Challenging Jesus

Matthew 22:15-46

I. Jesus is questioned by the disciples of the Pharisees in the presence of the Herodians. (15-22)

A. It is the intent of the religious leaders to cast doubt on the person of Jesus.

1. The devotion of the people toward Jesus kept them from killing Him. Look at 21:46 and you will see that. The religious leaders need to get the people to feel the same way about Jesus that they do. Their hatred toward Him has grown more intense over the incidents that have occurred over the last few days. Namely the cleansing of the Temple and the direct and public parables Jesus has used describing the religious leaders as outside of the kingdom of God.

2. The religious leaders respond to the three parables denouncing them with three questions directed toward Jesus. The intent of these questions is to cause division among the people that are following Christ. The first is in v. 17 “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?”, the second is in v. 28 “Who is a woman married to in heaven that has had eight husbands on earth?” and the third is in v. 36 “Which is the greatest commandment?” These questions were strategically set before Jesus because they were known to be divisive issues within the Jewish community.

3. Three different groups pose the questions. The first question is asked by the disciples of the Pharisees in the presence of the Herodians, the second by the Sadducees and the third by the Pharisees. The questions asked by the group correspond directly to the belief system of that group. So the personal opinions of many different people were involved here, three different philosophies we see which means lots of people would be interested in what Jesus says. We’ll see that the questions involve the political people, the religious liberals and the religious conservatives.

B. The Pharisees are involved in a plot of with the Herodians.

1. They try to use the Herodians to trap Jesus in His words. They want to get Jesus to say something that would be considered rebellious toward Rome. So they send out some of their disciples with a group of Herodians. The Herodians were not Jews, they were actually descendants of the Edomites. The Edomites were enemies of Israel. They had refused to allow the Jews to pass through their land on the way to the Promised Land and engaged in war with Israel on several occasions (Gen. 20:18-21). The Herodians were eventually promoted to a place of authority by the Romans and allowed to exercise power over regions the Jews lived in. A Herodian tried to kill Jesus when He was born, a Herodian had killed John the Baptist.

2. The Pharisees did not normally mingle with the Herodians. In fact, no good Jew did. The reason was simple. The Herodians allegiances lie with Rome. Rome was an oppressive government ruling over the Jewish people. So the Herodians were seen, especially by the Pharisees as an evil people. Throw on top of that the rank paganism of the Romasn and the Pharisees had no use for anyone that sided with Rome. But the Herodians would be the perfect witness against Christ to tell Rome that Jesus was inciting a rebellion against the government. That is why the Pharisees involve them.

3. The disciples of the Pharisees try and butter up Jesus. Look at verse 16. They call Him

“Master” which was a title used for rabbi’s, they tell Him He is truthful and teaches the way of God, and they tell Him He is impartial. Now all of that is true and it would have been great had those who said it actually believed it.

C. They ask Jesus a question. In essence they are saying “We need your help.” Their hypocrisy is really sickening.

1. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar? Rome had lots of things to fund so they taxed their people pretty hard. They justified it because they offered the people in their territory the peace that came from the power of the Roman army, roads that made travel easy and aqueducts that brought water to towns. The tax was heavy however. Land tax was 1/10 of grain 1/5 of wine and oil produced plus a 1% income tax on wages as well as taxes on merchandise collected at ports and major cross roads. But in question here was probably the poll tax. It was an annual tax paid by every individual. Rome conducted a census on occasion to make sure this tax was being paid. Most Jews hated this tax because they were forced to fund the very government that was oppressing them. To top it off the tax had to be paid with the Roman denarius. The coins were imprinted with images of the Emperor and the words like “Tiberius Caesar, son of Divine Augustus” on one side and blasphemous statements on the other side calling the Emperor the high priest. We could imagine the guilt this could cause a devout to Jew to feel.

2. This question is a difficult one. If Jesus says “yes” it may turn those that see Rome as an evil occupier against Him. If Jesus says “no” the Herodians will run and tell the government that Jesus is telling g the people it’s unlawful to pay taxes. And notice that the question is set up for a simple “Yes or no” answer. That is the tactic of any good lawyer and they are in a sense putting Jesus on trial.

3. Jesus answers their question. Notice He first lets them know what they are doing and who they are “Why are you tempting Me you hypocrites?”. He just rained on their parade of false flattery. He asks for a coin. He takes it is His hand and asked the people “Whose image is on this coin?” easy question “Caesar’s” Jesus says “Well give it to him then.” Do you think God wants a coin that says “Caesar is Lord?” Jesus says give Caesar what belongs to Him and give God what belongs to Him. In other words, you only rebel against Caesar when submitting to him means rebelling against God. That is the same truth that Paul and Peter teach in the New Testament. The Jews understanding of a sovereign God included the truth that God disciplines His children with oppressive governments at times and to rebel against that government would mean to rebel against the discipline of the Lord. Jesus answer to the question is perfect and does not classify Him as an insurrectionist or as an unsympathetic coward toward the Jewish people. Round one goes to Jesus.

II. The Sadducees ask Jesus a Question. (23-33)

A. The Sadducees were the elite among the Jewish people.

1. They were the smallest sect but also the wealthiest sect. They controlled the Temple, which is how they made a lot of money. They were over the operation of the priesthood. The High Priest, chief priests and most of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees. They were Roman sympathizers and that is how they got their power and their money. For siding with Rome, Rome made sure they held the highest places of authority in the Jewish religion. After the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 they would cease to exist.

2. They clashed with the Pharisees. The two did not like each other at all. The Pharisees saw the Sadducees as traitors and false teachers. The Sad. Put their theological focus on the Pentateuch and largely ignored the rest of the Scripture. They didn’t hold to rabbinical traditions like the Pharisees either. That affected their belief system. They didn’t believe in angels, the resurrection or spirits according to Acts 23:8. The two groups were polar opposites Politically, socially and theologically.

3. They did have one thing in common. They both hated Jesus and their hatred of Jesus brought them together on more than one occasion.

B. They have what they believe is a question that will stump Jesus. The Sadduccees did not believe in life after death. The thought, you die and that’s the end. They thought it was silly to believe in a resurrection and their question proves it.

1. I think this is probably a question they had asked others. It is a well thought out and tricky question. They had probably posed it to the Pharisees and gotten different opinions but nothing that was sufficient.

2. The question has its roots in an Old Testament custom. In order to protect the Jewish lineage, integrity of tribes and personal inheritance if a woman’s husband died the unmarried brother of the husband could take her as a wife. That is outlined in Deut. 25:5-6. The law protected widows as well in a time in which they were especially vulnerable.

3. The Sadducees introduce a scenario that is possible but not at all probable. “What if a woman was married eight times, who will she be married to in heaven?” In their minds their question revealed the absurdity of even believing in heaven. They think they have Jesus. Their intent is to make Him look foolish in front of the people.

C. Jesus answers the question.

1. He begins by telling them they are wrong and they don’t know what they are talking about. Look at verse 29. “You don’t know the Scriptures and you don’t know the power of God.” In other words, the Bible teaches the resurrection and God is powerful enough to resurrect the dead.”

2. He deals with the issue of marriage first. He tells them there is no marriage in heaven. There is no reproduction, no need for a helpmeet, no desire for sexual intimacy. Jesus also assaults their unbelief in angels saying to them “they are as the angels of God in heaven”.

3. He deals with the issue of the resurrection. To prove the resurrection He cites the Pentateuch. In Exodus 3:6, years after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were dead God told Moses “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”. Jesus said “God is their God”. He did not say God was their God. Look at verse 32. “God is not the God of the dead but of the living” and He declares Himself the God of Abraham therefore Abraham must be alive! That is an amazing argument Jesus made. Jesus uses Scripture, even citing the tense of a verb to prove a Theological point. The patriarchs and saints of old were alive. And if they doubted the resurrection they doubted the power of God. If God can take dust and create man He could certainly create a resurrection body with the dust or ashes of a deceased person. Round two goes to Jesus!

III. Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees about which of the commandments is the greatest. (34-46)

A. The Pharisees will not quit.

1. The situation seems to make them more intent. They tried to make Him a rebel before the Herodians. The Sadducees tried to make Him look like a fool and that didn’t work. Notice verse 34. The Pharisees were hoping it would you, can see they were disappointed when they found out He silenced the Sadducees. So the Pharisees regroup to make another plan. They enlist a lawyer (scribe) an expert in the Law. The lawyer is to tempt Jesus with a question. The purpose of the question is to bring some type of guilt on Jesus.

2. The question is a good one. “Which is the greatest commandment?” The Rabbi’s had made a list of 613 Laws found in the Old Testament that Jews were to keep. They divided those laws up into heavy and light categories. Among themselves they debated about which of the Laws were most important. Getting Christ to take sides would have caused a division among the people. That was their intent. If Jesus disagreed with an expert in the Law about what the most important commandment was that would, they hoped, bring a type of guilt upon the Lord, in their eyes.

3. They are grasping at whatever they can. They cannot find anything that would make Jesus a sinner. So they are desperately trying to make Him a false teacher. Having him contradict the experts in the Law might just do that they thought.

B. Jesus responds.

1. His answer is perfect. The greatest commandment is to love God with everything you have. He quotes verse that virtually every Jew would have memorized, Deut. 6:5. He then adds another Old Testament verse to it Lev. 19:18 which says “Love your neighbor as yourself”. Who could argue with that? The greatest thing we can do is love God and people!

2. His answer is doctrinally sound. The Ten Commandments are broken into two sections. The first four deal with man’s relationship with God. The final six deal with man’s relationship with people. Jesus answer to the question about the greatest commandment summarizes the Ten Commandments. If you love God, you’ll keep the first four and if you olive people you’ll keep the final six. Therefore His answer is impeccable. Look at verse 40. Jesus says every other commandment, whether it come from Moses or one of the prophets, will be kept if a person loves God and people without reserve.

C. Jesus asks a question.

1. He asks the Pharisees “Who is the Christ?” He doesn’t say “Who am I?” like He asked His disciples (16:15). He just wants to know who they think the Messiah will be. More specifically “Whose son is he? That’s an easy one for a Jew. The OT said he would be the son of David (2 Sam. 7:12-13, 15-16, Psalm 89, Amos 9:11, Ez. 37:21-25, Jer. 23:5-6.) They answered correctly.

2. Jesus asks “Why did David call Him Lord then?” By inspiration of Holy Spirit David recorded in Psalm 110:1 “The Lord said unto my Lord”. David said in the OT that YHWH spoke to his Lord and said sit here until I make your enemies a footstool.

3. Jesus asks “How could David call his offspring his Lord?” The religious leaders could not stand Jesus because He made Himself God’s Son, equal with God. But that is what the OT said He would be. Isa. 11:1 says that the Messiah would be a branch that comes from Jesse and 11:10 says He would be the root of Jesse. Rev. 22:16 Jesus says “I am the root and the offspring of David!” Jesus says David came forth from Me (creation) and I came forth from David (incarnation). Jesus point was that the Messiah would also be God incarnate worthy of worship and praise. That was the problem they had with JESUS. They needed to understand that is who the Messiah was. He would not merely be the Son of Man He would also be the Son of God. The Pharisees, scribes or no one else could answer the question of how Messiah could be David’s Son and David’s Lord. Verse 46 reveals the shock the men were under. They had no idea what to say. Round three goes to Jesus.