Jesus was most definitely baited. They wanted to find out on what side he was politically, religiously and more. But here I want to talk about the time he was baited by politics.
We actually do know quite a bit about the politics of the time just from the Bible. We know about governors, Emperors and Kings. We know some of the tensions and political issues of the time.
But, and this is important, how often do you see Jesus and the disciples arguing politics? Or teaching on political issues?
Yes, we should be involved in politics, especially when a Bible issued has been deemed “political” (abortion, kids getting hysterectomies at age 8, gender issues, etc…). We MUST speak because we are speaking on behalf of the life of others. That’s the privilege of democracy, but at the same time we should be careful not to fall for the trap of taking sides in all things and using the Bible to do so in the public arena.
For Jesus it was taxes.
Everyone hates them and they have been controversial since their inception. The use of taxes for infrastructure, protections, etc… is good but the misuse of taxes is frustrating. And definitely that was the case during Jesus’ time.
The people were angry at Rome for the heavy taxation. The whole system was corrupt. It was Rome against Jews. And they wanted to know whose side Jesus was on, because whatever side he chose, he would immediately become an enemy of one of either the Jews or Rome. They wanted to know which side he was on. ‘Did you vote for Trump or against him?’ is the modern equivalent.
Also there was more than likely Jew against Jew. Some believed paying taxes was part of our duty and some said there should be rebellion against Rome. So here was the bait:
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, 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. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
Ugh. You see the slimy way they speak to him? “We know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully.” Really? I mean, really? If that’s the case why don’t you follow him? It’s why he is getting ready to call them hypocrites.
Then the question, along with the Herodians who hated Rome, came: ‘should we pay taxes to Caesar or not’?
This wasn’t a question. This was bait. And he saw right through it.
18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.”Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
They baited him but he didn’t fall for it. He superseded the bait and took them to the place of truth. He took the issues to a higher level. Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and God’s the things that are God’s. He kept what was truly important in front of them, using an illustration from the argument they provided. Genius.
I saw a similar example this past week.
As those in the US know Biden made a declaration to pay $10,000 of student loans for those with certain guidelines. I saw Christians saying that this was terrible as it puts debt on others who didn’t ask for it. I saw other Christians saying, using the Lord and Scripture, saying that it was Biblical.
I do not believe this is one of those issues that is of the Bible that we should be whipping out the Bible to prove “our” side. Yes, we have opinions on this. Yes, we can get involved. But when we publicly say the Bible supports me in my decision, whatever side that is, we bring great confusion to those who do not yet know the name of Jesus. We took the bait. And it harms the gospel.
But on the flip side look at this brilliant conversation.
Melissa Dougherty is a YouTuber and as such, she, like Jesus, used a contemporary issue to point to someone the real issue, without taking the bait on a political issue. Check this out:
Melissa Dougherty
I had a skeptic friend ask me a common question this week: “Why does God need to use Jesus to take away sin at all? Why can’t He just snap His fingers and forgive debts?”
He didn’t ask in a snooty way. It was a genuine question. I was glad he used the word “debt.” He’s very vocal about the student loan debt situation, so I decided to use that imagery to make a point. (I don’t want to deter my point by something political so focus y’all 🧐🤓)
He recently posted something about it, saying how debt isn’t canceled. It’s not eliminated. It’s transferred. I thought this was brilliant.
So I asked him… Why can’t the government just snap their fingers and cancel student loan debt? He went off about how someone has to pay the debt, and because it’s been accumulated by choice, it needs to be paid by someone. It can’t just disappear. It needs to be taken care of.
Perfect.
Okay. I then asked him what he would do if one person came up and said they’d pay the entire debt? In this way, it’s not on the shoulders of the people, and those that can’t afford to pay will have their bill reconciled? They owe a debt they can’t pay. But this one person, the only person who can afford it, paid it all.
He could see where I was going with this. (I was glad for that because sometimes my analogies fall flat.)
He said it was the first time he understood why God just couldn’t snap His fingers and forgive a debt even bigger than money. Sin debt is infinitely more serious than money debt.
Sin isn’t “canceled.” It’s transferred. And it was transferred to and eliminated by the one Person who could pay it all: Jesus.
I wanted to share this as an example of how we can meet people on common ground to share the concept of the Gospel and the work of Jesus. Tetelestai, my friends.
Friends, she didn’t take the bait. But rather pointed this man to a higher truth. We would do well to do the same.