become more important to us than God’s truth.  Money can be a huge motivator in our lives because it is easily made into an idol.  God is the only one worthy of our worship.  We must submit to His truth, obey His will and worship Him alone.

APPLICATION: Never be fooled into thinking that we can hide our sinful actions, thoughts or motives from the Lord.  Be very careful when someone who has been an opponent begins to praise and complement us, they are, more than likely, trying to manipulate us into a trap.  Act in a way that is consistent with what we believe.  If we believe God is omnipotent, omniscient, loving and good; it is not consistent for us to fear, worry, hide our sin or doubt.  Pay our taxes, obey and worship God and God alone.

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