Tabor Baptist Church

• It is a human trait to characterise and generalise
• It is hard at times to be balanced
• E.g. conservative and traditional Christian vs a 'modern' Christian
• The opponents of the Lord Jesus understood this psychology and sought to polarise Jesus
• v13-17 Jesus is under attack and they want a 'yes or no' answer
• Are you siding with the Herodians - pay taxes
• Are you siding with the Pharisees and people - do not pay taxes
• This is the final week of Jesus' life
• He cleansed the Temple
• He had exposed their false religion
• His authority was questioned
• He speaks a parable (the wicked vine dressers) about those who oppose Him
• The Pharisees tried to move against Him as they knew He had spoken this parable against them - 12:12
• Three different groups of people were sent to trap Jesus:
• v13-17 Pharisees: catch Jesus speaking against the 'crown'
• v18-27 Sadducees: trying to show Jesus' teaching is ridiculous
• v28-34 Scribes
• They all compose people from the Sanhedrin - ruling Jewish Council (of religion)

An attempt to polarise Jesus (v13-17)

• The Pharisees were the most religious, the Herodians the least religion
• The Pharisees were spread throughout the nation but the Sadducees were centred in Jerusalem
• Herod Antipas was a puppet King, in the hands of the Romans
• The Herodians were loyal to Rome and did not care about the Israelites
• It seems as if the Pharisees were using the Herodians for their own ends
• The trap:
• They call Jesus 'teacher' but didn't believe any of His teaching
• They flatter Jesus in front of the crowds - 'we haven't come to attack Jesus but ask an innocent question'
• Today we live in times where people would seek to trap Christians
• E.g. Samaritans purse
• E.g. Ofsted going into Christian schools and asking inappropriate questions
• Evil will never triumph as God is always victor
• Jesus spoke such wisdom
• God will give us wisdom
• v15 - Shall we pay: 'yes or no'
• Jesus does not fudge the issue but seeks not to be pushed into one particular camp/view
• Jesus knows their hypocrisy and sees their motives
• Perhaps at time Christians should respond in this way
• About the coin
• Give to the state what belongs to the state but give to God what belongs to Him
• Jesus was not pushed into one box
• This view informs how we should live Christian lives
• Rom 13:1
• Jesus was saying people should pay all taxes due
• We are people under authority and we should obey the laws the of the land
• We should be good Christian citizens
• 1 Peter 2:13
• We recognise their is a higher authority
• Whenever human law is in conflict with God's law we obey God's law
• E.g. The disciples preached even though they were forbade by the religious leaders to preach
• The people marvel
• People marvel, but do they believe?
• Luke 23:2 - the people are wicked and bring a false charge that Jesus had forbade paying taxes to Caesar
• Take away points:
1. Men are opposed to the gospel - we should not be afraid of this
2. We should look to God for wisdom

They seek to make Jesus look stupid (v18-27)

• A plausible but highly unlikely situation - likely made up
• Sometimes non Christians can be like this
• Deut 25:5 - an example of this occurs in Gen 38
• They Sadducees think they have trapped Jesus
• The Sadducees:
• Only believed in the first 5 books of the Old Testament
• They fought against the Pharisees
• Denied the resurrection, angels and demons
• They denied the afterlife and existence of the soul
• Jesus's response:
• 'You do not know the Scriptures' - you are ignorant of the teaching and the power of God
• Non-Christians are often ignorant of the Scriptures
• Jesus answers from the first five books of the Bible
• Jesus takes them back to the burning bush in Exodus
• 'I am the God', not 'I was the God'
• In heaven there is no marriage
• There are no children, no birth, no exclusive relationships
• Every relationship is exclusive
• David went to see his son and Thessalonians encourages us that we will see our relatives [if they have believed]
• Psalm 2 - the rulers/kings of the earth take counsel together
• We live amongst people who are opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ
• The call to the disciples (who heard attack after attack) was to stand for Jesus
• If we suffer we are reminded that persecution is against Jesus
• We live in a world that mocks religion and mocks Jesus Christ
• We ought not to be afraid
• We trust that God will give us grace
• Who's side are you on:
• You cannot sit on the fence - you are either for Him or against Him
• You can either accept Him or reject Him