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Well, if you have your Bibles open them with me to Mark's gospel and we are going to look tonight at Chapter 12 Verses 13 to 17.
And.
As I was preparing for tonight's lesson, I Actually was considering whether or not I was going to do verses 13 to 17 or whether I was going to do verses 13 to 34 and my reason for that. As you as those of you who have been here know, I know it's a smaller group tonight.
But if you have been here you'll know that my one of the things I like to do is I like to show connections and I like to show how things flow one into the other. And what's happening in this part of the text is this is day three which would have put this on Tuesday of Holy Week and this is the point in the narrative where Jesus is interacting with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and it says At the end of what we learned last time in verse 12 It says they were seeking to arrest him.
But they feared the people for they perceived that he told the parable against them and that was the parable of the wicked Tenants and we talked about that in our last lesson. Well immediately following that.
Situation.
There is three interactions that all go together in one narrative and that the the first one is the Pharisees and the Herodians come to Jesus and Then in the next it's the Sadducees who come to Jesus and then it's one of the scribes.
Come and ask a question, but this threefold Question you have the question about.
Taxes and.
The second one is the question about.
Theology and.
The third is a question about.
Priority.
Because this is how it works out. The first is Should we pay taxes to Caesar or not? The second is The the Sadducees who don't believe in the resurrection come to Jesus and they say if a woman had seven husbands and she dies and She goes to heaven or is resurrected rather.
Whose wife will she be? That's a theological Question and it was it was an attempt to trap Jesus and what they considered an unanswerable.
Dilemma.
So you've got the tax question the theology question and then the third question is The question of priority what is the greatest commandment? What's the first the way that the mark renders it the first commandment of the law?
Meaning what not which one came first, but rather which one is of highest priority. So as I said part of me wanted to do all three together just to show how they all tie together. But I don't think that's absolutely necessary.
I think for tonight We will focus only on the first one and then in the weeks ahead We will get to the other two as God gives us time. So tonight we're going to look at verses 13 to 17 on the subject of taxes.
So and in that just a great subject to talk about here at the beginning of the year, you know what we found out we found out that our property tax was going up because the Nassau County School Board voted a Pay-raise to teachers and now our house payment went up.
Pretty pretty good amount. So it's a great time to talk about taxes. We found that out just yesterday as I opened up my new Bill for the new year and it had gone up and I said, oh this is a different price than I was paying last year.
Well, nobody likes taxes. Nobody likes to have to deal with taxes but we all in one way shape or form have to so here is what is said and they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk 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? But knowing their hypocrisy He said to them why put me to the test?
Bring me a denarius and let me look at it and they brought one and He said to them whose likeness and inscription is this? They said to him Caesars. Jesus said to them render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are gods and.
They.
Marveled at.
Him.
Well, we've we prayed before we started so we all simply ask God to bless the reading of his holy and inspired and inerrant word. This is probably one of the more common Scenes in the life of Christ in the sense of common being that people are familiar with it.
We will often hear people say things like render unto Caesar. They'll use that phrase even if they're not familiar with where it came from they just say things like well, you got to render unto Caesar what Caesars and what I find interesting about this particular text is often the emphasis of Jesus's words is on the first half.
I mentioned this in my prayer and I know who's people listening online didn't hear us pray but I mentioned in my prayer that often the emphasis is put on one part not the other part and what I meant by that is.
Often the emphasis is placed upon the rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesars. In fact, some people just say that and they end but tonight what I hope to at least bring to light is the second half of that statement when Jesus said to render to God the things that are God's.
I Just so happened and by God's providence. I don't believe in luck, but by God's providence. I started a book yesterday. By a pastor who is teaching on the subject of digital currency. It was called the book is called the Bible and Bitcoin now.
I'm not trying to endorse Bitcoin. I will be interviewing him on my show. But only because he is an interesting man a pastor and I enter. I interview a lot of people on my show. But what I found interesting in his book was knowing I was going to teach this text tonight he in his book addressed this text and made an interesting point and Something that I thought was very helpful and I hope that throughout tonight's lesson.
You'll see what it is. I'm referring to. But before we get to that portion and I am a little ahead of myself now. Let's start back at the beginning and when I get to that where the man what he said I'll bring that back up as I said, I sort of jumped ahead there.
So I apologize. So let's go back up to verse 13 and we'll work our way through the text. It says and they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk now the they that is being referred to here is The Jewish leaders and of course that would have included the Pharisees but this is they're sending from among them a delegation and.
We're.
Probably familiar with who the Pharisees are. Most of us are familiar with the Sadducees, but the Herodians are often a confusing group because they're not ones that are. Often we often talk about the scribes and the Pharisees or the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
But the Herodians sort of come up as this as this group that people are less familiar with. The Herodians refer to those who were of the party of Herod and the Herodian dynasty was. From Herod the Great you'll remember Herod the Great was king when Jesus was born and he was the one who sent out to have all of the Children two years old and younger killed.
Remember that was King Herod. Well, King Herod was the one who was responsible For the building of the temple that was there during the time of Christ. We call that the second temple even though in in many ways.
It was really the third temple because you have the temple in between Solomon's temple and Herod's temple, which was the rubble's temple. That's the temple that when the people came back and saw it they wept.
The ones who had seen the glory of the previous temple when they saw that temple they wept and and were saddened by it, but Herod was not a.
Jew.
He was a He was a Mixed blood and he had he was placed into authority by Rome. So many Jewish people many of the particularly the Pharisees rejected Herod's authority. So it's interesting at the beginning of this text to note that we see the disparities in the hair Herodians together coming against Christ as They say often the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Interesting. We'll see this later but when Jesus is sent by Pilate to Herod and Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate and that's a different Herod at that point. That's not Obviously not King Herod King or Herod the Great because Herod the Great had died.
This was The the Herod that was the the King at the time of Christ or at the time of the the Passover Time of the Passion Week. Sorry. It says that Herod and Pilate became friends. Why did they became become friends?
Because of their mutual issues against Christ their mutual hatred Against Christ they had a common enemy. Well in this same situation here the Pharisees and the Herodians have a common enemy and that is Jesus and it says and they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to trap him in his talk now the word trap is Only used once in the Greek New Testament, it's only used here.
But a different word is used in Matthew's gospel but it basically means the same thing Matthew's gospel says that they plotted to Entangle him in his words a different word. But basically the same thing they're they're coming against Jesus with words that are intended to be a Way of bringing him down.
This is funny. I heard a guy the other day and it really struck me. He said if Jesus teaches us anything about how to deal with other people it's that not everybody who comes and questions you is doing so in a Positive way not everybody who comes to question you is doing so in a in a way to build you up.
Some people are using their questions simply to tear you down and some people need to be ignored because some people are only there to plant a Trap for you or to hatch a scheme against you and that is exactly what's happening here.
These men are coming to Jesus to spring some form of trap Against him and so the trap comes in the method of the question of taxes. Now we are probably familiar with this but just in case we know just in case you don't know this the the Romans had the Jews and Israel under occupation this is what made men like Matthew, so Heinous to the other Jewish people because Matthew was one who had become a tax collector for Rome and if you were a tax collector for Rome, you were one who was hated by the Jewish people because you were considered to be a traitor.
This is if you remember Matthew's gospel when Jesus is teaching on church discipline he says that when a person is disciplined they are to be treated like a Tax collector remember he said a Tax collectors and sinners, right?
They're there because tax collectors were not allowed in the temple. They were Excommunicated by virtue of their very job because their job itself was a job which was a traitor to their nation and There were some Pharisees who taught that you were Not to pay taxes to Rome there were some who taught and and honestly I thought about that.
There are.
Bible teachers today who say that we shouldn't pay taxes. One very famous Bible teacher went to jail. He was he was very I don't say popular. Popular is not the right word. He was very well known especially in the Creationist movement.
He was a teacher in the creationist movement and He became very well known for teaching. He had online videos and things like that. People knew his name. Well come to find out he was refusing to pay taxes.
Based upon whatever belief he had in his reasoning I don't I never listened to his arguments for it, but he ended up going to jail for tax evasion and.
So.
There are those who believe in the fact or believe in the reality that they shouldn't have to pay taxes because our government is corrupt and part of us Says I get it. There's corruption in the government.
I don't want to support the corruption in the government. Therefore. I'm not going to pay taxes. Well, guess what happens when that when you do that you make yourself an object of the government's. Well that you make yourself a criminal in the eyes of the government if you don't pay your taxes.
So they're asking Jesus to a simply to essentially endorse a crime. Because they're asking him to say No Don't pay taxes or The opposite if he says pay your taxes. Then guess what all the people who think that it's wrong to pay taxes to Caesar all the people who think that it's wrong to give to the Roman government are going to stop following him.
Jesus is in a no-win situation either he's going to Say don't pay taxes at that and at that moment, you know as well as I do. They would have gotten and ran to the Roman guards and said that guy there is teaching people not to pay taxes.
He's an insurrectionist get him they because they wanted to get rid of Jesus so it would have either been that or the other side would have been that they would have Gone to the Jewish people look at him.
He's on the side of Rome. He's no better than that tax collector. He's got following him. Maybe that's why he's got him. Maybe he's in cahoots with Rome so Jesus is in a Situation where The average person may not be able to win but Jesus cannot be caught by mere mortal men.
Because he is wiser than all. So Jesus responds in verse 15. Oh wait, I did miss a part. I don't want to forget. When they came to him they said teacher We know that you are true and you do not care about anyone's opinion for you're not swayed by appearances.
But truly teach the way of God. They are saying things that are absolutely true, but they don't believe them and We know that because Jesus says in verse 15. It says knowing their hypocrisy. Everything they just said about.
Oh, yes, you're a true teacher now Nicodemus said that about Jesus, but Nicodemus believed it. Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and he said we know that you're a teacher sent from God and Nicodemus knew that and he believed it and we see that because of Nicodemus is life but these men are coming with a hypocritical spirit.
And they said we know you are true. You don't care about anyone's opinion. You're not swayed by appearances that is a wonderful truth and it certainly was true about Jesus, but they didn't care about that and They certainly did not believe that he truly taught the way of God so they asked him is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or Not should we pay them or should we not in?
Matthew's gospel, you don't have to turn there I just I have I have it laid out in my notes so I can see the different the different gospels. It says but Jesus aware of their malice Said why put me to the test you?
Hypocrites so in Mark's gospel, it says knowing their hypocrisy, but in Matthew's gospel He declared their hypocrisy. He said you hypocrites in Luke's gospel. This is in chapter 20 verse 23. It says he perceived their craftiness.
So not only are they.
Being.
Hypocritical, but they're also being cunning they're being crafty and Jesus is perceiving this and.
He says bring me a Denarius and let me look at it. A Denarius was a day's wage. Approximately for a average worker.
I.
Took the kids to see a movie the other day and The new Wonka movie, it's very cute and it begins not to spoil it for anyone but it begins with Willy Wonka Walking through town. He's got 12 silver sovereigns and there's a little song about having 12 silver sovereigns and Represents 12 days work so it's interesting just how that connected here.
One sovereign was worth a night in a hotel or whatever and.
So these are coins. This denarius is a coin and on that coin is stamped the face of Caesar and at the time of this particular event, it would have been the it would have been Tiberius Caesar and So Jesus says bring me a denarius let me look at it and They brought one and he said to them whose likeness and inscription is this they said to him Caesars and.
So this brings us to that climactic moment where Jesus says render to Caesar the things that are Caesars and To God the things that are gods. Now I mentioned earlier that I just started a book and the book had mentioned something about this passage.
But I want to just I want to reference something else in the book and I and I always give credit to where it's due. I'm getting this from that book. The the pastor who wrote the book asked this question.
He said what is money and He pointed something out. He said in all of his years as a pastor and I thought about it myself as all my years. The pastor I've I've heard many sermons about money. Do not love money right don't be lovers of money.
The the the Love of the love of money is root of all evil, right? We've here all kinds of sermons about money, but have you ever heard someone define? What money is and you might say well, no, we all know what money is, but do we really know?
What money is. And he had a very interesting definition of What money is and and I found it helpful. So I want to share it with you and you may not 100 disagree with everything that he said. But I think it's useful and it's going to come back in a moment and help with this verse he said money is a place where we.
Deposit our.
Time and energy. It's a place of deposit for time and energy. He said so for instance before there was paper money and before there was coins. People traded in goods they bartered goods, you know. If I wanted oranges and you wanted apples and I grew apples and you grew oranges.
Well, we might trade those things my time spent growing my oranges gives me the Commodity to be able to trade with you and you give me your apples and he said but the problem is he says those Items make for poor currency.
He says what if I don't want oranges? But I want your apples and you don't want oranges well, how am I going to get your apples if you don't want my oranges if that's all I've got and Also oranges and apples have a poor shelf life.
They don't last very long. He said so it was very early in mankind's history that man began to make a deposit of Worth into something that would last and the oldest form of currency at least one of the oldest forms of currency is precious metals gold and Silver because this was something we could say here I'm going to deposit my and when I say depositing time and energy, what do you give to get money?
You work you work you give time you give energy and they give you that money. That money is a replacement for your time and energy. It's what you've deposited and receiving so that you can take that money and do something else with it.
And I've never as again as I was thinking through I thought this is interesting just thinking of what money is right? It's a deposit of our time and energy. It's it's it's it's it's something that Represents at the end of the week when when you're when your boss gives you a paycheck.
He this represents 40 hours of your labor 50 hours of late, whatever it is this was your time and your energy now placed into a into a check or into a financial transaction and All of that is simply to say When we think about what Jesus is holding up.
He's holding up money. That has Caesars face on it but he's also holding up a piece of currency that was exchanged for people's energy and time and he says.
This.
Money is Given to us by Caesar. See his face is on it. It ultimately came from him and In one sense belongs to him because it wouldn't be worth anything. If it wasn't if they didn't say it was worth something.
This is another danger where we live today as we live in a time when our money has no value outside of a declared Value, right? Why does it why is your dollar worth? Whatever? It's worth because that's what it's declared to be worth.
It's called fiat currency. It's no longer backed by any gold standard or anything like that. I don't wanna get into all that but you understand the point is Currency has to be agreed upon this is worth something and both sides have to agree.
This is worth something and I know I seem like I'm going maybe off the track here but all of this is simply to say Jesus is holding up a piece of currency and he's saying this currency is Caesars and It has his image on it.
You Also have an image and the image that's on you is God. Everyone is created in God's image and being created in God's image means that While we do have to live in Caesars world and we have to pay Caesars taxes our lives belong to God.
We belong to God not to Caesar. So when Jesus says render under Caesar the things that are Caesars none to God the things that are God's. He's saying yes, we have to we have to live in this system. And what's interesting about Christianity is Later in the Bible in the book of Romans.
It does tell us to pay our taxes. Paul tells us pay taxes to whom taxes are due and According to the early church fathers if you read the early church writings the early Christians did pay their taxes.
Even when they were unfair even when the government was unjust Christians paid their taxes. But they lived for God and so Jesus Says to the Pharisees and the Herodians. He says yes render under Caesar the things that are Caesars you live in Caesars.
Under Caesars rule you live under Caesars rules, but your life Belongs to God and so I think that's the part that we often miss we think about the rendering under Caesar and we want to Argue about taxes and we want to battle about taxes and I do think I Appreciate something.
Dr. Sproul said dr. Sproul did make a good point and his and his comments on this verse he said there are times where as Americans we have the benefit of standing against Ungodly taxation such as at the polls when we go and vote we should always vote for fair Taxes and not for unfair taxes.
We shouldn't vote to get ourselves something when it takes away from someone else. We should we should always seek equity and equal weights and scales in those types of things and I think that's an important reality and the idea of taxes is here and certainly there are things worthy of Consideration, but the other half is true to the thing that is God's.
Is us.
Render under God the things that are God's and the things the thing ultimately that is God is Us. We are created according to Genesis chapter 1 in his image. The money bears the image of seizure see siege Caesar but we bear the image of God and.
So the people marveled it says the last thing it says. They marveled at his answer. So those are my thoughts about this particular passage. Anybody have any questions? Is that helpful at all to kind of look at it that way.
Well good. Well, we're a little early tonight. Well, we've only gone for about 30 minutes, but I think that's good. That'll be fine. We'll close right here with a word of prayer father. We thank you for the reminder that we have been created in your image.
And we pray that we would render unto you our lives for Lord while we live in Caesar's world and while we Adjust ourselves to Caesars rules. Lord ultimately, we are yours and we belong to you and Lord what?
Talents and treasures and Time you have given to us. Let us make our ultimate deposit into your kingdom. Let us deposit with ourselves into the kingdom of God just like I preached on Sunday Lord. Let us make a deposit of ourselves in this church.
Let us deposit ourselves into the lives of others. Let us use the gifts and talents you've given to us to bless others and Lord through that we also will be blessed Lord help us to live for you and to Continue to strive to Do the things that you've called us to do in this church in Jesus name.
Amen.
