A Useless Question

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back to Dishman Baptist Church. After a brief hiatus last week, we are so thankful that you are with us this morning. Please open your Bibles back to Mark 12, Mark 12.

It was bound to happen. In the providence of God and the normal course of expository preaching we come now to a passage that is extremely relevant for today’s headlines and the state that our church finds itself in. Now many of you know, and if you’re joining us for the first time this is a good time for you to discover, that I am not a political guy - meaning I am not going to stand up here and herald the virtues of either party or any candidate as our hope is not found in men but in God. So this morning, while we will touch on some things that may be considered political in nature, it is my true desire that we would really examine our passage to ask ourselves some hard questions that might lead to maturity in each of us.

Over the course of the next three weeks we’re going to be looking at a series of questions that the religious authorities are going to bring to Jesus. This first one, this week, I’ve entitled a useless question and as this passage is exposed to us I will explain why I’ve chosen to term this question that way in their 1st century context but also why in our day, in our current context, I think this is a very important question if it is really too narrow in scope and that it only becomes relevant because of the answer given. Next week we’ll look at a foolish question and then finally in two weeks we’ll look at a wise question. For this morning though let’s look at Mark 12 and I’ll be reading verses 13-17.

Mark 12:13–17 CSB

Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Jesus to trap him in his words. When they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.” They brought a coin. “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked them. “Caesar’s,” they replied. Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.

In the history of the world there has probably been no more troublesome issue for governments than that of taxes. It causes such headaches for politicians - good and bad alike. Many of you may remember the six fateful words that George H. W. Bush uttered in 1988 “Read my lips, no new taxes” only to be forced to reverse course on this promise. In the history of our nation the issue of taxes has been troublesome - from Shay’s rebellion which happened in western Massachusetts in 1786 when the state government tried to collect taxes, to the Whiskey Rebellion a few years later that lasted from 1791-94 when the Federal government tried to tax whiskey sales to offset the cost of another war that happened because of taxes - the American Revolution.

It seems that this is nothing new. These men come to Jesus with a question regarding a tax that they were required to pay. It’s really a useless question because every man there was paying the tax - and would continue to do so - so they were not really concerned with whether or not they should be. But is asking this question of Jesus they opened up a much bigger issue and revealed a much bigger deficit in their hearts and theology that I’m afraid exists in many forms today as well.

The issue at the core of this passage is not taxes but instead it is who has control of what areas of our lives. It is a question that touches on the idea of spheres of sovereignty - those established by God being the church, the state and the family. Yet these are issues that many of us have at the least muddied and at the worst have forgotten as we seek to try and live our lives in the 21st century. We have confused these issues as we have entwined our religion with our politics to the point that some may not know where one begins and the other ends. And in so doing we have taken things that belong to God and given them away either by our own inaction or our willful, albeit ignorant, determination. It is my prayer today that this message will at the very least start you asking questions of your own life as to what we render to whom. As I have studied through this text, as I have prayed through it, there are several areas that we have given over to realms that have no right or authority to have charge over. It is my prayer that you may be convicted as I have been.

Strange Bedfellows

Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Religious Hypocrites Make Awkward Alliances against the Truth (12:13)

The nineteenth-century American author Charles Dudley Warner once wrote, “Politics makes strange bedfellows.”

And the men who approach Jesus to ask a question - not really even approach but instead are sent by those He had just exposed through the parable - make some of the strangest bedfellows in history. There could not have been two more diametrically opposed parties in all of Israel. To say that this would be like a bipartisan committee of Democrats and Republicans approaching Jesus would be far too mild. The Pharisees were a sect of the Jewish religious system that was zealously concerned with ritual purity and keeping the Levitical laws to the letter. They were in fact so concerned about the letter of the Law that they had lost the intent of the law and their hearts had turned cold and stony. Even after years of harrying Jesus every step they were unconvinced of who He was.

On the other hand the Herodians could probably have cared less not only about who Jesus was but about religious purity or any law other than that imposed by Rome. They were the sycophants of Herod the tetrarch of Galilee most likely and were only concerned with how they could keep Herod in power and keep the Romans out of their affairs in Galilee. Their appearance and participation in this situation actually seems a bit odd in all respects.

Mark Exegesis and Exposition

The Pharisees and Herodians were not natural allies, and the appearance of the Herodians in Jerusalem seems strange in that Herod Antipas was the tetrarch of Galilee and Perea and had no authority in Jerusalem/Judea, which was ruled by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate

Except that the Pharisees and Herodians had been plotting for quite a while on how to dispose of Jesus. And their best plan was to have Him say something that would raise the suspicions of the Roman authorities in a political or social manner rather than the religious. One of Rome’s greatest methods for peace throughout their empire was that they would leave local religious practices intact as long as those religious practices did not impinge too greatly on the pantheon of Roman gods and goddesses. There was small chance that the Roman authorities would intervene with Jesus in a purely religious debate, but here in Jerusalem, the seat of Roman power in the region, these men are sent to Jesus to effect the exact conditions that would influence Rome to get involved.

So no not the Democrats and Republicans. These were more like if Black Lives Matters and a white supremacist group showed up together to ask a question. This would be like Planned Parenthood and American’s United for Life sauntering up to ask Christ a question. Mark informs us of their ill intentions from the start.

He says that these men were sent to trap Jesus in His words. The word here is agreuo (a-grew-o) and it is used only here in the New Testament. The word means to catch unawares and it was used in reference to snaring or trapping game or hooking a fish. These men’s intentions are not pure even though their words may sound sweet.

Mark 12:14 CSB

When they came, they said to him, “Teacher, we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

Always beware those who come to you with honey for words when they leave you may want to check your ribs for leaks. These men come to Jesus with four statements that are intended to put Jesus off His guard. We know you are truthful. You don’t care what anyone thinks. You don’t show partiality. You teach the way of God truthfully. Oh what a twisted web these men weave. Paul said it best in 2 Corinthians 11

2 Corinthians 11:14–15 CSB

And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.

These men come to Jesus disguised as those concerned for the truth, as those concerned for the legitimacy of what He taught and yet their deepest desire was to see Him dead. We know you are truthful. We know you teach the way of God truthfully. If this were the case, if they were convinced that His words were true and that the way that He taught was the true way of God then why were they not following Him that very instant. Instead they were standing here trying to trap Him. One reason is their other statements - that He does not defer to others or care what anyone thinks. And He certainly showed them no partiality or deference for all of their religiosity and pious living.

I get the sense from these statements that it is most likely the Pharisees who are speaking up and the Herodians are holding back. The men making these statements felt they should be the first people the Messiah should approach because of how amazingly good they were. Just look at all that they have done. Just look at how righteous they were. He should be thankful that He gets to work with them - but their hearts were cold, their orthodoxy skewed by self-promotion rather than a proper view or desire for the glory of God. But Christ had not deferred to them. He didn’t even have the simple decency to quote them, as they were so fond of doing to one another, but instead He had the audacity to speak on His own authority and, worse yet, to claim to be speaking on divine authority. Instead of seeking their endorsement, their backing, He has flaunted them and even criticized them at every turn.

But what a statement - maybe if there were any statement that a man could wish for as an epitaph for his life this would be it - we know you are truthful and don’t care what anyone thinks, nor do you show partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Now of course Jesus cared about people and cared what they thought. But His caring was not the superficial caring that leads to people pleasing but instead it was the deep care that understands the true condition of man and desires for Him to be saved. Besides that concern the idea that you might hurt someone’s feelings or bruise their ego by telling them the truth goes to the wayside. Not that Jesus was ever rude or purposefully hurtful in His manner - any more than we should be.

But He didn’t mince words or assuage people’s feelings as He told them what the truth was. With the woman at the well, while He was tender, He told her flat out what her sin was. Even with the rich young ruler He didn’t ease the blow of what his one deficiency was, instead He commanded him to go sell all his possessions ridding himself of his idol and come follow Him. And He was sorrowed to see the man leave because He loved him.

What about you? What about us? Are these words that could be said about us as we seek to minister the Gospel in Spokane Valley? Even if their words were insincere, they were all true - but could they be applied to us today? Or are we so concerned with what men think, are we so concerned with showing partiality that we fail to speak or teach the truth? These men came to flatter Christ and in so doing spoke the truth about Him. What would men say about us today?

Now that they’ve buttered Him up, and He is sufficiently or should be sufficiently lulled by their sweet words, they spring the trap they had been planning all along.

The Test

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we? These are words that are meant to catch Christ in the nasty throes of another dilemma. The subject of the question is the paying of a poll tax that had been instituted by the Roman government following a census that happened in 6 A.D. The tax was such an affront to the Jewish people that Judas the Galillean, referred to by Gamaliel in Acts 5, rose up in rebellion giving birth to the party of the zealots who would continue to be a thorn in the side of the Romans even after this rebellion had been brutally put down. The tax really didn’t amount to much - it was one silver denarius, the equivalent of one day’s wages.

The issues regarding this tax were deeper than the simple value of the tax. One issue was the implications of the tax - that they were in fact owned by Caesar and owed him tribute rather than being a possession of God’s as Israel had always been. The other was the inscriptions on the coin that made carrying and using the coin onerous to them. On the front of the coin would have been the picture of Tiberius Caesar who reigned from 14-37 AD. On the back of the coin was an image of his mother Livia depicted as a goddess of peace with a scepter in one hand and an olive branch in the other. The raised words would have caused issue as well - Tiberius Caesar Divi Augusti Filius Augustus (Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus) was on the side with the emperor’s image and on the side with his mother’s pontifex maximus - high priest.

These images and these words were an affront to the Jewish religious sensibilities of the people and made the use of the coin to pay the tax an affront to them. Despite the crushing defeat in 6 AD, it remained such an issue that it would lead to another revolt in 66 AD that would culminate in the destruction of the very Temple that Jesus sits in this day being confronted with this question. If He answers that the people should pay the tax, He would surely offend the rank and file of the Jewish nation and lose His popularity with them making it very easy for the religious leaders to dispose of Him. If He answers no they should not pay the tax He would be branded a revolutionary by the Roman authorities and would be swiftly and heavily dealt with in a most permanent manner. Again to the delight and satisfaction of the Jewish religious establishment.

But Jesus hasn’t been lulled by their flattery and He isn’t shocked by their hypocrisy. He responds “why are you testing me?” Matthew’s Gospel tells us that He called them out for exactly what they were

Matthew 22:18 CSB

Perceiving their malicious intent, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, hypocrites?

Jesus, knowing the heart of every man, knew their intention the whole time. How much it must have grieved Him as He faced test after test from these men, men who profess to know that He teaches the truth, that He truthfully demonstrates the way to God and yet time after time demonstrated their own hypocrisy in believing Him.

Now though the story takes a bit of a comedic turn. Notice Christ’s request - Bring me a denarius to look at. He doesn’t have one but He instead asks them to produce one. I doubt their robes had pockets but can you just see those men digging through pockets searching for the very coin they had such and issue with, that they looked upon as idolatrous but were willing to carry because that was the currency of the day. Commenting on this issue Dr. John MacArthur says

Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Religious Hypocrites Falsely Pursue the Truth (12:14b–17)

The Jews therefore considered the coins to be miniature idols, and carrying them to be a violation of the second commandment’s prohibition of idolatry

It would be like one of us carrying around the Book of Mormon or a watchtower new testament or even a Koran. Or maybe that’s a bad example - but I can’t think of a better one. These men were willing to carry and exchange this currency so there really should be no issue for them with regards to the tax. This is why I say that for them in their day and in their context this is a useless question. They were already deeply involved with using this money so why should a tax be any different. Jesus response to them as they produce the coin is telling.

He say’s whose image and inscription is this? Unlike the question regarding authority this is a rather innocuous question for the leaders - at least in their opinion - and so they answer Him. It’s Caesar’s. They must be thinking they’ve got Him. He’s just stalling for time, asking innocuous questions to buy a moment to come up with an answer. But He’s not stalling. He knows exactly how He’s going to respond and it is this answer that reveals so much for us today.

But think for a moment - if you were in the first century and you were in Rome reading this. If you were a new Christian an by all appearances it is about to become very uncomfortable to be a Christian. What if you’re living now, which all of us are no need to check your pulse I can vouch that every person here at this moment appears to be alive, and you’re living out your Christian life in the 21st century and, for all intents and purposes, it appears that soon it may be very uncomfortable to be a Christian. How do these issues touch on your life today? Yes we have to pay taxes and our money does have a picture of an American patriot, president or significant person on it. But our money reads In God We Trust. We don’t share the same concerns for idolatry do we? Is this really something that affects us? Is this really a question that we deal with? I would hope that most of you pay your taxes, and pay them on time. But Christ’s answer is on such another level, it takes this useless question from these insincere men and it pierces right to our very own hearts.

Render What to Whom?

Jesus says “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Now just let that sit for a minute. We’ve all heard it before but take a moment and let it sit at the very front of your consciousness. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” many of us have probably mouthed that mantra on April 14 as we begrudgingly file our taxes. And to God the things that are God’s. We’ve probably heard this passage referred to in reference to our offerings to the church - you’re willing to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars but make sure that you’re also giving a portion back to God. But there is an implied question in this statement.

What things are Caesar’s and what things are God’s? One important point to note is that Christ is not saying that there is a separation or a realm in which the government operates outside the purview or the sovereignty of God. Abraham Kuyper, the prime minister of the Netherlands in the early 20th century, said

“There is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”

It is also important to note that Christ is not advocating here an anti-government stance. He is legitimizing government by saying there are some things in God’s economy that do belong to Caesar and those things are rightly given to him. Romans 13:1 which we read earlier is helpful in this

Romans 13:1 CSB

Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.

The government - even that of Tiberius, Nero, Hitler, Mao, Stalin and others - is instituted by God and deserves our submission. Peter’s passage on this concept is also helpful

1 Peter 2:13–14 CSB

Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor as the supreme authority or to governors as those sent out by him to punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good.

But does this mean that in all things, in all respects that we should just blindly submit to the government? No. Christ here is clearly saying that there are spheres of responsibility and that some things belong to the state while all things belong to God. The state is God’s instrument for security and safety. A part of that is by authoring laws that provide for a good and orderly society, providing roads and other transportation methods for the expeditious and efficient movement of goods, services and people from place to place and collecting taxes as a way to offset the cost of providing those things. This is a deeper topic and I’m only providing a surface level, simplistic view of this but you get the point.

But there are some areas that do not belong to the government - that belong instead to God. And it is in these areas that we must turn a hard eye upon ourselves and ask whether we have taken things that are God’s alone and given them away to Caesar.

Life is one issue that we have taken away from God and given to Caesar. Since 1973 there has been a holocaust that has taken place right within our own borders because we allowed the government to have authority in an arena in which it has none. The government cannot create a single life from nothing and yet we have given over the determination for when life begins, when life can be extinguished and what conditions are allowable for that to the government. God alone creates life. And thus God alone has the authority over the life issue.

How about marriage? I wont say we sat idly by as the people of God and allowed the government to take control of marriage but how many of you didn’t have the words “by the power invested in me by the state of....” in your marriage ceremony? We did. And what has the state done with it? In 2015 it gave everyone the “right” to marry whomever they felt was right. But Who created marriage - was it the state? No. His first act after creating the world was the creation of woman and the institution of marriage - God created that and it is His arena alone. The state has no authority there despite how much we’ve given it.

I could go on - gender who determines whether we are male or female? The world thinks that we do and it has been given to them. But it is God’s determination what our gender is. Skin color - who gets to determine how we should relate to those of a different skin color than us? Caesar does and yet the Bible teaches us to treat all men as better than ourselves without a mention of melanin.

All of these issues have been given to the state. So much so that in most instances the state thinks that it is above the church and even above God. Listen to this quote from a Canadian chief justice

“The authority claimed by state written law touches upon all aspects of human life and citizenship…and leaves no aspect of human experience unaffected by its claim to authority.

These aspects of life all fall into our worship of God - and yet even now the state is mandating how and under what conditions we can worship. These men who approached Jesus that day - their worship was half-hearted at best - and for many, not all by a long shot, but for many this period has enabled the condition of their heart to be exposed and their half-hearted worship is being demonstrated as they find other ways to occupy their time on Sunday morning. And I know that is not all - let me say that again.

But what is the issue - because I could go on with issues - that is at the core? What things have you rendered to any other entity that belong solely to God? And what is the answer? I can tell you that it isn’t found in the White House, the Congress or the Supreme Court. We cannot legislate morality. Even if they overturned RoeVWade or the Obergfell decision tomorrow it would save some babies but it wouldn’t save all of them and it would prevent “marriage” for homosexuals but it wouldn’t prevent the sinful relationships from happening.

Conclusion

So what are we to do? First - search our own hearts with regards to these issues. What have we taken from God that belongs to Him and given to Caesar? And then recognize, the same way the early church did, that there is only one way to effect the changes that would prevent babies from being murdered, that would prevent the institution of marriage from being profaned, that would help those who struggle with the way God made them or those who foment hate based on skin color.

Mark Contemporary Significance

The church of the New Testament did not attempt to save its existence by making a concordat with Nero and Domitian and Decius in their great persecution, or by stirring up a revolution against these tyrants, or by making an alliance with the Persian empire—but simply confessing the truth of the gospel and building up a truly confessing church whose members were prepared to die for their faith.

And we must do the same thing. But the first part is an understanding of how the Gospel affects every part of life. And that God has established spheres of authority over which He is sovereign. And we should stand on those. We should also speak the truth plainly regarding areas that God has not given authority in - life, marriage, gender, ethnicity, salvation. But it takes a willingness to do the hard job of self-evaluation to see where you have given not just these areas but maybe others to Caesar instead of giving them to the true authority - God.