Matthew 22:15-17
"Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him by what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are truthful and teach truthfully the way of God. You don’t care what anyone thinks nor do you show partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
Who were the Herodians?
In Jesus' time, there were certain politically motivated religious groups who held various levels of authority among the nation of Israel. There were the Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sanhedrin, the Scribes and lawyers, and the Sadducees. The Herodians held mainly political power that was oriented towards support of the Herods. They favored submitting to Rome, and were basically "the deep state" of their age. They were aligned with the military industrial complex. This put them into direct conflict with the Pharisees because they were compromising Jewish interests and ultimately their independence as a free people. But they were united in their hatred for Jesus and his followers.
We first see these Herodians in Mark 3:6 "The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him."
Jesus taught his followers to be watchful of these groups of men as if they were like yeast.
Mark 8:15
"And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
Meaning they will infect the entire world with their fake news and propaganda schemes in order to capture power for themselves. The Herodians probably thought of Herod as their messiah of sorts and so they would do whatever they could to support that regime. Even fabricate fabulous propaganda in order to elevate his kingship and eliminate those who threatened him and his authority.
The lesson we can learn today from the error of these politicians and priests is that we should not lean on the wisdom and authority of men, but on God above all else.
Psalm 118:8
"It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man."
The Herodians thought of Jesus as a revolutionary, an insurrectionist against the ruling authorities. They were followers of Herod who was appointed king of Judea in 40 B.C. by the Roman Senate. Herod was extremely influential and cruel. He destroyed all his enemies, he wiped out the entire royal family of Hasmonaeans. He was a real Game of Thrones type of villain. He even murdered his wife Mariamne and his two sons. And it was he who ordered the execution of all the male children under two years old in Bethlehem trying to destroy Jesus at his birth.
After Herod's death his son, "Antipas", by his first wife, became king and ruled by the authority of Rome during Jesus' earthly ministry.
What Is Authority?
If you haven't noticed, much of this lesson has to do with the power someone has to make decisions, or change a decision, and the power to enforce it. It's about the power of choice, the power of influence, the power of privilege, and the power to wield that authority. And much of that power is derived from information.
It's kind of like Fonzie aka "The Fonz" from Happy Days fame.
Boy, am I dating myself now.
If you know anything about The Fonz you know his name is Arthur Fonzarelli and he was a 50's era greaser with a duck's ass hair style, leather jacket, motorcycle and all. And he had a certain something, an attitude and an authority. People were afraid of his muscle and machismo. Yet you never see him in a fight. During one episode he explains how he achieved this prominence, not by participating in and winning many rumbles, but because people believed he had. Basically, he's relying on the power of propaganda. And people just didn't challenge his authority.
It was like this for the Pharisees and for many of these religious political groups, but the Herodians backed up their authority with actual violence and intimidation. They had the freedom to decide to act without hindrance. And it was not beyond their power to impose any kind of punishments, or to fabricate any kind of charges in order to trap their victims in words that might implicate them in an insurrection.
They were The Ministry of Truth in their age. You thought Orwell invented this concept---no---men have been killing and subjugating people over their words from the very beginning. In fact, that serpent demon in the garden was its founder.
And so, this is the context, the environment that Jesus and his followers were having to operate in.
They ask Jesus,
"Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
Jesus responds by saying, "show me the money".
V20 “Whose image and inscription is this?”
They said to Him
V21 “Caesar’s.”
And Jesus replied,
V21 “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Was Jesus a revolutionary?
I mean he just submitted to their authority, right?
He's affirming that governments have authority over what people do with their property, and therefore by default they also control the people's behavior. Some might even get to thinking that they can control the people's faith, their very thoughts and beliefs. Afterall they are controlling their words.
But Jesus stops there.
He gives them no authority to determine a person's faith.
He says it clearly,
"Render...to God the things that are God’s."
In other words, no man, not Caesar, not the Herodians or the Pharisees, not any of them, have any right to command the worship of man or forbid his obedience to the Word of God. Jesus is stating a revolutionary concept, he's asserting that all rulers are under the authority of God; therefore they have no right to command people to do what God says they must not. Jesus is saying that government authority is limited, but God's is not.
Jesus explains this understanding when he states in John's gospel,
John 17:14
"I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world."
We are in the world but not "of it".
Therefore, we are not subject to the world in regard to our faith and worship. We still face the violence they will do to the truth, fake news will still happen. The false teachers and messiahs will still come. And they can still do harm to our lives. But they have no authority in heaven. They may have authority over our bodies, but they have no authority over our faith.
At least they have no authority that we do not give them. Some will acquiesce. Some will give them authority with their silence. Some will worm their way into the congregations and conversations and set word traps trying to catch the people in some affront to the world's authority.
And Jesus gives us this instruction:
Give the world what belongs to the world, but give God what belongs to God.
These slimy Herodians hear his response and they leave. Jesus had turned the tables on their schemes. These Herodians and Pharisees are like big-money lobbyists seeking the influence of a congressional committee chair or something. They're just swamp creatures.
Beneath all their flattery...
"Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth"
...is a line of BS. They wanted to talk politics, but they brought up God and the "ways of truth". That was their misstep. The lesson here is never challenge Jesus on matters of truth.
These power players don't believe what Jesus is telling them. They believe he's fake news. They think he's full of it. And how dare he not show partiality like they do!
It seems that Jesus is facing the first-century equivalent of an FBI watchlist. He's being swatted. And if Jesus says he supports the tax, the Pharisees can accuse him of disloyalty to God. And if he opposes the tax, the Herodians can charge him with sedition.
Jesus doesn't really have an opinion about taxes in general. He's not going on about the tax rates or how the funds are being spent. He's concerned mainly with who is being worshipped. That's the authority he's concerned with.
God's word today wants Christians to think about this, who are you worshipping, the image on the coin or God in heaven, that's his point. What the deep state does is not a concern for him. Afterall, they have six ways to Sunday to make your life a living hell, as Chuck Schumer said. And this devotion isn't going to change that.
Sorry.
Go in peace.
#JesusIsKing