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10/11/2009 - Ganging up on Jesus, Mark 12:13-17

You may have seen in the news recently that the Reverend Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, were in Philadelphia last week to look for ways to improve our country's educational system. Now if you know anything about these two men you know that they are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. They are the odd couple when it comes to politics.

Al Sharpton is well-known as a liberal Democrat and Newt Gingrich is a conservative Republican. In fact the article said, "These two guys don't agree on 96%of everything else, but they do agree on the need for dramatic education reform." And that's great! It's always nice to see political opponents come together for a common cause, especially when the cause is good. I remember showing a video clip last year of Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson coming together on environmental issues.

Both Sharpton and Gingrich are passionate about improving the way kids get educated in this country. They see quality education as the next frontier for the civil rights movement and want to help President Obama achieve his goal of turning around 5,000 failing schools in the next five years.

"We may disagree about other issues, but this is a place where we have a common goal," Gingrich said, "I take education very, very seriously." So these two political opponents are putting their differences aside and teaming up against a common enemy and that common enemy is a deficient educational system.

Sometimes a common enemy is all that it takes to bring two radically different political figures together. And in the passage that we're going to look at today, Jesus is the common enemy that brings two radically different groups together. Two groups that don't agree on 96% of everything else agree on one thing and that is that Jesus needs to be silenced. He's got to be stopped and so they gang up on Jesus.

If you have a Bible turn with me to Mark 12:13-17. Now remember we're in the midst of Holy Week or Passion Week, the last week of Jesus' life. On Sunday of that week, the day we call Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey declaring himself to be Israel's long awaited king. We saw how that event fulfilled Daniel's prophecy right down to the very day. And as Jesus rode into town he wept over Jerusalem because they failed to recognize him as their Messiah.

In Matthew 23:37-38 you can hear the pain in his voice when he says, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁸Look, your house is left to you desolate."

Jesus is heartbroken over the rejection that he along with a whole list of prophets had experienced down through the years. And it brings him to tears. So on Monday he walks back to Jerusalem and on his way curses the fig tree and then cleanses the Temple, two powerful, symbolic acts designed to show Israel that their house will be left desolate. God's judgment is coming. The sacrificial system and the priesthood with all it's corruption has to come down and a better way of relating to God needs to begin.

Then on Tuesday Jesus returns to the Temple, taking his life in his hands, and is immediately confronted by the religious leaders who want to know who he thinks he is and what he thinks he's doing. Where does he get the authority to trash the Temple? He answers their question with a question that they can't answer and then tells a graphic parable about God's vineyard that's going to be taken away from Israel and given to others. And the others in the story are those of us who by faith are connected to Jesus. We are now the vineyard of God and he's looking for fruit in our lives.

Jesus said in John 15:5, "I am the vine. You are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing."

God wants to do through us, what he couldn't do through the nation of Israel. But it will only happen as we abide in him which means living out the life of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.

So at the end of the parable we read in Mark 12:12, "Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away." Good. They're gone. But they don't stay away very long. Instead, they regroup and come up with another plan of attack.

Look at Mark 12:13, Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.

Now it's easy to read right over that sentence and move on, but we can't. It's significant that the Pharisees and the Herodians team up because just like Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrich, the Pharisees and the Herodians were on opposite ends of the political spectrum on 96% of everything else ... maybe 100% of everything else! They didn't agree on much of anything. In fact, they hated each other!

The Herodians were a group within Judaism that had basically sold out to the Romans. They supported the authority of King Herod and pretty much lived by the philosophy of, "Hey, if you can't beat 'em, you might as well join 'em." So they were always looking for ways to compromise with Rome and make the best of the situation.

The Pharisees on the other hand despised Herod and hated any expression of Roman authority. The name Pharisee means "separate." They separated themselves from Rome and anyone that cooperated with them. They felt that God would send the Messiah and deliver Israel if more people were pure like them and resisted the Empire, not caved it to it. In their minds the Herodians had sold out and were a big reason why God was not blessing the nation.

But all that went out the window because now these two polarized groups have a common enemy. And the linking of these strange bedfellows shows us how angry they are and how desperate they are to eliminate this self-proclaimed Messiah from Nazareth. Their common hatred for Jesus exceeds their hatred even for each other!

So they start out by buttering him up. Look at verse 14,They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? ¹⁵Should we pay or shouldn't we?"

Excuse me, but what a bunch of baloney! Was Jesus a man of integrity? Absolutely! Was he swayed by others? Absolutely not! Did he teach the way of God in accordance with the truth? You bet he did. But did they believe any of it? Of course not. If they did they wouldn't be trying to trap him, arrest him, kill him. Instead they were convinced that he was a blasphemer at best or demon possessed at worst. They're just saying what they think Jesus wants to hear. It's all part of this sinister trap that they're setting to get him executed.

And the bait is a question about taxes. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we? Now nobody likes to pay taxes. Who here likes to pay taxes? I've never met a person who loves to see 25%of their paycheck taken out by the government. And the Romans placed an enormous tax burden on the people, a lot higher than that.

But this wasn't a financial question as much as it was a spiritual question. And on the issue of taxes the Herodians and the Pharisees were completely divided. The Herodians didn't mind paying taxes to Caesar. It was all part of their attempt to keep peace and cooperate with the Empire.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, hated to pay taxes to Rome not only because of the cost was that was involved, but because they despised having to support a pagan government. Every time they paid tribute to Rome it was a painful reminder to them that they were in bondage to a foreign power.

But even more than that the coins they used to pay taxes had an image on them and the Jewish people were forbidden to make carved images, especially of people. So to them the coin itself was unclean. In fact, some devout Jews wouldn't even touch one or look at one.

Stamped on the coin was the image of Tiberius the Roman Emperor who ruled in Jesus' day. And the Latin words inscribed on the coin read, "Augustus Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus." And on the other side it said, "High Priest, Son of god." The image and the words on the coin couldn't have been any more offensive to the Jewish people.

So they set a trap for Jesus and they think they have him cornered. If he says it's okay to pay taxes to Caesar he runs the risk of alienating the crowds who want him to stand up to Rome. But if he says don't pay taxes to Caesar then he'll be reported to the Romans and arrested as a revolutionary. They were sure they had him in a trap that even Houdini couldn't escape.

Look at verse 15, But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." ¹⁶They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. ¹⁷Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.

What an incredible response! "Show me a coin," Jesus says. He doesn't have one on him which is interesting so he makes them produce it. "Whose image is stamped on it?" "Caesar's," they say. "Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar's." In other words, "Pay the tax. It's only money. Send this filthy stuff back to Rome. If that's what you owe to Caesar, then give him what you owe. But then give to God what you owe him."

In other words, Caesar is not your master. Caesar is not your god. Whose image is stamped on you? God's image. God's image is stamped on every one of us, so then let's give to God what is God's. And what's that? That's our very life and our full devotion.

It's very possible that the apostle Paul could have been in the crowd that day. We know that he was Pharisee and spent time in Jerusalem. So he could have been one of those setting the trap. And if he was then he heard these words of Jesus. But even if he wasn't he addresses these same two issues in his letter to the Romans.

In Romans 12:1 he writes, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is true worship.

It's wonderful to sing worship choruses on Sunday. I love it! And that's certainly a precious part of what it means to worship God in response to his worthiness. But that's not the only way we worship God. We worship God everyday when we acknowledge that our bodies belong to him. His image is stamped on each one of our lives.

So we submit our ears to him and the things we listen to. We submit our lips to him and the things we say. We submit our eyes to him and the things we look at. We submit our minds to him and the thoughts we think. We submit our stomachs to him and our appetites and every part of our bodies because that's true worship and that's what we owe to the God who made us. Our bodies are to be a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Give to God what is God's. Valley View Community Church desires to be a biblical community that helps people become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who make a difference in this world.

Should we pay taxes to Caesar? Yes we should. We give to the government what it is that we owe. Paul echoes those words in Romans 13:1 when he says, Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

He then goes on to say in Romans 13:6-7, This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷Give to everyone what you owe. If you owe taxes, pay taxes, if revenue, then revenue, if respect, then respect, if honor, then honor.

Human governments are established by God. They are God's servants to bring some level of order, some level of justice into this chaotic world. That's what the Scriptures teach and as Christ followers we're to submit to the authority that God has placed over us and part of that submission means paying taxes.

By the way I think submitting to authority is one of the best lessons that we as parents can teach our children because ultimately that's what God is asking us to do with him. He wants us to submit to his authority because that's the best way to live.

I like what Shane Claiborne says about Romans 13 in his book Jesus for President, "That God establishes all authority does not mean that God approves of all authorities. The point is that God is greater than, not equal to, all the power of this world. Paul isn't trying to convince unpatriotic Christians to pledge better allegiance. Instead, he's trying to convince Christians, who are not conforming to the patterns of this world, not to overthrow the government!"

Now there are times to disobey government and that's when government demands that we disobey God. We see an example of that in Scripture too. In Acts 5, the apostles are ordered by the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Israel at the time, not to speak any more in Jesus' name. "Stop the Jesus' talk! You're making us look bad," they're told. Yet in response to that we read in Acts 5:29, Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than human beings!"

There is a time to disobey authority and that's when human authority demands that we disobey God. That's why Christ followers today meet secretly in persecuted countries and smuggle in Bibles and continue to worship Jesus even when it's against the law and could cost them their lives. They must obey God rather than human beings.

So we obey our government unless our government demands that we disobey God and we pay our government the taxes that we owe, but as Christ followers I believe we also have a responsibility to hold our government accountable in areas of social justice by being a voice for those who have no voice. Certainly in this country voting our convictions is one way to do that and I believe we should.

But some of us may be led by the Spirit of God to protest or demonstrate or perform peaceful acts of civil disobedience to bring attention to issues of social justice that are close to the heart of God.

That's what Martin Luther King, Jr. did in this country to address the scourge of racism. And it cost him his life. That's what Bishop Desmond Tutu did in South Africa to address apartheid and spent years in prison. That's what William Wilberforce did in England back in the 1800's to end slavery. They are all powerful examples of Christ followers whom God raised up to address injustice and change whole nations, but it came at a price. And so if we choose to do that we have to be ready to submit ourselves to the authorities and accept the consequences of our actions. Peaceful, non violence is the way of Jesus.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's. Imagine a community of people that dares to dream of heaven on earth, a community of people fully devoted to following Jesus together, a community of people working as agents of love, peace, and hope wherever they are, serving our neighbors, caring for the poor, helping the oppressed, conveying the good news of Jesus through word and deed. Imagine a community of people who make the world a better place. That's the church Jesus died for. That's the dream of God. That's what Valley View aspires to be.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Valley View Community Church, feel free to contact us at info@valleyviewseek.org or call 610.631.2707.