The Trolls and Jesus
Matthew 22:15-21,
Isaiah 45:1,
Isaiah 45:4-6,
1 Thessalonians 1:1-5.
Reflection
Dear sisters and brothers,
Today, we have a very interesting text from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 22:15-21).
Now, let us listen to the text.
“The Pharisees went off
and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech.
They sent their disciples to him, with the Herodians, saying,
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion,
for you do not regard a person’s status.
Tell us, then, what is your opinion:
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”
Knowing their malice, Jesus said,
“Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
Show me the coin that pays the census tax.”
Then they handed him the Roman coin.
He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”
They replied, “Caesar’s.”
At that he said to them,
“Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.””
The text is a continuation of one of the series of controversies between Jesus and the representatives of Judaism (Matthew 21:23–27).
Here, we read a very polished language but with planned and evil intention to entrap Jesus.
The Pharisees:
While Matthew retains the Marcan union of the Pharisees and the Herodians in this text, he clearly emphasises the Pharisees’ part particularly.
The Pharisees alone are mentioned here, and the Herodians are joined with them only in a prepositional phrase of Matthew 22:16.
The Pharisees take alone Herodians for their own selfish motives.
Even though, they are divided in their ideology of paying the tax.
The Pharisees cunningly planned how to entrap Jesus.
Whom did they use for their trap?
The Pharisees used their own disciples.
The world is divided into right and left ideologies.
It differs from country to country and place and place.
Whether it is right or left, it always has followers.
These followers blindly believe whatever their leaders tell them without using their own God given reasoning faculty for their good and the good of the other.
The leaders not only make use of these followers to achieve their own ends but also feed them with more negativity rather than positive opinions.
These kinds of followers are very dangerous to the society and at the same time they cannot be a channel of human development and growth.
By mentioning the followers of the Pharisees, Matthew emphasises that the followers of Christ Jesus are not blind followers.
The followers of Christ Jesus are like Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1) (Isaiah 45:4-6):
“Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,
whose right hand I grasp,
subduing nations before him,
and making kings run in his service,
opening doors before him
and leaving the gates unbarred:
For the sake of Jacob, my servant,
of Israel, my chosen one,
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title, though you knew me not.
I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me.
It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
people may know that there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, there is no other.”
The followers of Christ Jesus are called by God and experience Jesus personally in their everyday lives by being with him in prayer and been sent out with the Gospel by imitating Jesus in their lives.
Entrap him in speech:
The question that they will pose is intended to force Jesus to take either a position contrary to that held by the majority of the people or one that will bring him into conflict with the Roman authorities.
The Pharisees fought with Jesus in speech (cunning way or evil way) not by the truth.
The disciples of the Pharisees use the sugarcoated words like that of:
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion,
for you do not regard a person’s status.”
The followers of the Pharisees, come with the falsehood.
The followers of Christ Jesus, come with the truthfulness.
The followers of the Pharisees, use the sweetened words to entrap Jesus.
The followers of Christ Jesus, use the personal experience of resurrection in their lives and speak black and white the message of the gospel like the prophets.
The Pharisees and the Herodians are the trolls in Jesus’ time.
They trolled Jesus.
Who is the troll?
The troll: one, who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.
The trolls use the abusive words to entrap the other.
The followers of the Pharisees use the praising words to entrap Jesus.
Nevertheless, there is no difference between them.
That is the reason, Jesus says: ‘you hypocrites’.
“Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?”
Jesus knew that these praising words are not from their loving hearts but from their evil mindset.
Any ordinary person will be taken up by these cool praises and will give the favourable answer to them.
Meanwhile, the favourable answer will land him/her in troubled water for ever in life.
Jesus prudently manages them with his clarity knowing their evil intention.
When we live in a society we have to be prudent.
Moreover, living the way of Christ Jesus and imitating him in our personal lives can witness powerfully the values of the Kingdom of God.
Herodians:
The first appearance of the Herodians in Scripture is Mark 3:6:
“Then the Pharisees went out
and began to plot with the Herodians
how they might kill Jesus”.
The Herodians were a sect or party of Hellenistic Jews mentioned in the New Testament as having on two occasions: First in Galilee, and later in Jerusalem.
The Herodians held political power, and most scholars believe that they were a political party that supported King Herod Antipas, the Roman Empire’s ruler over much of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C.E. to C.E. 39.
The Herodians favoured submitting to the Herods, and therefore to Rome, for political expediency.
This support of Herod compromised Jewish independence in the minds of the Pharisees, making it difficult for the Herodians and Pharisees to unite and agree on anything.
Herodians would favour the payment of the tax.
The Pharisees did not favour the payment of the tax.
The Herodians manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus.
But one thing did unite them—opposing Jesus. Herod himself wanted Jesus dead (Luke 13:31), and the Pharisees had already hatched plots against Him (John 11:53), so they joined efforts to achieve their common goal.
In each of these cases their name is coupled with that of the Pharisees.
No evil comes alone.
The evil comes with partnership.
This evil partnership destroys the basic of the Church, the fabric of society and human existence on this earth.
In contrast, Jesus joins his holy hands with the marginalised, tax collectors, poor, sick, sinners and downtrodden to uplift them in society.
The evil coopts everything for their own benefits even though there may be ideological differences.
Then, the good never ever fuses with the evil even at the cost of death too.
Jesus died for sinners without sinning.
He sacrificed his life for them.
He denied being with the evil.
He conquered the evil with the good.
We, the followers of Christ Jesus too are called to be like him.
Is it lawful:
The question is: Which law do they refer to?
This is a tricky question put forth by the followers of the Pharisees.
The law to which they refer is the Law of Moses.
It may also mean the law of Romans to pay the tax.
The law of God is not norms, rules and regulations, terms and conditions, rituals and religiosity but love alone.
Does Jesus accept the law?
Jesus came to fulfill the Law of Moses with love.
He lived in the society by loving everyone with the same love.
It is not a contract between civil society and the church.
But, living out the teaching of Christ Jesus in the civil society.
They handed him the Roman coin:
The Roman coin was used commonly by the people of Palestine.
Their readiness in producing the money implies their use of it.
It also conveys their acceptance of the financial advantages of the Roman administration in Palestine.
There is no problem as such that happened and the Pharisees wanted the answer from Jesus.
It is very clear that the Pharisees were targeting Jesus with a double sword.
The Roman coin has a picture of Caesar printed on it.
As a follower of Christ Jesus, we have to be stamped with the foot prints of Jesus’ teaching in our heart, mind and soul.
Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar:
Those who willingly use the coin that is Caesar’s should repay him in kind.
The answer avoids taking sides in the question of the lawfulness of the tax.
Jesus handles intellectually this double sword trap.
He cleverly deals with it.
The wisdom of Jesus is displayed vividly in this incident.
Jesus knows what is in their hearts.
He amuses them with his impartial answer.
Jesus knows what is in our hearts too.
He knows us through and through.
He understands us.
He cares for us.
He loves us.
He pays his own life for us on the Cross.
To God what belongs to God:
Jesus raises the debate to a new level.
He tells them to give to God what belongs to God.
I wonder if Jesus tweets the above statement in social media what would be the replies that Jesus would receive.
There would be millions of replies supporting, denying, abusing, liking, retweeting, and so on.
After all these trolls, Jesus with clear conscious tells them: ‘To God what belongs to God.’
What is it to be given to God?
Here, for our answer, we recall the same words used by the Pharisees’ disciples.
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion,
for you do not regard a person’s status.”
Jesus gives to God what belongs to God by being a truthful man, by teaching the way of God in accordance with the truth because Jesus does not concern with anyone’s opinion for he does not regard a person’s status in the society and in the world.
Jesus is concerned about God’s opinion.
He never bothered about human’s opinion.
He was a fearless man with courage that God the Father is with him.
He regards a person’s longing for eternal life.
He throws away the material culture.
Material things cannot give us everything.
When we are attached to material things we become a slave to it.
When we are attached to eternal life in heaven we become a free person in Christ Jesus.
Jesus calls each one of us to be truthful and teach the ways of God regardless of anyone’s status and position in the society.
The disciples of Pharisees hypocritically ask about the tax in respect to its relation to the Law of Moses and Romans.
But, they are not concerned with repaying God with the good deeds that are God’s due as Saint Paul writes (1 Thessalonians 1:1-5):
“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians
in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
grace to you and peace.
We give thanks to God always for all of you,
remembering you in our prayers,
unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love
and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ,
before our God and Father,
knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God,
how you were chosen.
For our gospel did not come to you in word alone,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.”
We need to be grateful to God for calling us to be with Him.
We need to be thankful to God for the work of faith in us, labour of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ with power of the Holy Spirit and with much Conviction.
In this way, we can give to God what God has given to each one of us.
God has given us much more than what we can give to you.
But, with our faith, love, hope and conviction may the Holy Spirit give us the power to live on this world.
The trolls may pull us down with their words, but we need to rely on his Spirit to win over them.
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
