Traps

 Matthew 22:15-46
 

Welcome! Today we continue our series into the book of Matthew, now looking at the last week before the crucifixion. There is a lot to talk about in today’s passage, but I think it helps to understand the context with a quick review of some things we have looked at in the last two weeks.
 
Recall that Jesus has been teaching the crowds, who by and large love Him (even hailing Him as the Messiah as He rode into Jerusalem). He has also been opposing the religious leadership, even cleansing the temple of their excessive-money-making exchanges. He has also embarrassed them in public debate, pointed out their hypocrisy, and generally won decisively against them in the “court of public opinion” which was really an honor-shame contest. The religious leadership resents Jesus, hates Him, is jealous of Him, and fear for their future if He continues to grow in popularity.

In Matthew 21:23, they finally stop Him in the middle of His teaching in the Temple courts, demanding that He tell them by what authority He was doing these things. Jesus tells them that He will not answer their question, because they refuse to answer His. He then tells them three parables. In the parable of the two sons, Jesus gets the Pharisees to acknowledge that the son who initially said “no” but then obeyed is better than the one who said “yes” but did not obey. Jesus’ point was that the Pharisees and other leaders were behaving like the son who did not obey. In the parable of the tenants, Jesus goes further and compares them to tenants who are hired to work the owner’s land who, instead of providing the fruit of the owner’s harvest, kill the owner’s son who comes in peace to collect it. And in the parable of the wedding banquet, Jesus compares them to people who refuse to come to king’s wedding banquet for his son and even kill those the king has sent to tell them the good news. He says that others will be invited to the banquet instead. And He even illustrates the point that those who come to Him must do so on His terms, not their own, by giving an example of someone who comes to the wedding without the given clothing; this person is “thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
 
Note that all of this happens out in the public, quite literally the “court of public opinion,” and Jesus’ condemnation of the leaders is more blunt, more pointed, and more devastating than anything that has happened so far.
 
As you know, the Pharisees and other leaders do not repent, but only become even angrier and more determined to put an end to Jesus’ popularity, whatever it takes. They decide to try to use the 2000-year-old version of “cancel culture”: get Jesus to say something that they can use to “cancel” Jesus, whether that means He gets arrested, or loses favor with the people that currently love Him, not just the crowds, but even, if it is possible, His disciples. To some degree, they have already tried this, but now they are holding nothing back.
 
Before we look at today’s passage, I just want to point out how tragically ironic their behavior really is. Jesus’ parables were not just warnings – they were prophetic. In the last two parables in particular you have people refusing the Son and even wanting to kill the Son and those who promote His message, and here you have the leaders doing this very thing!
 
Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap Him in His words. They sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” – Matthew 22:15-17
 
There are interesting details here. First, note that they did not go there themselves! They sent “their disciples” and they sent “the Herodians.” Who are these people? Well, in a parallel account, Luke simply calls them “spies.” I believe that “their disciples” does not mean disciples of the Pharisees, but rather people who supported the Pharisees (or even were Pharisees) and were pretending to be Jesus’ followers so that they could learn what was going on and report back. If they were Pharisees, they were not wearing the fancy clothing that Pharisees wore; instead, they were “plain-clothed” meant to look like just any other follower of Jesus in that crowd.
 
Who were the Herodians? Simply, they were likely additional spies who spied on things for the Herodian dynasty. The Herods were political rulers, not Jews – in fact, they were Edomites – but they at least pretended to follow Jewish law. The Romans had left them in power when they took over everything because they were effective at keeping order. Well, they had been, until 6 AD, when the Romans replaced the ruler in the south with a Roman governor – a position which eventually, at the time of this account, was held by Pilate. At the time, the Herodians were still in charge (by permission of the Romans) in the north.
 
Now the Herodians were more like a political party or alliance than anything else; there were people who wanted them to remain in power, including a good number of Jews. Why would a Jew support the Herods? Because they much preferred having a Herod in power than being subject to direct Roman rule. Some might have felt this for religious regions, meaning the Herods at least understand that the Jews would refuse to worship the Roman and Greek gods. Others, especially non-religious Jews, were likely in it for personal gain. In any case, the Herods were focused on keeping their power, and their spies reported on anything that might destabilize their position. Seeing Jesus coming into Jerusalem like a triumphant military victor and seeing Him celebrated by the crowds as a Messiah, or future king, definitely threatened to destabilize their position!
 
Now you may be absolutely sick of politics after the past few weeks, but the politics here are actually quite interesting. The Herodians and the Pharisees are doing this together, as a joint operation. But these two groups had some huge political differences, namely, that the Pharisees were vehemently anti-Rome, as they wanted total autonomy as in the days of David. But the Herodians were actually pro-Rome, because they were only able to do what they were doing because of being appointed into these positions of power by Rome. Modern Democrats and Republicans disagree about many things, but I personally believe that this fundamental question of Roman rule had to be an even greater dividing line. And yet the two were working together! Their mutual hatred of Jesus even overrode their must fundamental disagreement about Rome!

Now why were the Pharisees and other leaders sending these people and not going to Jesus themselves? Because the spies were good actors, and this job required good acting. They needed people able to appear like true disciples, followers, of Christ. Between the depth of their personal hatred of Jesus, their limited acting ability, and the fact that the leaders could be recognized, even if they did not wear their distinctive Pharisee clothing, their choice to send in the spies was very strategic.
 
Notice how they start with flattery. And their puffery has a specific goal – it’s not just to break down Jesus’ defenses, although that is part of it, it is also to lead Him in a very specific direction. They do this when they say, “You aren’t swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are.” What do they want Jesus to do? They want Him to say, “No, don’t pay the imperial tax to Caesar! We are Jews, and Israel is ours!”
 
There is also an almost comical irony here in that they really do not want Jesus to pay any attention to who certain “others” – that is, themselves – are. “Don’t mind us; we’re just, um, random followers of You. You’ve seen us before!”
 
One last point, before we go on: literally, they are asking Him if it is right, or within the Jewish Law, to give the census tax to Caesar. We have lots of taxes, but we do not have any tax like this, so this takes some explaining. (The Romans had lots of taxes too, including property taxes on productive land, income taxes, and customs taxes.) But the census, or “per head” tax, was considered a kind of property tax, but the property was the people. The idea was that each person was the property of Caesar, and so, in tribute, each person paid this tax to honor him.
 
The Jews hated this tax far above all the others, because of this symbolism. They were not the people of Caesar, but the people of God! And in AD 6, the same year that one of the Herods was replaced in the south, a large rebellion against this tax took place, led by one Judas of Galilee. This Judas is mentioned in Acts 5:37 by Gamaliel, by the way. His revolt failed, but it likely led to removal of that Herod, and the opinions of that revolt did not go away. Many, many Jews, even if they disagreed about many other things, including politics, agreed that this tax was supremely offensive, striking at their very identity as Jews. And so, their question was genius. If Jesus gives one answer, He destroys His popularity with the Jews; if He gives the other, He can be arrested and quite possibly Rome will take care of executing Him!
 
But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap Me? Show Me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought Him a denarius, and He asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then He said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left Him and went away. – Matthew 22:18-22
 
So, you should never play poker with Jesus. (I am referring to poker without betting money, of course. Do not gamble.) But yes, you cannot bluff Jesus. It is impossible. He quite literally can see right through you. So much for being spies!
 
Now this was a silver coin, minted by Caesar, because by law only Caesar was allowed to mint silver and gold. Note that we put pictures of people on our coins after they have died to honor them. They did something entirely different. The leaders put their own picture on their coins because they were in control of the mints and it “proved” their power as leaders. And not only as leaders, but as gods! Remember that these Caesars said they were gods and were to be worshiped. So, what does Jesus say?
 
In effect, give Caesar back his coin, but give God your worship. Let that sink in. Give Caesar, this man who wants to be worshiped as god, no worship of any kind, but give him back his coin, so that you obey the law. But do not worship him! Worship God, and Him only.
 
And so the leaders’ elaborate plan, using two kinds of spies, fails completely. Jesus cannot be arrested, and the people who follow Jesus only love Him more!
 
That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him with a question. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. Finally, the woman died. Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” – Matthew 22:23-28
 
Before addressing this question, let us go into some background on the Sadducees. I would say that in some ways they had more in common with the Herodians than they did the Pharisees! The Sadducees, like the Herodians, had the power they had because they were in Rome’s good graces. The high priest was a Sadducee. This means that the corrupt money changing scheme made the Sadducees rich. And they were rich, much richer than the Pharisees.
 
The Herodians were non-believers in the Jewish faith. The Sadducees basically threw out everything as “authoritative” except the first five books, the Torah, consisting of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And, they argued, the first five books do not discuss resurrection of the dead, so there is no resurrection of the dead. The Pharisees disagreed, but they struggled to argue effectively with the Sadducees, because the Sadducees made them try to prove resurrection from the Torah alone. Now from what I have read, probably the best verse the Pharisees used was Deut. 32:39, where God says that He kills and He makes alive, but it does not really say that He makes alive after someone dies. In any case, it is a stupid argument to get in to, because the Sadducees premise was wrong. Personally, from what I have read about how bad the high priest and other Sadducees were, I question whether they even truly believed in the first five books, or whether they used this argument because it enabled them to insist that all of the sacrifices in the first five books had to absolutely be done to the letter of the law, even though the later books of the Bible showed that in practice, this did not have to be the case. In other words, I think personal financial gain influenced them in these beliefs.
 
In any case, the Sadducees were similar to the Herodians in how they saw Jesus as a threat to their power and financial security. Jesus was getting too popular – it could lead to a revolt, and then the Romans might come in and shut down the Temple entirely! And these fears were not unfounded, as this is what ultimately happened in 70 AD. And the Sadducees disappeared from history after that date, so they were right!
 
So, let us look at this rather long and convoluted question. Notice how they start by focusing on Moses, from the first five books, the only authoritative source they recognized. They first establish the rule that a brother must marry his brother’s wife if the brother dies without the couple having children. This law existed so that family lines would continue and so that widows would be cared for. They then lay out a scenario in which one woman ends up marrying, sequentially, the whole pack of seven brothers.
 
And then they lay out their question, which really is not a question at all, because in their minds, the question is a proof that resurrection cannot take place, because it would violate the Law of Moses. They say, in the “resurrection”, when everyone comes back as they were, they are all going to be married to this woman at the same time, a clear violation of Mosaic Law!
 
Why are they going to Jesus at this time with this question? First, they seek to discredit Him. They want the crowds to stop following Him so that political stability (in which they are at the top of the “food chain”) can be restored. They also want to convince the crowds that they are right and the Pharisees are wrong; they want the adoring crowds to themselves.
 
One last point – it is not a coincidence that their extremely corrupt lifestyles and their disbelief of resurrection went together. Because resurrection implies that God will judge people after they die and that there will be consequences for how they lived their life! People committed to an evil lifestyle do not want to believe that! So how does Jesus respond? 
 
Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. – Matthew 22:29-33
 
The word translated as “in error” is planeo and we get “planets” from that word. It means that you are cut loose from reality, floating around somewhere. And they are both ignorant of the Scriptures (since they do not even acknowledge most of them as such) or what God can do. If God made us one way once, He can make some changes to us at the resurrection! There is a false assumption that we must be exactly the same as we were. And admittedly, previous resurrections appear to be like that – consider Lazarus, for example.
 
But getting ahead of the story, the resurrected Christ can just appear without going through a door. I am not certain that all of us will be able to do that, but I personally suspect it. But beyond that, we will no longer be bent to sin. We will no longer have bodies that are constantly aging and breaking down. Eating will be a pleasure rather than a necessity. And there will be countless other changes that we can only begin to imagine.
 
Now the Sadducees also did not believe in angels. So Jesus’ response purposely also “digs” at this and corrects them on this second error. Now some people misunderstand this passage and think we become angels. A certain movie about someone named Clarence has contributed greatly to this belief. The book of Revelation shows that this is not the case. We remain quite distinguishable from angels. But we will share some characteristics, one of which is that marriage will no longer be a thing. Some people say this is because there will be no need for marriage because there will be no longer be pregnancy, birth, babies, raising children, and so on. And I think this is true. But I also think something else will be going on. Back in Genesis, God gave Adam Eve because, He said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” I believe that in heaven we will be far from alone. We will have eternity to get to know one another, and I think we will know one another far better (and love one another far more deeply) than any husband and wife know (and love) one another in this life. 
 
Let us talk about the Scripture quote. First of all, Jesus pulls no punches. He says, “Have you not read” and then quotes from the first five books! Ouch. That is painful! So how does the verse actually imply resurrection? Because of the verb tense. If people died and then ceased to exist, the proper thing to say (even in ancient Hebrew) would be “I WAS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Just like we might say of someone who has passed away, “Watching football was his favorite pastime.” If you were to say, “Watching football IS his favorite pastime,” that would imply that he is not gone for good, that he is, as Scripture puts it figuratively, only “asleep.” I find it powerful to think about how the very “I AM” name of God ties directly into the reality of the resurrection! And so, did the crowds, who were amazed, because this was a long-standing argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the Pharisees had tried unsuccessfully to do with Scripture for many years in what Jesus had just done off the cuff, so to speak, seemingly effortlessly.  (So, in addition to not playing poker with Jesus, you also probably should not argue Scripture with Him!)
 
Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:34-40
 
This question and answer have come up earlier in Matthew. It was not the only time that Jesus answered this for them. In the interest of time, I do not want to spend too long here. But I do want to point out that it is easy to lose sight of what an incredible answer this really is. This is another one of those questions that Pharisees and others had debated and discussed for many years without anyone being able to come up with an answer that changed other people’s views. In a way, it was an impossible question. How can someone possibly summarize over 600 commands with a sound bite in any way that was meaningful? And yet, anyone who has studied the Law and then hears Jesus’ answer is amazed at how simple it is, but also how powerfully true! All by itself it would allow one to declare that Jesus was the greatest teacher of Bible truth that ever lived. But let’s continue on.
 
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions. – Matthew 22:41-46
 
So, Jesus now takes the offensive, he “turns the tables” on them. “OK, experts of the law, your turn.” I love this!
 
With this simple question, Jesus takes them somewhere they cannot even begin to process. Of course the Messiah is the son of David. Of course he is a man, like David. How could he possibly be anything else? What “else” is there? And where does Jesus take them? To a seemingly unsolvable problem. How can a son be Lord of his father? The crowds are listening to everything. The Pharisees do not even know where to begin, so they don’t. And from then on, they are afraid to even get close to Jesus anymore, because Jesus might say, “Oh, hi, Pharisees! How’s it going? By the way, do you have an answer yet for that question I asked you about the Messiah?” Rather than being repeatedly embarrassed in front of the crowds by this, losing even more honor, they keep their distance.
 
But, unlike them, we have the benefit of the rest of the New Testament to aid us. The Messiah is not only a man. He is also God! Before even Abraham was born, He was! He made Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He made David! And yet He came to earth in human form as an offspring of David, so He is a “son” of David, yet David calls Him Lord!
 
So apart from learning that we should not play poker with Jesus and also shouldn’t argue Scripture with Him, what are some additional lessons we can learn from this passage? I am sure there are many, but these are the things that struck me as I prepared for this message. None of these things are particularly new or novel, but they are the kind of things we need to be reminded of again and again because we forget and because they go against our human nature.
 
The first thing that strikes me is that we need to be teachable, humble, before the Lord. Each of these groups, the Herodians, the Sadducees, the Pharisees were in the presence of the greatest teacher of all time. This was an incredible, once-in-forever opportunity to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn the very secrets of life, the meaning of life, the heart of God, the purpose of man, and so on. There was no limit to what Jesus could have taught them! But instead they are wasting Jesus’ time with word games, attempted traps, and so on. What is heaven really like? He could have told them so much more than He did! How does this apply to us today? I think it starts every morning. Are we going to turn on the TV, or peruse social media, or check out the news updates, OR are we going to spend some time in the Word and in prayer? If we humbly sit before the Lord in our homes and open God’s Word, we have the opportunity to hear directly from the Lord! He can make the Scriptures come alive in our hearts, refresh our souls, encourage us, teach us, and grow us. But it requires that we come to Him, and for this, we need to be teachable and humble, prioritizing Him over the rest of our busy lives, at least for a little while each day.
 
The second thing that grabs me from this passage is that the fruit of continued unrepentance is hostility to God. We look at the Herodians, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees, and we see each group wanting what they want, even though (probably, deep, deep down) they know it is wrong. They loved power, they loved wealth, they loved praise – all neutral things, but they lose their neutrality when you are willing to sin to have them. And living in contradiction to what you know is true (again, deep, deep down) eventually changes your view of God. It ruins you. It hardens your heart. Being religious or even going to church will not prevent this. Confession and repentance, turning back on the right path, the path of righteousness, is the only answer.
 
And the third thing that strikes me, even though it is implied rather than stated, is that Jesus really knew what He was doing. I don’t mean that He knew the amazing right answers to all these traps and questions, although that is true. I mean that He knew all along where this was going. This was His final week. He had to be under immense pressure thinking about how these answers would only further infuriate each of these groups, only make them more and more want to kill Him, and how they would soon succeed. Jesus could have chosen not to answer, or to give an answer that discredited Himself, letting them “win,” and they would have backed off, because their honor would be restored; they would have indeed won. But Jesus loved us too much to let this happen. He knew what was ahead for Him, but He chose to push on, letting event upon event lead to their ultimate conclusion of Him suffering unimaginably and then dying on a cross. As I think about this third conclusion, I am motivated to act on the first and second; I want to sit humbly at His feet, drink in from His Word and be encouraged in my Spirit through His Spirit through prayer, and I want to examine my heart and my actions and confess my sins and my stubborn resistance all to Him. Let us all pray for these things.