And they asked him saying, Teacher, we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly, and acceptest no [man's] person, but teachest with truth the way of God
The chief priests and scribes could not arrest Jesus in the open, so they sent men who looked sincere and began with praise. Every word of that praise was true, yet it was bait for a question meant to hand Him over to Rome.
The men who spoke these polished words were not students. They were plants, sent to listen for something usable.
Those called 'spies' are the men whom the rulers of Israel sent to trap the Lord. They were secret agents. By pretending to be just men, they hoped to catch the Lord in His replies. But His wisdom put them to shame and left them confused. Luke 20:20.
Guilt lay on both sides of the arrangement — on the men who hired and the men who performed. What defeated the scheme was not clever tactics but plain honesty of purpose.
The moral depravity of everyone involved stands out here — both the men who set it up and the men they used. Simplicity of purpose detects and exposes the crafty.
The flattery was not clumsy. It named the very qualities a teacher would most want to hear, and it aimed at getting Him killed.
One striking example is the men who came to the Lord Jesus (Luke 20:20-25). They pretended to honour Him by saying: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God." So in effect their mouths blessed Him, but their object was to have Him cursed. Of course the Lord Jesus discerned their falsehood, and silenced them by His wise answer.
Their description was not an exaggeration. It fell short. And it fits only one servant of God.
Notice how these opponents paid tribute to His perfect truth. Their words were true in a way far beyond anything they realised. In the fullest sense He was the truth and taught the truth, never turned aside by man and his little world. No other servant of God fits that description. Human considerations even influenced Paul, as Acts 21:20-26 shows. Jesus alone is the perfect Servant of God, and He was so poor that He had to ask for a "penny" to be brought to Him.
Note what that does to the men speaking. They stood in public and certified the teaching they were plotting to silence.
They sent spies who pretended to be righteous men. But the Lord fully discerned their hypocritical flattery. Yet, enemies as they were, they bore public witness that He taught the way of God in truth (v.21). What a condemnation of their own evil designs!
The praise opened the door. The tax question was the trap behind it, and either answer looked fatal.
The question of tribute to Caesar was very subtle. They used the effect of their own wickedness to tempt the Lord. In principle the Jews ought not to have been subject to the Gentiles. And besides, the Messiah had come, the Deliverer of Israel. If He said, Obey the Gentiles, where was His delivering power? If He said, Rebel, they would have had an excuse to hand Him over to Pilate. But the Lord answered with divine wisdom. He put them exactly in the place where their sin had put them: Caesar's things are to be rendered to Caesar, and God's things to God.
He answered the motive before He answered the question. The men asking were not confused about God's will; they were hunting.
They thought they had Him, and it was a sharp, subtle question. He read the moral character of the moment at once and went straight at it. "You come to lay a snare, not to have a difficulty solved. Why do you test Me? Show Me a penny."
Few of us will ever face a trap question like this one. Almost all of us will hear the flattering opening line.
Once more the sin of flattery is mentioned. "A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet" (verse 5). Flattery is close kin to lying and can never be right. It is always a mistake, and it leads to the gravest consequences. Flattery has spoiled more servants of the Lord than anything else.
- Sent — The questioners were spies. The rulers hired them to act sincere, catch His words, and hand Him to the governor.
- Sweetened — Their opening praise was a blessing on the lips hiding a curse in the heart. The compliment was there to soften Him for the trap.
- True — Every phrase they used was accurate, and truer than they knew. He alone taught the truth, never turned aside by man and his little world.
- Self-condemned — In public they testified that He taught the way of God in truth. That verdict convicted them. The next step, obeying that teaching, was the one they refused.
- Guarded — Flattery spreads a net for the feet, and it has spoiled more of God's servants than anything else. Simplicity of purpose, not cleverness, exposes the crafty.
Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?
Rival religious groups joined forces against Jesus and set a trap: was it right for a Jew to pay Roman taxes? They came to lay a snare, not to settle a doubt — and His answer settled the believer's duty to government for every age since.
The men who asked had no interest in the answer. One writer names the groups behind the trap, and shows how the Lord read their motive.
There were three great representatives of the people, the Herodians, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. The Herodian's religion was political. The Sadducee's religion was free-thinking. The Pharisee's religion was legal. But these were only different forms of hostility to God. The flesh can never form an alliance with God's Christ. We must be born again for that. Now they come to Him with a question: "Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" They thought they had Him. It was a shrewd, subtle question. At once He saw the moral point of the occasion, and went straight at it. "You come to lay a snare, not to have a difficulty solved."
Either answer seemed fatal. Say yes, and He denies Israel's hope of deliverance. Say no, and His enemies have a charge of rebellion to take to Pilate.
The question of tribute to Caesar was very subtle. They used the effect of their own wickedness to tempt the Lord. In principle the Jews ought not to have been subject to the Gentiles. And, moreover, the Messiah had come, the Deliverer of Israel. If He said, Obey the Gentiles, where was His delivering power? If He said, Rebel, they would have had an excuse to hand Him over to Pilate. Because of Israel's sin, God has broken down the key-stone of nations, and given power to the Gentile.
Instead of arguing, He asked for a coin — one He did not carry Himself. Their own money admitted what they would not say out loud.
The Lord's question, "Why put Me to the test?" showed that He was fully aware of their craft. Asking for the penny shows His own poverty. The inscription on the penny was a witness to their subjection to Caesar. His reply was therefore that they must render to Caesar his rights, and yield to God the rights that were His. Caesar had gained the rights of conquest over them because they had not rendered to God the things that were His. All this was so clear, once He pointed it out, that these crafty questioners were silenced.
Roman coins in the land were not proof of theft. They were proof of what the nation had lost.
The Lord was not going to treat Caesar as a usurper. He was the rod of God's anger in the land of Israel. Whether Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, or Romans, they were no usurpers. So, when the Lord saw Caesar's coin passing through the land, He saw in it Israel's shame, not Caesar's usurpation.
The Lord did not cancel one duty with the other. He gave each its place, and the ruler's character did not change the answer.
The civil power has rights, and we should respect them. In this case the Caesar on the throne was anything but a pattern of goodness; yet, since he was God's minister (Rom. 13:4), they were to pay him tribute. But God has His rights over men. Men should respect these rights too, and submit to them. Peter once said, "We must obey God rather than men." He was upholding the duty of rendering to God the things that were God's. Paul wrote, "Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed." He was upholding, in turn, the principle of rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. In this way the Lord settled the question for that time, and for all later ages as well.
The coin carried Caesar's likeness, so it went back to Caesar. The men holding it carried another likeness. That is where His answer reached their consciences.
This was not only a word to silence their objections, and to meet their hypocrisy, but was also a word for their consciences. They bore the image of God, and ought to have rendered to God what belonged to Him. But instead of putting themselves at God's disposal, they stood in opposition to Him and to His Son.
- Trap — the question was a snare, not an honest difficulty. Either answer gave them a charge to bring to Pilate.
- Coin — He asked for money He did not carry. Its inscription proved they were already Caesar's subjects.
- Shame — Caesar was no thief but the rod of God's anger. Israel had failed to render to God, so God gave the Gentile power over them.
- Claim — Caesar's rights stand even under a bad ruler. God's rights stand beside them, and when the two collide, we must obey God.
- Image — the coin bore Caesar's likeness, so it went back to him. Men bear God's likeness, so they owe God themselves.