March 23 – Mark 12:13-27
He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away. ~ Job 5:12-13 (NIV)

The Jewish leaders thought they were smart enough to trap Jesus. After all, they had formal education and established authority, and who was this carpenter from Nazareth? Despite Jesus’ miracles and His amazing teaching, the Jewish authorities didn’t accept Him. All that studying and learning about Scripture and they didn’t even recognize the Messiah when they saw Him!
In today’s reading, the Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus first. (Both groups hoped for an independent Israel, but the Pharisees were looking for a messianic king from David’s line, and the Herodians wanted a member of the Herodian dynasty to rule.) Their question about paying the imperial tax was meant to either damage Jesus’ ministry or get Him killed. If Jesus were to say, “Yes, everyone should pay the imperial tax,” then He would fall out of favor with many in the crowds because the imperial tax (the tax on subject peoples that Roman citizens did not pay) was not only unpopular but also an expensive reminder of Roman oppression. If He were to say, “No, don’t pay the imperial tax,” the Romans would take that as a declaration of rebellion, and Jesus would be put to death for it.
Jesus sees right through their scheme, and His answer is brilliant. (Of course, it is; He’s Jesus.) Looking at a denarius, He says, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” In other words, where there is no conflict between civil law and God’s law, we must live according to both. Of course, God’s law always takes precedence, but there is nothing in God’s law that prohibits paying taxes. So, Jesus slipped out of the trap the Pharisees and Herodians set. Next, it was the Sadducees’ turn.
The Sadducees were a Jewish sect who refused to believe in the supernatural, the afterlife, or the resurrection of the dead, and they only accepted the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) as authoritative. Knowing that Jesus believed and preached the resurrection of the dead, the Sadducees came with a question meant to make the resurrection seem like illogical and unreasonable theology. Jesus reveals their ignorance of even the Scriptures that they accept and leaves them looking foolish.
Jesus tells them that there is no marriage in heaven, and He confronts their intellectual dishonesty as well. They ask about a resurrection they don’t believe in, so Jesus addresses this, saying that when God speaks to Moses at the burning bush, He calls Himself “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (v. 26). He doesn’t say He was the God of these patriarchs; instead, He is their God. This indicates the patriarchs still exist. There is an afterlife, and there will be a resurrection. The Sadducees are “badly mistaken” (v. 27).
None of Jesus’ enemies could trap Him with their questions. He frustrated all their attempts to discredit Him, get Him arrested, or undermine His teaching. All His answers revealed that He trusted His Father more and knew Scripture better than His adversaries. And in these things (and so many others), He is an example to us. Let us trust God and study the Scriptures so that we, too, are able to answer well when unbelievers ask us questions (see 1 Peter 3:15).
Ponder Jesus’ greatness in your time with Him today and worship Him. Ask Him to lead you as you engage Him in prayer and study His Word. The Holy Spirit will help you recall the Word when you need it. You can trust that the One who had the answers while He walked the earth still has the answers and will guide you as you live your life.
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