Matthew 22How Jesus outsmarted the Pharisees

Transcript

In Matthew 22, Jesus's enemies were trying to get him killed before it was his time on the cross. In Matthew 22:15, it says, "Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words." But at the end of Jesus's exchange with them, it says, "When they heard it, they marveled and they left him and went away." So, at the beginning of this, Jesus's enemies were trying to trick him into getting him killed.

But by the end of it, they're left in awe of just how clever Jesus's saying really was. So then what did Jesus say? Well, let's look here. And they, being the Pharisees, sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodans, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us then what you think.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax." And they brought him a daenerius. And Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said, "Caesars." Then he said to them, "Therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesars's, and to God the things that are gods."

Now, to understand why Jesus's answer was so clever, you have to understand their plot. In the time of the Romans, the Caesar was seen as the god Jupiter. So, it seemed like a catch 22. No matter how Jesus answered, they were going to try to get him. If he said, "You give money to Caesar," it was a form of pagan worship. You were giving to Jupiter the God, which is heretical among the Jewish people and Christians who know that there's only one true God.

But if you say, "No, don't give taxes to Caesar," then the Romans who were in the audience who would have overheard this would have immediately arrested him. Stating that he was inciting riotist behavior and preaching against what they believe. And here we just see the genius of Jesus on display. He tells them to bring a coin and whose likeness is on it. And he says, "Well, then pay that to that person."

And then he says, "Render to God what is God's?" But there's one key word that helps you unlock what Jesus is doing to these knowledgeable Jewish men. They would have known Genesis. When God says let us make man in our image after our likeness. So the reason Jesus says whose likeness is on the coin is because he's playing on the fact that mankind is made in the image of God.

Therefore Jesus is saying you yourselves who are made in the image of God need to give your entire lives everything that you are to God. So he was able to masterfully answer their question without getting arrested because it was not his time yet to be crucified. And how encouraging it is it to us to know that today we're made in the image of God and we need to render what is to

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