A 5-day per week study.

Having been defeated in confrontation and enduring a stinging parable against them, the chief priests, scribes, and elders sent some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to “trap Jesus in His talk.”

These came with flattery, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. You are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God.”  (Choke, choke, gag, gag!)

Then came the question to trap Him between a rock and a hard place.  “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?  Should we pay them, or should we not?”

If Jesus said, “No,” which would please the Pharisees, He might be arrested by the Romans.  If He said, “Yes,” then the people would rise up in protest.   The questioners leaned back in smug pleasure.

‘Bring me a denarius and let me look at it,” Jesus said.

The coin was produced, and Jesus held it up for all to see.

“Whose likeness and inscription is this?” He asked.

“Caesar’s.” They said, not realizing they were falling into the very trap they laid.

Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 

And they marveled at Him!

.

If you want to look further into a Christian’s obligation to the leader of the country where they live, check out:

• Romans 13:1-7. “…be subject to the governing authorities.”  “…pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God…”   “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue… respect… honor…”
• 1 Peter 2:13-17. “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor… or to governors…”   “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”
• Genesis 1:26-27. “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”   (So, as we bear God’s own image, we are to give to HIM what is due Him.)

.

Vss. 18-27.

As the Pharisees and Herodians leave, a group of Sadducees arrives.  (Remember they do NOT believe in life after death – that is why they are Sad, you see.)

These are the wealthiest Jewish leaders and include the High Priest, the chief priests, and almost all of the ruling body, the Sanhedrin.  They have loads of (ill-gotten) money now, so why should they hope for Heaven?

They consider ONLY the Torah – the five books of Moses – to be scripture.

Their long, complex question concerns life after death, specifically the “resurrection,” presumably to Heaven.  They are taking it from one point in the Mosaic Law. (Deuteronomy 25:5-6) 

In these verses, God made a provision for widows to preserve tribal names, families, and inheritances in the Promised Land before Israel even entered Canaan.  In it, a widow without children could marry her dead husband’s brother and have a child, which would bear the name and inherit the property of her former husband, and so carry on his place.  (Actually, Boaz did this for Ruth, in the book of that name. Check it out.)

These priests knew that Jesus highly regarded the scriptures and thought He couldn’t disagree with them on this, and they would defeat his teaching on the resurrection.

.

They began,

“Teacher, Moses wrote that ‘if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife with no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.”   

All is well and good, so far, but they continue.

“There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died, left no offspring.  And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring.  And the third likewise.  And the seven left no offspring. Last of all, the woman also died.”

Okay, this “could” happen, though pretty unlikely.  But the Sadducees’ assumption that followed was the real kicker. THIS would stump Jesus for sure!

“IN THE RESURRECTION, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”

“Heh, heh, heh,” they thought as they leaned back and clasped their golden-ringed hands across their bulging bellies.

But, whoa!  Jesus smacked right back.

“The reason you are wrong is that YOU KNOW NEITHER THE SCRIPTURES NOR THE POWER OF GOD. 

Point one:  “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage in Heaven, but will be like the angels. 

Point two:   “As for the dead being raised, HAVE YOU NOT READ IN THE BOOK OF MOSES (what a dig!), in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to Moses, saying, ‘I AM the God of Abraham, the God of  Isaac, and the God of Jacob?  He is NOT God of the dead, but of the living.  You are quite wrong.”

Whoa!  Talk about a slap in the face.

But they will have their vengeance… After Jesus is arrested, He will be tried in the High Priest’s home and then before the Sanhedrin.

.

One more group will test Jesus with a question in tomorrow’s reading.  You will be surprised at how Jesus responds.