Critical People
Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Luke 20:20-25
Critical people invariably break the very rules they criticise others for breaking.
It happened here. The chief priests (Luke 20:19) were openly in collusion with the Romans. They owed their very existence to the Roman authorities because they were appointed by them.
These “spies” tried to get Jesus to make a clear statement of support or refusal to support the Roman authorities. Their aim was to have clear grounds for the charge of sedition.
Instead Jesus asked for a coin. The text implies He asks one of the “spies.” Religious Jews claimed they never carried the denarius coin because it carried the impression of Caesar and the title “son of God.” So here they are in the temple grounds carrying the forbidden coins with its blasphemous claim.
The priests will hand over the true Son of God to the representative of the false ‘son of God,’ Caesar, to keep their wealth and position. Critical people always compromise truth.
To listen to this message, download in MP3 here