Marveling at His Answers
TRANSLATION
(20) So they watched Jesus and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch him in something he said in order to hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. (21) They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right and do not show partiality to anyone but truly teach the way of God. (22) Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (23) Seeing through their stratagem, he said to them, (24) “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it display?” And they said, “Caesar’s.” (25) He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” (26) They were unable to trap him by what he said in public and were astonished by his response and became silent.
(27) Then came to him some of the Sadducees who say that there is no resurrection. (28) They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the wife and raise up offspring for his brother. (29) Now there were seven brothers. The first married a wife and died childless, (30) and then the second (31) and then the third married her, and so all seven. However, none left children before they all died. (32) Afterward the woman also died. (33) In the resurrection whose wife will she be, for all seven had married her?” (34) And Jesus said to them, “The people of this world marry and are given in marriage, (35) but those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come and the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are they given in marriage. (36) Neither do they die any more but are equal to the angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. (37) But that the dead are raised Moses demonstrated in the account of the burning bush when he called Yahweh ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ (38) He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for to him all are alive.” (39) And some of the teachers of the Law said, “Teacher, you have answered well,” (40) and they dared not ask him any more questions.
OBSERVATIONS
Two disparate groups tried to stump Jesus by asking him two questions, each one designed to discredit his ministry. The first about the thorny issue of taxes was posed by the Pharisees, religious conservatives who accepted the entire Old Testament as God’s Word. The second about marriage in the resurrection came from the Sadducees, religious liberals who held only the Pentateuch in high regard and scoffed at the idea of life after death. Repetitions in this segment included “teacher/teach” (vss. 21 & 28), “Caesar” (used four times in vss. 23-25), “resurrection” (also found four times in vss. 27, 33, 35, & 36), and various repeated words for family relationships, “brother…wife…children…marry/marriage.”
The trap in the first question about paying taxes was cleverly conceived. If Jesus answered, “We should pay tribute to Caesar,” he would have offended all his listeners who hated the taxes that Rome imposed. If he answered, “We should not give tribute to Caesar,” he would have been advocating rebellion against the empire, the crime of treason. He cleverly avoided their snare by asking for a denarius, a Roman coin, to use as an object lesson. He then asked a question to which everyone knew the answer: “Whose likeness and inscription is stamped on the coin?” What they did not realize was that their answer opened the way for Jesus’ astonishingly brilliant response: “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” What belongs to Caesar was obviously that which bore his likeness. But what belongs to God? There was no escaping the response: “Whatever bears God’s likeness.” Everyone listening was familiar with Genesis 1 which declared every human to be created in God’s image, bearing God’s likeness and thus belonging to God (Gen. 1:26 & 27).
Jesus also cleverly avoided the trap in the second question from the Sadducees, an effort to get him hopelessly entangled in trying to deal with a ridiculously convoluted family situation designed to mock the idea of resurrection. He did this by showing that life after death will be nothing like our present existence and that, in our glorified state, we will resemble angels. He also turned the tables on his questioners by showing that Moses’ wording, “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” conclusively proved that those patriarchs were still alive after death by declaring, “He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (vs. 38). It is no wonder that someone remarked, “Teacher, you have answered well,” and that no one dared ask him any further questions (vss. 39 & 40).
OUTLINE
I. Jesus skillfully responded to the Pharisees’ question about paying taxes to Caesar. (20-27)
II. Jesus skillfully responded to the Sadducees’ question about resurrection. (28-40)
IDEA STATEMENT
The responses Jesus gave to the questions posed by the Pharisees and the Sadducees left them marveling at both his wisdom and authority.
APPLICATION
As we consider the responses Jesus made to his questioners and ponder the implications of his words, we, along with Paul, should exclaim: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” (Rom. 11:33) From a question about paying taxes, Jesus challenged everyone with his brilliant insights regarding the creation of human beings in the image and likeness of God. The implication of his answer was clear. Those who bear God’s image belong to God, and thus we owe him our allegiance. Out of a convoluted question regarding Israel’s marriage laws, Jesus provided his listeners with another brilliant insight regarding the assurance of life after death. From his answer we can know that our future resurrection rests in the very meaning of God’s holy name.