Read Matthew 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17 and Luke 20:19-26. Our Lord has just put the religious leaders to shame. They had come to Him to inquire about His credentials for teaching what He taught and doing what He had done in the temple. They asked Him publicly because they wanted the public to hear His answer, for they knew He had not attended any of the top rabbinic schools, nor had He been tutored by anyone that they knew. Thus when He answered, they could say to Him, “So you’ve had no formal training! You have no qualifications or credentials for your teachings! And yet you want these people to listen to you rather than us who have undergone years of study and training under the best scholars and teachers!” But our Lord had turned the tables on them. He told them He would answer their question if they would first answer His. Was John the Baptist’s authority from man or God? No matter how they answered, they would lose. If they said from God, they would indict themselves because they had not listened to him. If they said from man, they would incur the displeasure of the people. It was a no-win situation, so they refused to answer.
But these religious leaders were intelligent and learned from their mistakes. They realized Jesus had nailed them with this question so that, no matter how they answered, they lost. “OK,” they thought, “we can play this game as well! We will ask him a question that he cannot answer.” The religious leaders devised their question carefully and sent their followers along with some of the Herodians to join the crowds that listened to our Lord.
1. Who were the Herodians, and what did they believe?
They were a sect of Judaism that advocated the adoption of the Greek culture and ways. They supported Herod. They were vigorously opposed to the conservative factions of the Jewish culture, especially the Pharisees. If the Sadducees were the liberals of the day, these comprised the extreme left-wing.
2. Why do you think the Pharisees invited the Herodians to come along?
It certainly was not because they liked them and enjoyed their company. Most likely, there were two reasons for having them along. They would be conspicuous, and our Lord would have certainly noticed them. They wanted Him to know these people were there and listening to His answers. They would also bring a report of the answers back to Herod. If He advocated not paying the tax, which was what the question was about, the Romans would hear about it!
3. What was the question they asked our Lord to trap Him?
Is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar or not?
4. In what way was this question a trap set for our Lord?
Paying the poll tax, a tax upon every person by Rome, to say the least, was one of the most hated taxes for the Jewish people. It was highly unpopular with the people. While the Pharisees claimed it was wrong to pay this tax on religious grounds, they did so. Rome was very persuasive when it came to paying taxes! The Herodians did not have as much objection and were sure to report to Herod or the authorities any statement by our Lord that encouraged not paying the tax. Thus if He said it was wrong to pay, the people would be placated, but He would be in hot water with the Roman authorities. On the other hand, if He said it was a legitimate tax and should be paid, He would make Himself unpopular with the people. Thus the religious leaders thought they had Him in a trap much like the one in which He placed them by His question to them about John the Baptist.
5. How did our Lord answer this question?
He asked for a denarius, the Roman coin with which the poll tax was paid. After asking whose image was stamped on the coin, which was the Roman Emperor, He told the leaders, give back to Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to God what belonged to God.
6. What was the reaction of the religious leaders?
They were amazed at His answer.
Read Matthew 22:23-33, Mark 12:18-27 and Luke 20:27-38. Not only were the Pharisees and Herodians present as Jesus taught, but the Sadducees were there as well. All three writers add the comment that this group did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. It is not stated here, but we also know neither did they believe in angels, and they only accepted the first five books of the Old Testament, the Law of Moses, as authoritative. The Sadducees, having witnessed how Jesus had again put the Pharisees to shame when they tried to trap Him, thought to themselves, “We can do better.” And they brought out an old argument they had no doubt used many times against the Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection of the dead, one to which the Pharisees had no good answer. The question concerns levirate marriage, which was the practice instructed by God in the Law, wherein a man was responsible to take the widow of his brother as a wife if his brother had no male children as heirs. The man was to try then to provide a son, an heir for his dead brother, by his widow. In trying to disprove the resurrection of the dead, they constructed an unlikely though possible scenario.
7. What was the scenario they put forth?
One of seven brothers died, leaving his wife with no heir. His brother took his brother’s widow as a wife to try to provide an heir. He also dies with no heir. The next brother also does this and dies. Seven brothers take this widow as a wife, and all seven die, and then the woman dies.
8. How did they think this would invalidate the idea of the resurrection of the dead?
They asked the question, whose wife would she be in the resurrection? Their thinking was she could not be the wife of all of them nor any one of them without offending the other six. Therefore they concluded the idea of the resurrection had to be false.
9. Jesus states their error in not accepting resurrection as true comes from two mistakes; what were those two mistakes?
a. They had no concept of God’s power.
b. They did not know the Scriptures.
10. What did Jesus tell them of the marriage relationship as it relates to the resurrected state?
This relationship does not exist as we know it today in the resurrected state, just as it does not exist for angelic beings.
11. From what part of the Old Testament did He prove the resurrection of the dead?
From the book of the Law
12. Why do you think He picked this part?
This was accepted by the Sadducees as authoritative.
13. How does the passage Jesus quoted indicate the validity of the resurrection?
The tense of the verb “I am” indicated that God was at that time and is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If they had ceased to exist and would not be resurrected, the text would have read. “I was the God.”
Read Matthew 22:34-46, Mark 12:28-37 and Luke 20:41-44. One more Pharisee asked a question. The motive was again to test Him. One of the great arguments in first-century Judaism was what was the most important of all the commandments, what was the guiding principle of the Torah. Having seen how our Lord had answered and silenced the Sadducees, a lawyer, that is, an expert in the Old Testament Law, asked our Lord which is the foremost commandment found in the Law.
14. What was our Lord’s answer as to the foremost commandment?
He said, “HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.”
15. What did He state was the second most important commandment?
“YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”
16. In what way, do you think, was this question a test?
This was probably a test to see in which camp our Lord fell in response to this issue. Each group had its own opinions as to which command was the overriding principle for life. Having just put the Sadducees to silence, this Pharisee no doubt wanted to know where He stood on this issue. It also might have been a question designed to take the discussion back to paying taxes to Rome. If Jesus answered the most important commandment was to have no other gods before the LORD God or make likenesses or images—beginning of the Decalogue—they might have asked Jesus about paying taxes with this coin with Caesar’s image on it. Our Lord will answer this question but then will bring an end to their trying to trap Him by posing some questions of His own to them.
17. Our Lord then turns the tables and asks these religious leaders a question. What did He ask them according to Matthew 22:42?
Whose son is the Messiah (the Christ)?
18. What was their answer?
David’s son.
19. What was the second question He then asked these leaders?
How can David address the Messiah as Lord? In what sense then is He the son of David? In the culture of that day, the son or descendant of a king was not in authority above his father but under his father’s authority while both were living. Jesus had just demonstrated that the Scriptures teach the resurrection, which indeed the Pharisees believed. If David then were resurrected and yet calls the Messiah Lord, acknowledging the authority of the Messiah over David himself, our Lord is asking them how can this be since He is the son of David and by all rights ought to submit to David, his father.
20. What answer did they give Him?
They had no answer.
The Applications:
What are the applications of these passages to our lives today? Identify as many as you are able.
1. One application clearly is our responsibility to pay the taxes imposed by our government. There are many who would justify not paying taxes because they believe they are unjust or imposed by an unjust government. Yet look at the circumstances under which our Lord declared, “Give to Caesar what is due him and to God what is due Him.” Was the Roman government an unjust, corrupt government? The tax collectors typically charged as much as they could and the difference between what they had to pay Rome and what they managed to collect was theirs. There were not many laws that restricted how they were to collect these taxes. Was this just? And yet our Lord told those present to pay what is due.
2. Our Lord declared in Matthew 22, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.” This verse and the parallel accounts in Mark and Luke have resulted in many erroneous ideas. It does not state that angels have no gender. While the angels mentioned in Scripture appear to be male, this may only be how they are represented for humanity’s benefit. Angels are not human. They are essentially alien life forms. They are not native to this world, nor are they confined to the dimensions of our universe, as we understand it. Do they even have gender? We do not know. If they do, how many genders? Do they reproduce? While we have no indication of such, the fact of the matter is we know very little about angels at all. The seraphim mentioned in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelation, are angelic beings, to be sure, yet they do not have a human form. Can we call them male? We do not know.
Some have then concluded that in the resurrected state, we will be sexless, as they believe the angels to be. The texts certainly do not state that at all. Every indication is that gender still exists. Following the resurrection, it appears that our Lord is still male.
Some have concluded that in the resurrected state, sexual relationships are nonexistent. This conclusion seems to be more a result of believers erroneously thinking sex is something that is sinful and bad and, therefore, it is not compatible with the perfected state than anything they might find in Scripture. Yet, the texts do not state it is nonexistent. Adam and Eve before the fall were sexual. All these texts state is that the marriage relationship between a man and a woman does not exist in the resurrection, just as it does not exist for angelic beings. It was an institution God decreed for this age, not the next.
But what will be the relationship between a man and a woman? We simply do not know. God has not seen fit to inform us of that at this point. Maybe sex exists; maybe it does not. I suspect that, whatever the answer may be, it would boggle our minds and be quite unbelievable if we were to be told at this point.
3. Jesus told these religious leaders, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.” That was a very harsh statement considering He was addressing the top religious leaders in His day. He could say the same to most of us today. Two very critical mistakes we often make are: not knowing the Word of God as we ought and severely underestimating God’s power. When we become depressed over situations that seem to be going from bad to worse, and we see no hope or help in sight, what have we done? We have failed to go to God’s Word because we think it has no answers. We do not listen to it, nor do we understand it. And we certainly have failed to grasp the measure of His power.
The Pharisees must have smiled to themselves when Jesus silenced their rivals, the Sadducees, concerning their rejection of the resurrection of the dead. They may have been somewhat silently urging Him on as He told them they did not know the Scriptures, thinking, “You give it to them. They certainly do not know the Scriptures!” And yet He turned back to them and asked them a question for which they had no answer because they did not know the Scriptures either. How could King David acknowledge the Messiah as Lord, who was his descendant and therefore, according to the thinking of that day, be under David’s authority? They had no answer. This question was probably intended to do a couple of things, at least. First, our Lord did not want to spend His time in fruitless debate with these people. It seldom benefited for they were not trying to learn, nor were they even open to changing their opinions. He would rather teach the people in the Temple and proclaim the coming kingdom. He would rather spend time with His disciples who needed all the support He could give at this time to prepare them for what was coming. In asking them this question that they could not answer, it served to put a halt to their questioning of Him. Second, it pointed out their misunderstanding of the Scriptures, especially concerning the Messiah. The Old Testament, the Scriptures to which these men had access, clearly taught that the Promised One was more than just a man. His “goings forth” were from everlasting. He was God incarnate. He was the Holy One, the only one who could rightly claim the crown being perfect before God. Yet, they thought Messiah to be only a mere man.
Do we know the Scriptures as we ought? I seriously doubt it, no matter who we are or how much training we have had. Nor do we have the correct grasp of God’s power. No matter how big a miracle we can conceive our God performing, His power far exceeds that and extends well beyond our ability to grasp it.