The other day I was reading in Matthew and I was struck by
the account of how the various religious leaders had all joined together to
brainstorm how they were going to cause Jesus to stumble in some way by the
questions they were so diligently formulating and preparing. If you think about
it, this is in itself pretty funny because these so called religious gurus were
going to actually attempt to match wits with the Son of God, who in actuality,
is the one who gave them the very intellect they were so arrogantly going to
use against him
This particular account is found in Matthew in chapter 22:15-46.
The beginning of this story in vs.15 says that the “Pharisees went and took
counsel how they might entangle him.” The first group to be sent to Jesus was
the Herodians who were a particular sect of Jews that embraced the entire
subjection to the Roman’s rule over them. They were loyal to Herod and made it
their business to persuade and coerce people to pay their taxes to the Rome. It
only seems natural then that they would approach Jesus with a question that was
most dear to their own heart concerning the payment of taxes to the
Romans. They carefully worded their
question which asked, “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
Jesus, of course saw right through them asked, “Why are you
tempting me, ye hypocrites?” The text says in vs.17 “But Jesus perceived their
wickedness…”, so they were exposed immediately as were their motives. In verses 18-19 Jesus tells him to bring him
a penny and to read the inscription stamped on it and to verify whose image was
shown. The Herodians responded that Caesar’s image was on the coin whereby
Jesus responds by telling them to “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s;
and unto God the things that are God’s.”
I love verse 22 when it says “When they heard these words they marveled
and left him, and went their way.” I think that it is pretty safe to assume
that “With their tails between their legs “would have been an accurate
rendition.
“Substituting for the Herodians are the Sadducees,” might
have been the announcers call for this home town game. The Sadducees were a smaller sect of religious
leaders and scholars who believed that there was no resurrection. Wanting to take full advantage of their
knowledge, they chose the subject of the resurrection. Their question centered on a bizarre
hypothetical situation dealing with the obligation of brother to father
children for a brother in his family who had died without having children. The
Sadducees wanted to know whose wife she would be in the resurrection after
having survived the marrying and dying of seven brothers. Now, keep in mind that
this is a Jewish sect that does not believe in the resurrection, so you can see
how hard they are trying to find something that to snare Jesus with.
Jesus answers them in verse 29-32 telling them that they did
not know the scriptures and that God was not the God of the dead, but the living,
and that in heaven people don’t marry or are given in marriage, but are as the
angels of God in heaven. Verse 33 is
probably where the coach would call a time out because it reads “And when the
multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.” The religious leaders were in the last few
minutes of the game and had to come up with a good strategy if they were to be
victorious. I would have loved to have heard
that strategy session as I am sure that there was much desperation in their voices.
Well now the Pharisees send in their star player, who was a
lawyer. I think it is interesting that
Matthew includes this little piece of information. You also have to think that
this Matlock or Perry Mason type of character held high hopes for the Pharisees
since the Sadducees had been silenced. Guess what type of question the lawyer
asked? A question dealing with the law is exactly where he focused his question
for Jesus. Verse 36 states that the
lawyer asked, “Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? “ Jesus answered, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all they soul, and with all thy mind. This is
the first and greatest commandment (verse 38) and the second is like unto
it. Thou shalt love they neighbor as
thyself. Verse 40 continues, " On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets.”
In the closing seconds of the game, Jesus asked them a
question(vs.42), “What think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto him, “The son
of David.” Verse 43 Jesus says “How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying , (vs.44) The Lord said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies they footstool?” Verse 45 Jesus continues, “If David then call him Lord, how is he
his son?” Game over! In tennis the
announcer would say “Game, set, and match to Jesus!” Why? Verse 46 holds the answer. The verse reads, “And
no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. I say that is pretty emphatic and represents a humiliating
defeat for the religious leaders.
