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13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
Herodians and Pharisees: former enemies with common enemy, Jesus
PHARISEES (hebrew “separated”): The Pharisees were mostly middle-class businessmen and leaders of the synagogues. Though they were a minority in the Sanhedrin., which was the ruling council of religious priests for the Jews and held a minority number of positions as priests, they seemed to control the decision-making of the Sanhedrin because they had popular support among the people
HERODIANS..... “in bed with the romans”
The Herodians held political power, support King Herod Antipas, the Roman Empire’s ruler over much of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. The Herodians favored submitting to the Herods, and therefore to Rome, for political favors.
***SAW them join forces with pharisees way back in mark 3
6 The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
TURN THE TIDE OF THE CROWDS: POPULARITY KEPT THEM FROM SEIZING JESUS, SO TRIED TO TURN THE PUBLIC OPINION OF JESUS
CLEVER ?----MAKE Jesus seem to side with the romans
14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
flattery
Charles Spurgeon said to pastors, “It is always best not to know, nor wish to know, what is being said about you, either by friends or foes. Those who praise us are probably as much mistaken as those who abuse us.”
JESUS KNEW WHO WAS TALKING BEHIND HIS BACK THEN, AND HE SEES WHO IS TALKING BEHIND YOURS NOW!!!
DON’T WORRY ABOUT THEM
PICTURE
YOU CAN ALMOST SEE THEM SMILING....
AS THEY’RE SMILING THINKING THEY GOT YOU, GOD IS SMILING TOO, SAYING...“I GOT YOU!”
THEY ARE TESTING GOD
JESUS.........“WHY PUT ME TO THE TEST?”
RIGHT WAY AND WRONG WAY TO TEST GOD....ONLY 1 TIME
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
This is the only situation given in the Bible in which God tells His people to “test” Him.
Interestingly, the Hebrew word used for “test” in this verse is bachan, which means “to examine, scrutinize, or prove (as in gold, persons, or the heart).” Just as gold is “tested” with fire to prove its quality, God invites Israel to test Him in tithes and offerings and see that He proves His faithfulness in response.
There is another Hebrew word for “test” used elsewhere in the Bible. Nacah means “to put to the test, try, or tempt.” It is used in Deuteronomy 6:16, where God commands Israel to not test Him: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.”
JESUS QUOTED THIS IN THE WILDERNESS
This second, unacceptable kind of testing is when doubt leads us to demand something of God to prove Himself to us. Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 in the wilderness, in response to one of Satan’s temptations. “The devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”’” (Matthew 4:7–10).
THIS IS THE WAY IN WHICH THEY ARE TRYING TO TEST JESUS HERE IN MARK
THE TEST: SHALL WE PAY OR NOT
20YEARS PAYING TAXES TO ROME, some flat out didn’t ZEALOTS, others begrudgingly
It wasn’t just the money, but also the principle of paying the Roman oppressor.
They seemed to put Jesus in a trap. If He agreed the tax should be paid, Jesus then seemed to deny the sovereignty of God over Israel, and He would lose popular support. If Jesus agreed that the tax should not be paid, He would openly declare Himself an enemy of Rome and be treated like a revolutionary.
ANGER CROWD OR ANGER ROME
16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
On the denarius they showed to Jesus, there was a head of Tiberius, the reigning Roman Emperor. Around his head was written the abbreviation for “Tiberius Caesar, the Divine Augustus.” On the back was the title “Pontifex Maximus,” declaring that Caesar was the high priest of the Roman Empire.
ROME WOULD SOON PIERCE HIS HANDS AND FEET TO A CROSS, YET HE STILL SAYS PAY YOUR TAXES TO ROME
Essentially Jesus said, “You recognize Caesar’s civil authority when you use his coins; therefore, you are obliged to pay him the taxes he asks for.”
d. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s: If we take advantage of the benefits of governmental rule, we are obliged to submit to government, as long as it does not infringe on our service to God. Simply said, Jesus told us to pay our taxes. The Apostle Paul repeated the same idea in Romans 13:6-7.
Romans 13:6–7 (ESV)
6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
I HATE IT TOO....CASH FOR MOWING. CASH IS kING
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Mark 12:17 (ESV)
17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
THEY MARVELED AT HIM, BUT DIDN’T CHANGE....INSTEAD ACTUALLY PLOTTED AND SCHEMED MORE AND EVEN TWISTED HIS WORDS
NO MATTER THE ANSWER SOMETIMES
2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
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ANOTHER GROUP AND ANOTHER ABSURD QUESTION
18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
The Sadducees were well educated, sophisticated, influential and wealthy. They did not believe THE RESUURECTION, in immortality, spirits, or angels. The purpose of their question was to make the idea of resurrection seem absurd.
The Sadducees believed that when the body died, the soul died. The Bible not only tells us that the soul lives when the body dies, but also that the soul will have a new body, a body fit for eternity – a resurrection body.
NEW HEAVENLY BODY WOOHOOO!!!!
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
I AM NOT I WAS
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
HEAVEN IS BETTER THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.
GOD IS BETTER THAN YOU THINK.
YOU CAN TRUST HIM!!!
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV)
9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—