The Week That Changed The World: The Day Jesus Conquered His Critics Series

Jesus had spent the first days of His final week shaking up the status quo concerning the worship of the LORD, the reverence due to the House of God, and to recall its purpose. He exposed the moneymaking schemes of the religious leaders, rebuked their practices, and drove out the merchants who were in the house of God to make a profit off of the pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem during Passover, who had brought their lambs and other animals to be sacrificed to God in accordance with the Law of Moses. For the first time in many years, the house of God was clean both physically and spiritually, temporarily bringing a sense of relief and some joy to the remnant faithful, but enraged the Pharisees, Sadducees, and others who were using religion as their "cash cow" and enjoying the corruption with which they were content. Jesus was bad for business and He had exposed the Pharisees and others for their blatant hypocrisy which appeared devout but was in reality rotten and dead like tombs full of bones as Jesus described. When you read all of the Gospels, you see that it is the religious crowd which gave the Lord Jesus the hardest time and the largest amount of pettiness, grief, and criticism.

He was hassled constantly during this time, but also presented teachings that confounded HIs foes and comforted those few authentic believers in God who gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the holiest time in the Jewish calendar, that of Passover. The city teemed with visitors from all throughout Judea and different regions of the vast Roman Empire. Rome's presence was there in force with soldiers ready to keep the peace and take care of malcontents who could disturb the festival or cause a revolt. The official who governed this region of Caesar's dominion was Pontius Pilate, who lived in the coastal city built by Herod the Great, Caesarea Philippi, and came to Jerusalem if only to keep order over the Jews and their strange beliefs. He was under a time of probation by Emperor Tiberius Caesar (A.D. 14-37). Pilate had put to death some worshippers earlier for alleged revolts against Rome and had placed the Imperial Eagle symbol at the Temple which enraged the Jewish population. Pilate was aware that if he made any more mistakes, he would be exiled or worse.

The average Jewish person could have cared less about Pilate or anything dealing with Rome. The very fact that they had to use coins with Caesar's image to pay taxes and fees to keep the Imperial government in power was blasphemous and humiliating to them, considering that Israel under King David was a mighty nation while the ancestors of the Romans were a group of barbaric clans. The Pharisees had a cozy relationship with Rome who would use the national unrest and hatred of the Caesars as a way to trap and discredit Jesus in front of the people. Destroy Jesus' credibility with them, and His reputation and character would then be permanently ruined. He would more than likely leave the area to live an anonymous life in the little backwater town of Nazareth. His time of popularity would then be nothing more than a bad memory to His enemies, both religious and national. Their plan seemed simple and had a no-win answer, or so they believed.

The Pharisees teamed up with the Jewish supporters of Herod who had no problem with Roman culture or presence. This odd bunch approached Jesus with words of flattery and false praise, proclaiming that He was a great teacher in the ways of God, true and unconcerned with the thoughts of men. If they were real worshippers of the LORD, these words would be a declaration of HIs glory and greatness as the Promised One of Israel. Jesus saw right through these phony and hypocritical words and more than likely looked at these snakes with disgust and quiet anger with this display of false worship, and prepared Himself for their question. It centered on the issue of paying taxes to Caesar, which was a sore spot on the conscience of the Jews. Was it right to do so? This was a dilemma that would have made the average man stay quiet and say nothing to upset either his fellow Jews nor the ever watchful eyes of the Roman soldiers who were ready to arrest anyone who dared to speak against the might of Rome, lest they be arrested, tried, and put to death for insurrection and treason against Caesar. If Jesus were to answer "Yes", then the people would desert Him, condemn Him, and run Him off as a blasphemer and traitor to His people. To answer "No" meant a quick arrest and condemnation by the Romans for the crimes listed earlier, something Jesus' enemies hoped would be the outcome of this situation.