If At First You Don't Succeed.....Mark 12:13-27

Last Sunday morning we looked at our verses as a chess match of sorts. Some prominent members of the Sanhedrin sent a delegation from their ranks to try to trap Jesus into saying something that would pit the people against Him. Their hope was that His answer would so infuriate the people that they would take Him outside the city walls and stone Him to death, thereby taking care of their dirty work for them. In the end, we watched as Jesus masterly moved His chess pieces until He had them in checkmate. It was game over.

I have mentioned in the past that I had the opportunity to play four years of college basketball. My college basketball career overlapped the college basketball careers of both Magic Johnson as well as that of Michael Jordon. That is pretty much where the similarities end! I played for 2 different Bible Colleges, neither of which had more than 200 full-time students and I rode the pine for most of the first 2 seasons. I did make the starting rotation the last 2 seasons, but never scored more than 20 points in a game, in fact I don’t recall if I ever hit 20 points, I may have maxed out at 17. Despite the fact that my college basketball career overlapped those 2 NBA Hall Of Famers, had I had the nerve to challenge either of them to a game of one on one, well lets just say, the outcome would have been....well I’d like to say humorous, but the truth is, it would have been rather pathetic!

In some ways, this is what we see taking place from the end of chapter 11 and through most of chapter 12. The Sanhedrin, and all of their cohorts, were woefully over matched in their challenges to Jesus. So overmatched that the analogy I just gave doesn’t really fit, I mean I at least had an outside shot at scoring 1 point, these men had no shot. A more accurate analogy would have been me at 4 years old, having never even touched a basketball! You would have thought that these men would have left with their preverbal tails between their legs, instead they set up their chess board for another shot at the champ. You know, there is a part of us that appreciates the attitude of individuals who don’t give up easily, that type of spirit is commendable. But this was ridiculous, still, 3 more times in chapter 12 we see them return and set up their chess board for one more match!

That is what we see starting in verse 13 of Mark 12.

With that, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word? Next Slide

Mark 12:13–17 ESV

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.

To begin with in this morning’s passage, we see the members of the Sanhedrin didn’t spend to much time with their tails between their legs. Almost immediately they sent phase two of four phases of attempts to trap Jesus, to trick Him into saying something that would either put Him at odds with the people, or better yet, put Him at odds with the Roman’s. In Luke’s account of this same event, we find out that they were watching Him closely, they were looking for the perfect opportunity before they set their traps. Look at the beginning of verse 13. There we read “And they sent”. As noted above, the they is believed to be the Sanhedrin. But notice the word “sent”. The Greek word used here is the same Greek word used for “Apostles”. What it means is that the individual being sent, goes with the full authority of the sending party. In the instance of those whom we refer to as Apostles, Scripture is clear that these men were sent as official representatives of Jesus Himself. That is one of the reasons they Apostles were given special powers. Like Jesus, they had the ability to perform miracles, even raise the dead. However, in this morning’s passage, it means these men were sent by the Sanhedrin and brought with them the full backing and full authority of the Sanhedrin. In other words, it was virtually the same as if the Sanhedrin had come to question Jesus, themselves. But who was it they sent? The one’s sent is rather fascinating, here we see: Next Slide

The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend. Vs. 13; Mt. 22:16

In the Nation of Israel at this point in their history, the Pharisees and Herodians were arch enemies. They were enemies religiously as well as politically.

The Pharisees were devoted to strict obedience to the Law of Moses as well as the Traditions of the Elders. They were strongly opposed to paying taxes to Rome because it was a godless empire. They were for an independent State for Israel.

The Herodians were a people who had a great deal of allegiance to the family of Herod, all the way back to Herod the Great, whom many of them considered to be the messiah. The family of Herod no longer ruled in the way they did in the days of Herod the Great, now serving more as governor’s of provinces rather than kings. Their hope was that the day would come when the kingship of the Herod’s be reinstated, thus they saw Rome as a friend of sorts, since Rome still allowed the Herods a role in leadership.

Both the Pharisee and the Herodians had a great fear as well as hatred for Jesus. Both loved their places in the scheme of things in Israel and both saw Jesus as a threat to that status. As a result, they were willing to put aside both their religious and political differences with the common goal of the death of Jesus.

Putting their collective heads together, no doubt with guidance from the Sanhedrin, they thought through the best possible question. One that would either pit Jesus against the Nation of Israel, or better yet, pit Him against the Roman government.

With that in mind, these two groups of enemies came to Jesus with a trap question. By the way, the word trap is very important here. This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament. Based on its use in other ancient literature, it gives the picture of a violent pursuit with the hopes of utter destruction. This brings us to our next section, I call it: Next Slide

Eddie Haskell Before Eddie Haskell Was Born. Vs. 14; Mt. 22:16; Lk. 20:21

One of my favorite shows growing up was “Leave It To Beaver”, How many of you remember “Leave It To Beaver”? One of my favorite characters was Eddie Haskell. Eddie was pretty mischievous. Constantly getting Wally and The Beave in trouble. One of the interesting traits of Eddie Haskell was how he spoke to parents. One second he was discussing how to get something by Ward and June Cleaver, but the second either of them walked into the room, it was “Well good morning Mrs. Cleaver! Me and the boys were just discussing what a fabulous mother you are and how important you and Mr. Cleaver are to the community.” All along the audience knew Eddie Haskell didn’t mean a word he said. It was all empty flattery. That is exactly what we see taking place in the verses before us now. Look at verse 14: Next Slide

Mark 12:14 ESV

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?”

Now, as we look at this verse, we recognize that every word spoken by these men is true. But these men didn’t believe a word they were saying, it was all empty flattery. In fact, you can be certain it brought them a great deal of emotional and mental pain to refer to Jesus in this manner. “Teacher” was a sign of a great deal of respect, and these men had no respect at all for Jesus. “You....truly teach the way of God”. They had to swallow hard before during and after making this statement! They were simply buttering Him up, hoping to convince Him that they had had a change of heart, wanting to put Him at ease so He would feel comfortable and unthreatened by their question.

This brings us to: Next Slide

The Trap Question. Vs. 14b; Mt. 22:17; Lk. 20:22

They go on to ask Him “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them or not?” There is little doubt that their expectation was that Jesus would side with the Pharisees. That He would be opposed to paying taxes to Caesar. That was the whole purpose of bringing the Herodians to begin with, I mean they hated the Herodians! To understand this more fully, let’s think back over the events of this week in the life of Jesus. Just 2 days earlier, on Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people. Keep in mind that the Nation was in the midst of celebrating the most important of their annual festivals, The Passover. At a minimum there were hundreds of thousands of Jews making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast. In fact, Jewish historian, Josephus, recorded that 10 years later there were over 2 million visitors to Jerusalem for the Passover. So here we are with crowds possibly over 1 million and as Jesus enters Jerusalem that Sunday, they are shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord.” Make no mistake, they were hailing Him as King.

Additionally, because of the magnitude of this celebration, there were not one, but two Roman magistrates in Jerusalem. Both Pontius Pilate and Herod Agrippa were in town. Clearly these magistrates had heard about what took place on Sunday, and as a result, they were watching Jesus every move. One false political move and they would have immediately locked Him up. With the Herodians in tow, the question on taxes is raised, hoping against hope that Jesus, softened by their insincere flattery, would give an answer that they should not pay taxes to Caesar. Should that take place, the Herodians would run as fast as their legs could take them to Herod Antipas and Pilate, and the Roman soldiers would immediately seize Him and lock Him up, then put Him to death. All before the Passover Celebration. I mean wouldn’t it be grand to celebrate the Passover with Jesus out of the picture.

This brings us to Jesus response. Next Slide

The All Seeing Eyes Recognize the Empty Flattery And The Trap. Vs. 15, Mt. 22:18; Lk. 20:23

We read in vs. 15 that Jesus knew “their hypocrisy”. So, while Ward and June Cleaver may have struggled with Eddie Haskell’s empty flattery, Jesus saw right through that of the Pharisees and Herodians. We find out in John 2:25 that Jesus “Himself knew what was in man”. As we have seen multiple times as we have traveled through the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has the ability to see right into the minds of men, and while these men may have felt they were putting on an Academy Award performance, they weren’t fooling Jesus.

After seeing through their hypocrisy, Jesus then answers their 2 questions with 3 of His own.

Next Slide

Questions Answered With More Questions. Vs. 15b & 16; Mt. 22:18-19; Lk. 20:24-25

The first question revealed His ability to see the hypocrisy of their empty flattery; “Why put Me to the test?” Which was followed by Him calling them to “Bring Me a denarius and let me look at it.” Interestingly, they were able to produce a coin, because it had the image of Tiberius Caesar on one side, including the inscription “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus”. Since the coin had an image of one who claimed to be a son of a god, including an inscription indicating the same, most Jews considered the coins to be a mini idol. It was a silver coin minted by the Romans and its value was generally a days wage. After they produced a denarius, they then handed it to Jesus. At this point in time, the Pharisees were probably pretty confused, when Jesus took the coin in His Hand, looked over one side, then flipped it over and looked at the other side. As our Lord held up the coin, a hush fell upon the huge crowd assembled. His question broke the silence: “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” I would imagine the looks on their faces at this time were incredulous, seriously, what a stupid question! To be honest, they would have preferred going through that day without mentioning that name, perhaps the answer came from scattered individuals among the questioners; “Caesars” came their confused reply. Again, silence from the crowd, all wondering what Jesus would say next. After a short pause, Jesus looked directly into the eyes of the hypocritical leaders; “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesars”.

There were very profound implications to Jesus reply, implications that have an affect on us to this day. Jesus used the word “Render”. The Greek verb “render” refers to repaying something that is owed. Jesus clearly taught that paying taxes to a secular government is an obligation, an obligation due partly because of the benefits provided by the government. As much as they may have hated the Roman government, the benefits provided by the Romans were significant, not perfect, but significant. Sound familiar to you? As one commentator put it; “If we accept the amenities of the state, in law and order, expressed in a guaranteed coinage as in other things, then we have no right to seek to escape the burdens imposed by the state.” Cole, R. A. (1989). Mark: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 2, p. 268). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. The point is, as long as the government is not forcing us to violate clear directives from God, we are to be obedient to the dictates of the government. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in the first 7 verses of Romans 13 where we read; “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. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 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.”

There are multiple other New Testament passages that also give this same directive. Peter wrote similarly in 1 Peter 2:13-15. Paul carries this thought even further in his first letter to Timothy where he instructs that we are also to be praying for those in positions of authority. We see this in 1 Timothy 2:1-2. In fact, I would say that if you spend more time complaining about government officials, especially those with whom you disagree, than you do praying for them, you are dangerously close to imitating the Pharisees that were trying to entrap Jesus in this morning’s passage.

But Jesus didn’t end with the statement; “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar”. Look at His next statement, what does He go on to say? “and to God the things that are God.” Quick question, What is the very first thing Jesus said in verse 16? “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” The NIV accurately translates the word “likeness” with the word “image”. Keep a finger in Mark 12, and turn with me to the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible for a moment. Genesis 1:27. What do we read in Genesis 1:27? “So God created man in His Own image”. Now, go back to Mark 12:17 and Jesus last statement to His questioners that day, what is His last statement? “and to God the things that are God.” If the listeners were to “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar” because it was Caesars image on the coin, then what are we to do as those who are very literally created in the image of God? We are to “Render... to God the things that are God’s” Namely, I am God’s possession, we are God’s possession, and for us, it goes well beyond the fact that we are created in God’s image. You see, not only are we created in the image of God, on top of that, the All Powerful God Who created us, also freely gave His very own Son, to pay the price for our sins. A price that in the Gospel of Mark, would be payed just 2 days after our current passage. That benefit alone, and believe me, there are too many other benefits for us to count, but that benefit alone should bring us to the point where we willingly deliver ourselves over to Him daily, our lives as a “living sacrifice”, as we read in Romans 12:1-2.

I mentioned earlier this morning that the Sanhedrin had four phases of attempts to entrap Jesus, we now move to: Next Slide

Trap Phase 3-The Sadducees. Vs 18-27; Mt. 22:23-33; Luke 22:27-39

The Sanhedrin was made up of 3 segments of Jewish leaders, The Pharisees, The Scribes and the Sadducees. The largest segment was the Sadducees. Reluctantly, these three groups worked together to form the ruling council.

The Sadducees only accepted the Law of Moses as Scripture, meaning if it wasn’t in the first 5 book of the Old Testament, they didn’t believe it. We read in Acts 23:8 that “the Sadducees [said] that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all”. The Pharisees held that all of the Old Testament was from God, additionally, they included the traditions of the Elders. These 2 groups of leaders had countless arguments about these things, but with only the first 5 books of the Old Testament to use in their argument, the Pharisees never faired well in these arguments. With prideful hearts and puffed out chests, the Sadducees approached Jesus with a question they had posed to the Pharisees thousands of times, and each time the Pharisees left defeated, unable to answer. They were certain to prove to the Pharisees and Scribes that if you want a job done right, hand the job over to the Sadducees. As a result, they came to Jesus and presented to Him an absolutely absurd scenario; “19Teacher, 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.”

One of the first lessons we can learn from a line of questioning like this is, anytime someone asks questions like this, ridiculous questions that really have no hint of reality to them, they are not sincere questions. Their sole purpose is to entrap, not because the individual is truly seeking an answer. If you are unable to answer the question, there is no need to fret, you didn’t blow an opportunity, it was never really an opportunity. Look at Jesus reply, He realized there was no sincerity in their question, as a result he pointed their ignorance in His first statement; “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” His reply was a serious indictment for these men who prided themselves in their intellect and knowledge of the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Jesus calls them out on 2 fronts, first, their inadequate knowledge of the Scriptures, and secondly, their lack of faith in the power of God. While they believed God had enough power to speak the universe into existence, somehow they believed His power ended at that point. Why was it so difficult for them to understand that the same God Who spoke all of creation into existence, didn’t have the power and control over the spiritual realm? Angels, heaven, resurrection, hell, they believed in none of those things. That is why Jesus points out their chosen ignorance on the power of God.

Jesus does go on to answer their insincere question on the resurrection by taking them to a passage from the book of Exodus. Look at His response in verse 26; Next Slide

Mark 12:26–27 ESV

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.”

By the way, His answer was so good that the Scribes complimented Him on it, and rest assured used His answer from that day forward, anytime the Sadducees brought up the same question. We see their compliment in Luke 20:29 “Teacher, You have spoken well!” We also see that this pretty much shut the mouths of the Sadducees from that day forward!

The last thing we see in Matthews account of this event, is that the crowd was “astonished at His teaching.” They had already marveled at His reply to the question of the Pharisees, Jesus response to the Sadducees moved them from marvel to astonishment.

As we close out this morning, I want to point out a three key spiritual lessons for us.

We hide nothing from the all seeing eyes of Jesus. Just as He saw into the hearts of both the Pharisees and the Sadducees, He sees into our heart as well. There is nothing hidden from His eyes.

While our government may be far from perfect, it is still a government that has been established by God. As a result, we are to give the respect due them as from God. We are also to be praying for those God has placed over us a governing authorities. In fact, I would say that if you spend more time complaining about government officials, especially those with whom you disagree, than you do praying for them, you are dangerously close to imitating the Pharisees that were trying to entrap Jesus in this morning’s passage.

We have all been created in the image of God, and as such, we are to “render” all that we are to Him, offering Him our lives as living sacrifices.