A word of advice. Never try to outsmart Jesus. It’s nothing but embarrassing.
Parable of the wedding feast
Matthew 22:1-14
Jesus is questioned: about paying taxes
Matthew 33:15-22, Mark 12:13-17, Luke 20:20-26
About the resurrection
Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27, Luke 20:27-30
About the greatest commandment
Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 20:39-40
Jesus asks a question
Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:41-44
Various people make the attempt to outsmart Jesus today. They might as well not have bothered. Jesus would have been a great stand up. No heckler would have stood a chance. His answer to the “shall we pay taxes to Caesar?” questions has to be the best put down ever uttered. They really think they’d got him with that one. It’s a question that tugs on all the hard issues of being God’s people, wanting to be faithful, yet unable to be because they are under foreign rule. So what to do? Rebel and be killed, or pay up and be compromised? It is the perfect unanswerable question. Or so they thought. Then Jesus simply and brilliantly finds a way of separating loyalty to God from loyalty to the state. Tell that one to the protestors and St Pauls!
The Sadducees then trot out one of their famous objections to the resurrection, trying to make it sound ridiculous. Jesus doesn’t even bother to argue with them, just says, “You’re wrong. You don’t know what the Bible says.” He silences his critics, and as Mark puts it, “the large crowd listened to him with delight.” (12.37)
Parable of the wedding feast
Matthew 22:1-14
Jesus is questioned: about paying taxes
Matthew 33:15-22, Mark 12:13-17, Luke 20:20-26
About the resurrection
Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27, Luke 20:27-30
About the greatest commandment
Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 20:39-40
Jesus asks a question
Matthew 22:41-46, Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:41-44
Various people make the attempt to outsmart Jesus today. They might as well not have bothered. Jesus would have been a great stand up. No heckler would have stood a chance. His answer to the “shall we pay taxes to Caesar?” questions has to be the best put down ever uttered. They really think they’d got him with that one. It’s a question that tugs on all the hard issues of being God’s people, wanting to be faithful, yet unable to be because they are under foreign rule. So what to do? Rebel and be killed, or pay up and be compromised? It is the perfect unanswerable question. Or so they thought. Then Jesus simply and brilliantly finds a way of separating loyalty to God from loyalty to the state. Tell that one to the protestors and St Pauls!
The Sadducees then trot out one of their famous objections to the resurrection, trying to make it sound ridiculous. Jesus doesn’t even bother to argue with them, just says, “You’re wrong. You don’t know what the Bible says.” He silences his critics, and as Mark puts it, “the large crowd listened to him with delight.” (12.37)
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