#1303 Matthew 22 Part 2 Whose Likeness

 

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?” 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. Matthew 22: 15-22 ESV

Matthew 22: 15-22

The Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Him in His words - They knew the previous parables were about them and were insulted by it. The thing is, some may have even see the truth in His statements, but the ego is a funny thing. I remember loathing John MacArthur when I was young, and it had less to do with whether what He was saying was true or not, but much more to do with what I wanted to be true, what I wanted to hear. Even when a light would come on, and I would say, "oh, yeah, that does seem to be what Scripture is saying", yet I was still angry because my ego couldn't handle admitting that what I had been saying contradicted the truth. Being confronted with the truth didn't change what I wanted to do, what I felt like, and so I would try to erase the memory of hearing it, slander the person who said it, and ultimately hope that there was no God behind Holy Scripture. If there was an intelligent deity behind Scripture then it did become the Word of God, and if it was the Word of God, then it had intent, meaning, purpose. It wasn't a big fortune cookie, it wasn't a tourist destination, there was no visiting only the areas you like and avoiding those you didn't. No, if it was the Word of God then there was context, meaning, and the Scriptures themselves became the best interpreter of the meaning. You had the verse, the chapter, the book, and the collection of all the books, the whole counsel of God, God's love and mercy balanced and understood with God's justice and wrath. Like me, these guys just hated the truth because it called them out, it exposed them, it showed them a God Who was not the image they made in their minds, and they were unwilling to repent. 

…15From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.… 2 Timothy 3: 15-17

…18Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.… John 3: 18-20

And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians - They bring in some ringers, maybe some he hadn't seen or talked to before, good debaters, and along with these Pharisees, the Herodians, Jews that favored Rome. Now the interesting thing here is that Herod was a dynastic king that Rome allowed to govern this area on it's behalf, and the Pharisees really didn't like him or Rome. These two groups would be on opposite sides of the table in most debates, but their hatred of Jesus brings them together. The present Herod was a despicable man who had taken his brother Philip's wife, and from a family full of incest and controversy. This is a somewhat intelligent plot by human standards, part of a continuing conspiracy against Jesus, which is against God, which makes it not so brilliant in the end, but for now, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." The Herodians are already trusted by Rome, whereas the Pharisees would be questionable in such a trap, for some of their school were even terrorist towards Rome. The Herodian's claims and follow up to this would legitimize the charges against Jesus. Well, so they thought.

1“You shall not spread a false report. Do not join the wicked by being a malicious witness. 2You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. Exodus 23: 1-2

Teacher - They greet Him with a title of respect.

We know that You are true and teach the way of God truthfully - Why are they being so nice? I thought it said they were coming to trap Him in His words. Well, maybe you have never worked in the corporate world, where people use a little tool called flattery. They say nice things to those who are in a position of authority, not because they truly respect them or even believe what they are saying, but because sucking up works on people with huge egos. The same egos can't handle the truth when it's not "positive", and will look to punish the people who challenge what they are saying, who don't act in a "polished" manner. People like that learn what to say, who to say it to and when to say it, all in the hopes of self promotion. Now those same people will also use flattery with their enemies, saying slanderous and spiteful things behind their back, but buttering them up to their face. These guys want Jesus to except flattery, let down His guard, and then say something that will put Him at odds with Rome, and or at odds with His present audience. The funny part is that what they just to Jesus is true, and the sick part is that they don't mean it, they intend Him harm not respect. 

…5A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. 6An evil man is caught by his own sin, but a righteous one sings and rejoices. 7The righteous consider the cause of the poor, but the wicked have no regard for such concerns.… Proverbs 29: 5-6

1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD. An oracle is in my heart regarding the transgression of the wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2For his eyes are too full of conceit to detect or hate his own sin. 3The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; he has ceased to be wise and well-doing.… Psalm 36: 1-3

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not - This is like when someone starts out with me by saying, "honestly" or "truthfully", and I am thinking, so what was it all the other times? Are really asking this question because you are concerned about doing the right thing regarding this subject? So I am to believe that this is sincere?

Why put me to the test, you hypocrites - Before He schools them He unmasks them. The Herodians don't mind the Roman tax, but the Pharisees who brought them here hate paying taxes. They are guilty of major hypocrisy here, and not only that, it's part of a conspiracy towards murder. They want out from Roman rule, but they come here with Roman sympathizers in order to trap Jesus. Their egos demand a sacrifice, and one thing they want here they won't get, but I think there is a change of tide here with the rest of Jesus' audience too. I believe some of it started when He answered the Pharisee's questions on divorce. Jesus is going against popular culture, and will continue to do so here with taxes.

…5So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.” 6 Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. 7They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’… Mark 7: 5-7

…27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. 29Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.… Matthew 23: 27-29

They brought Him a denarius - This was a Roman coin, equivalent to a day's labor for most laborers. 

Now, look at the word “tribute,” because that’s the key. It is the word kēnsos borrowed from the Latin census from which we get the census, or the counting of every individual. “Should we pay the census?” Now, it refers to a specific tax. The Romans counted all the people, and the Syriac Peshitta calls this head money. In other words, they attached an individual tax to everybody. Each year, every individual had to pay this census tax, like a poll tax. It was a personal tax on an individual.

Now, the Romans had a lot of taxes. There were certain things the Jews had to give to the temple. You know? There were certain Jewish taxes. But the Romans imposed some of theirs, too. After all, they were providing services to that group of people. If you go to the Holy Land today, you find many of the services they rendered. You’ll find one of the remaining great masterpieces in the Caesarea area is a great Roman aqueduct which brought water to the people in that area. You will find Roman roads, streets, many marks of Roman society. They offered protection; they offered the benefits of the massive power of the Roman peace or the Pax Romana. They provided certain services to the people, and for those services rendered to them by officials – government and soldiers and so forth; they had to have compensation.

And so, they had various taxes. They had, first of all, a land tax which required one-tenth of the grain, and one-fifth of the wine and oil, and it could be given in kind – that is in substance or in money.

They also had customs taxes. There were set a harbors and piers and crossroads and city gates tax collectors. And as goods were transported here and there and back and forth, there was a certain taxation factor involved. And it’s very likely what Matthew was engaged in doing.

They also had identified an income tax on all wage earners. There was a one percent income tax. So, there was the property tax, there was the sort of business tax, and there was the one percent income tax. Not an unrealistic tax system at all. In fact, not as high as we have today in those terms. - J Mac

Whose likeness and inscription is this - Caesar's, they all answered, and that was what was on the coin, the face of the person who represented that system. Some of the Pharisees, the zealots, did not only hate paying taxes, but they were also legalists, who would make out this inscription to be the same as a graven image. So two groups that Jesus can really tick off here, those Herodians who side with Rome, and those who don't want to pay taxes. What's so sick is that I think the Pharisees are flattering Him, banking on the hopes of His agreeance with them. They want Him to say not to pay the taxes in front of the Herodians, the very taxes these Pharisees themselves don't want to pay. I think the audience also wants Him to say not to pay the tax because they like that idea too.

Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's - Huh? Yeah, it's that simple, and I have heard people talk who say they are a form of Constitutional Libertarians, or exempt from taxes for religious reasons or whatever, and they don't believe in having driver's licenses etc. But, pray tell, when you get pulled over and you go through your long winded, soap box speech about the Bill of Rights, is it on the road you paved? Here in America you also enjoy certain things like a military that protects your freedom from outside invaders, police who protect your property rights, and in some areas you receive such conveniences as city water and other infrastructure. As far as religious rights, well Jesus is spelling them out for you here, everything belongs to God and He is telling you to take a portion of what belongs to Him and pay those who He has given rule over you while your here. Pay your taxes. If you live in America and think the taxes are too high or the people collecting them are terrible with money, then vote for better governance, teach others, or run for office yourself and make sure you don't fall into the same vices. 

…6This is also why you pay taxes. For the authorities are God’s servants, who devote themselves to their work. 7Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. 8Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.… Romans 13: 6-8

To God the things that are God's - Worship belongs to God, that's why young Daniel and His friends would not bow to the idol, why Daniel prayed to the true God rather than the king. Morals, the system of right and wrong, that belongs to God, and when the government does or teaches to do what is wrong in God's eyes, you don't comply. You go to the furnace, you go to lion's den, you take the ridicule. But everything that isn't a moral question, that doesn't ask you to go against your conscience before God, you do, and you do it joyfully as a testimony. You also are commanded to pray for your leaders, not to do so is disobedience to God, and hypocrisy if your concern with taxes was supposedly one of "religious concern". 

1First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority— so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. 3This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,… 1 Timothy 2: 1-3

They marveled - Totally blown away, not what they expected, yet they will still seek His life.

First of all, notice the word “render,” would you please. It is the word apodidōmi, to pay back, to give back. It speaks of a debt; it speaks of an obligation; it speaks of a responsibility. It is not something you have a choice about. “Give back,” He says. “Give it back. He made it; he minted it; it belongs to his economy. Give it back to him.” It refers to the payment of a debt, the payment of an obligation, a rightful duty, something that doesn’t even belong to you to give it back.

Now, when they posed the question back in verse 17, they didn’t use that word, they used a different word. They said, “Is it lawful to give as a gift? Is it lawful to give as a gift?” You see, their perspective was that they owned all that and that they could do what they wanted with it. And if they didn’t want to give it, they wouldn’t give it. It was a gift if they did give it.

And when He’s answering their question, He says, “Give it back. You’re not giving him a gift. You’re giving him what belongs to him. It is a debt, and it must be paid. You know what the Lord says here? Pay your taxes. That’s right, pay your taxes. The payment of a tax is a debt. It’s a debt set by a government. Even a pagan, idolatrous government; even a blasphemous government; even a government about to be the executioner of the Son of God; even a government which will hammer nails into His hands, ram a spear into His side, and watch Him die, even that kind of government that executes the Christ, pay your taxes. It is not a gift; it is not a choice; it is a debt for the benefits received, the benefits enjoyed. Caesar has his rights. And for the provision of physical, social, economic benefits, protection, etcetera, he’s do a debt; pay it. - J Mac