Sermon Tone Analysis

PRAY

Intro: Context - Snare #1 was a Personal Attack.

The second snare Luke includes is one of political entrapment.

Last time: Accountability to the vineyard’s owner; Rebellious (unsubmissive) tenants (vinedressers) and the son, the cornerstone

Pick up at v. 19 (just to see the transition again from the previous lesson)

Why has Luke included this?

What does the evangelist want us to see and let sink in?

The Jewish religious leaders are full of hypocrisy and abundantly guilty.

(concerning the unjust trial and killing of Jesus)

Jesus doesn’t fall for their trap.

Instead, he gives an answer that acknowledges the legitimacy of governing authority without neglecting God’s superior ownership over us (and over all).

His critics are silenced not only because Jesus’ answers are so wise, but because he is truly innocent.

Jesus is in control of what happens to him.

As Luke gives the setting and explanation for the next question posed to Jesus, we learn what they’re doing, why their doing it, and how they go about it.

The religious leaders only prove their falsehood further.

(vv.

20-22)

From v. 19 we see that these religious authorities would have arrested him (“sought to lay hands on him”) but for their fear of the people.

Now...

Their desperation to get rid of Jesus is evidenced by their unconventional alliance and their underhanded approach.

-Where Luke simply says “they,” Mt and Mk mention Pharisees and Herodians, who were normally adversaries (competing factions with an intense dislike for one another) but now united against a common enemy.

The Herodians were “A Jewish political party that sympathized with the rulers of the Herodian dynasty, and therefore Rome.” (Lexham Bible Dictionary)

-The sanhedrin is forced to move into the background because their direct attempts at confronting Jesus have already been exposed.

So they continue to “watch him” him closely for any error they can use against him, and now they send “spies,” which literally means someone hired to lie in wait.

(Luke’s connotation is dripping with the underhandedness of their conspiracy and complicity.

Guilt for what happens with Jesus is indeed on their hands.)

-Luke explains both the method of these spies and the motive of those who sent them.

They will pretend to be righteous (sincere in what they say), but only for the purpose of catching him with his own words, to use them against him.

-What the leaders behind the spies want is something they can use to arrest him and turn him over to “the authority and jurisdiction of the governor,” whom Luke told us in 3:1 was Pontius Pilate.

Pilate would have been in town to keep the peace during the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The religious and social leaders pulling the strings want to do away with Jesus by having someone else do their dirty work and they come away looking clean before the people.

We are meant to see that Jewish religious leaders are full of hypocrisy and abundantly guilty.

(concerning the unjust trial and killing of Jesus)

App: Hypocrisy, religious and otherwise.

We would be foolish to not recognize that we are prone to be hypocritical.

- Interestingly, we can guard against guile by being sincere in submission.

- Jesus sees right through hypocrisy/insincerity.

After attempting flattery to put him off guard, the spies ask an either/or question they think leaves Jesus trapped with no good outcome.

Luke has already put the reader on high alert to spot their insincerity.

Their flattery toward Jesus about his teaching has three points: We know that you speak and teach “straight.”

His teaching is right, plain, correct.

You don’t show partiality, which would mean Jesus doesn’t cater to people-pleasing, even leaders.

And he teaches God’s way “with truth,” meaning the way to walk righteously with God.

(NT authors would begin using this term “the way” to describe the Christian faith.)

For Luke and his readership, the irony is thick because these ones who think they flatter Jesus speak more accurately of him than they realize.

Jesus does teach plainly what is right and does not show favoritism.

And not only does he teach truly the way to walk with God, he himself is the way to God (John 14:6).

Now the question meant to entrap Jesus finally comes out.

Is it right for “us”, the Jews, who are under God’s law, to give/offer tribute to Caesar?

-Luke has tribute and Mt & Mk have “poll tax.”

The tax in question is payment from one nation to another for protection and as an acknowledgment of submission, which was apparently exacted from all the people.

The ones behind this think they’ve got Jesus between a rock and a hard place.

Taxation was an emotional issue and of great frustration to the Jews.

Taxes are a touchy subject for us as well (though that seems like child’s play next to masks and vaccines… topics forbidden at family gatherings).

Paying taxes has never been popular… because they are not a voluntary contribution.

But any government requires that taxes be paid in order to provide infrastructure and services for the good of the society they govern.

(at least that’s the idea) We do often try to find every way we can to wriggle out of taxation.

Picture this Saturday morning cartoon: A man sits in front of an IRS agent, who says to him, “Let’s begin with where you claim depreciation on your wife.” - I don’t recommend trying to get that deduction, men.

Disapproving government… very angry wife.

But seriously, tax season is upon us, and we have midterm elections coming up in Nov of ‘22.

But even if that weren’t the case, issues of taxation and government and religion are never far from our minds.

And if you are a bible-believing Christian (who knew you’d have to say that for clarification), then you also try to view these things through the lens of God’s authority and glory.

So they know the sensitivity of the subject matter would make this difficult for anyone to answer, and surely someone who claimed to be Messiah would not side with Rome.

Whichever way he answers, so they suppose, will either lose him favor with the people or get him in trouble with the occupying authority (which is their hope).

What does Jesus answer, and why does he respond in this way?

Jesus acknowledges the legitimacy of governing authority without neglecting God’s superior ownership over us.

(vv.

23-25)

Jesus doesn’t fall for their trap.

Instead, he sidestep their snare because truth is on his side.

He sees through their craftiness (deceit aimed at doing harm), and asks them to produce a denarius.

The denarius was the Roman currency and equivalent to approximately a day’s wage for a typical Roman soldier.

So this denarius would have been the particular Roman silver coin that had the Emperor Tiberius Caesar’s effigy (image) stamped on it and an inscription that elevated him to the likes of a deity.

It wouldn’t surprise us at all then, since there were other currencies available at the time, giving them the option to use other coins, such as the Greek drachma and Tyrian shekel (even some Jewish currency, that pious Jews might have avoided using the coins with Caesar’s head stamped on them.

The Romans required that the tax in question be paid in their currency, though, so it was not entirely avoidable.

It’s probably worth noting that this “show and tell” makes Jesus’ point concretely tangible in more ways than one.

Yes, they will answer rightly about whose image is on the coin, but they also reveal how they are already under Rome’s sovereignty because they can readily produce a Roman denarius!

Of course they answer that it is Caesar’s likeness and inscription on the coin, which allows Jesus to respond that they ought to pay the taxes owed.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t say give (which they originally asked about this tribute), but says render, which is to pay back what is owed, a more accurate picture of taxation than the original suggestion.

Jesus doesn’t fully develop a doctrine here of submission to governing authority.

He indicates simply that governmental authority has its place.

Paying the tax is an example of submitting to proper governing authority.

Thankfully we have a bit more than this to go on from scripture, with descriptions of submission to government from two of Jesus’ Apostles (1 Peter 2:13-17, and Paul in Rom 13:1-7), plus narrative examples in both the old and new testaments that help us to see where we might draw the lines (if these authorities contradict a command from God), and that it is legitimate to seek help within the system and even to be involved in it.

- Examples such as Daniel, Shad, Mesh, and Abed :-)… and Nehemiah (not to mention Kings and Judges, and so on).

Recall Peter and John before the council (Sanhedrin) in Acts 4…

And Paul used the rights of Roman citizenship more than once to draw attention to illegitimacy of the way they were being treated (Acts 16:37, 22:25-27) and used proper legal channels as a means to advance the gospel in Rome before the highest authorities, even Caesar himself (Acts 25:10-11).

With that said, we definitely don’t have time here to more fully discuss the Christian doctrine of submission to civil authorities as a means of submission to God.

Furthermore, it isn’t the primary thrust of this pericope in Luke’s gospel.

But because it has been and continues to be pertinent to our lives, perhaps next week I can commit to taking one week off from our continuation in Luke’s Gospel to shore up our biblical thinking on submission to government.

Ok, back to what this text is about in Luke 20.

Although brief, Jesus answer is more complete that simply, “pay the tax.”

[v.

25b again]

And if you owe taxes to Caesar because he’s in the position of authority and his likeness is imprinted on the currency, then what do you owe to God? Whose likeness and inscription is imprinted on you? - I would like to think that the Jewish audience readily realizes the insinuation: Gen 1:27

By coming at it from this angle Jesus gives the Jewish listener something important that allows him to fulfill this duty with a clear conscience: Paying a tax to a pagan ruler does not contradict God’s lordship over his people (as some Jews would have believed).

Furthermore, Jesus own work for God does not need to challenge Rome because what he is doing transcends earthly authority.

- You don’t have to overthrow the state to serve God’s kingdom.

That’s not to say there isn’t room for involvement and a desire to see things change for the good, but we aren’t dependent on the state to sanction our worship of God with our whole lives.

Jesus tells them that we can submit to earthly authority while bearing in mind that submission to God’s authority supersedes all.

With Jesus simple but profound answer, what happens to the conniving trickery and attempt to catch him in his own words?

Their ploy falls flat, and they are reduced to silence.

(v.