Jesus was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Even his enemies were amazed/astonished at the answers to his questions. Now if you're like me, you're brilliant 5 minutes too late. But that isn't the case with Jesus. He has the wisdom for the moment.
In this passage, the Pharisees and Herodians (together?!) and then the Sadducees try to test him. First the Pharisees. At the time, paying taxes to Caesar was questionable. Caesar was Roman, he was the enemy, and he funded evil with the tax money. To pay or not to pay? That is the question. In order to try to trap Jesus, they asked him this question. If he said, "don't pay" they could get him for treason before the Romans. If he said "pay" they could accuse him of evil. Jesus' answer? "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." Incredible answer to these folks who were trying to trap him.
The same day in the next wave came the Sadducees. They were asking him about the resurrection when they didn't even believe in it! Jesus tells them clearly that they neither know the Scriptures of the power of God. (Ouch! Especially when you've been studying it intently for years!) Jesus replied that people would be like the angels in heaven in regards to marriage, and that in the case of the resurrection, God was the God of the living, not the dead. Touche!
At the end of the day, the way to come to Jesus is with a right spirit. Try to trap him, and you find yourself in the fowler's snare.
And if there's anything about this section that I want to take away it's this: I'm proud to be a follower of Jesus.
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Memorized: Matthew 22:15-33 (Mar 28)
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