15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said. 16 And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. 17 Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?”
The Pharisees knew perfectly well that Jesus’ parable targeted them. The gloves were now ready to come off! Plans were laid to frame their Messiah by trapping Him with a trick question. They cleverly enlisted the Herodian party. The Herodians were theologically similar to the Sadducees, and therefore opponents of the Pharisees in religious matters. More importantly to our story, they were politically affiliated with the Herodian dynasty, whose power was dependent upon being loyal to Rome. The Pharisees alliance with the Herodians, therefore, made for strange bedfellows—such is the nature of vengeance.
The setup would be a stroke of political genius, were it not for their opponent being the King of the Universe! First came the insincere compliments, which unbeknown to them dripped with ironic admission. First, they acknowledged that Jesus was truthful. If that were really the case, then why did they not accept His teachings? They were clearly rejecting what by their own words was Truth. Second, they knew Jesus taught the way of God. This reminds us of Nicodemus who ratified this admission when he said, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). The religious leaders were acting in full cognizance of who Jesus was. Third, they recognized that Jesus showed no partiality, deferring to no one. This was the setup for their trap, they were encouraging Him to show no deference to Caesar or the Roman taxing system. That would be the natural extension of Christ coming into Jerusalem presenting Himself as the King of Israel.
So the question now follows, should Jews give a poll-tax to Caesar? This tax was nothing short of a levy imposed on every Jew simply because they were under domination of Rome. If Jesus said yes, then He could hardly be the Jewish King, the long expected Messiah, nothing would change and the people’s hope for political freedom from Rome would be dissipated. If He said no, then the Herodians would have their pretext for getting Him arrested. However, Jesus saw through their duplicity and called them out on their hypocrisy.
Lord, You will not be manipulated, so help me not to manipulate others with ridiculous theological arguments.
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