#49 What Is Caesar’s And What Is God’s Series

#49 What is Caesar’s and What is God’s

Series Mark

Chuck Sligh

August 8, 2021

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chuckcsligh@gmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.

TEXT: Mark 12:13-17 – And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. 14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? 15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. 16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's. 17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.

INTRODUCTION

Joke: Does anyone here know why Sherlock Holmes never paid any income tax?—It was because he made so many brilliant deductions.

Illus. –Years ago, when Ronald Reagan was President, a little boy wanted $50 very badly and prayed for a whole week. When nothing happened, he decided to write God a letter.

When the Post Office received the letter addressed to God, they forwarded it to the White House. President Reagan was both impressed and amused, so he instructed his aide to send the boy $5, thinking that would be a lot to him, which it was in the 1980s.

The boy was thrilled with 5 bucks, so he sat down and wrote a thank you note: “Dear God, thank you very much for sending the money. However I noticed for some reason you sent it through Washington and as usual, they kept most of it.”

Today we’re going to talk about the second of the two inevitable things in life, according to Ben Franklin’s famous proverb: The first is DEATH; the second, today’s topic, is TAXES. In our text, Jesus lays out clearly what we owe the government and what we owe God. In the process, by His remarkable wisdom, He again foils the Jewish leaders’ plan to trick Him. So without further ado, let’s jump right in:

I. NOTE FIRST OF ALL IN VERSES 13-15a A PREMEDITATED ATTACK.

We begin in verse 13 – “And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch him in his words.”

Here we see is the most unlikely of alliances: the Pharisees and the Herodians. No two groups could have been more different in their outlook and goals. The chart on the screen shows how different they were:

• Whereas the Pharisees were nationalistic, and thus opposed Roman rule under Herod…insofar as they could get away with it, the Herodians had sold themselves out to their Roman overlords, supporting Roman rule through their Jewish puppet, Herod.

• In other words, the Pharisees represented resistance to Rome; the Herodians represented accommodation to Rome.

• The Pharisees were concerned with religious matters and were thus narrow and conservative, whereas the Herodians had a political agenda, and were liberal and syncretistic in their religious views.

• Because of this, the Pharisees opposed the Roman taxes, while the Herodians favored them.

But both the Pharisees and the Herodians had one thing in common: They HATED Jesus, and they wanted Him dead! They personified the old saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Mark begins the verse by saying that these two groups of people had been “sent.” – The Greek word means they were sent by a higher authority (which was the Sanhedrin), for a specific purpose. That purpose was to catch Jesus in His words. The Greek word for catch here means to violently hunt and take by force. These guys aren’t messing around anymore: they’re out for the kill.

They hoped to do it by “craft”—that is, by “trickery.” They came with pre-chosen, well-crafted questions, here and in the rest of chapter 12. You can picture the Sanhedrin plotting their questions, their best minds devoting themselves to a way they could trick Jesus to say something that would discredit Him with the people or indict Him with the authorities.

Look now at verse 14-15a – “And when they had come, they said unto him, ‘Master, we know that thou art true, and not swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are.’” What they said was true, but such a person was not likely to be influenced by such insincere flattery. As we’ll see momentarily, Jesus saw right through them. When they said that He taught “the way of God in truth,” these lying, scheming “snakes in the grass” didn’t believe for one moment one word they were saying!