Devotion for March 22, 2016

            Jesus spent a good portion of Holy Week teaching in the temple. Well, teaching might not be the most apt description. He was tested in the temple, that’s for sure. There were questions about Jesus’ authority to occupy the temple; there were tests about whether or not Jews should pay the imperial Roman taxes; and there were challenges about the resurrection. Each one would be an incredible study all by itself. We’ll just look at a few brief things here.

            First, the chief priests questioned Jesus about His authority. Jesus didn’t answer; instead he asked them a question about John the Baptizer: was his authority of human or divine origin. The chief priests couldn’t answer—not because they didn’t have an opinion but because they were scared of what that opinion might stir up. They were pretty sure John’s mission was not God’s mission but they were equally sure the people thought otherwise. To bash John was to risk the ill will of the people. Jesus knew this and backed them into a corner.

            The question about taxes was a subtle piece of work. If Jesus had said that people should pay the Roman tax, then the chief priests could have painted Him as a Roman collaborator. If Jesus were to say they shouldn’t, then the chief priests had an accusation against Jesus before Pilate. After all, if Jesus could paint them into a corner, it’s only fair that they should try to paint Him into a corner, too. Of course, Jesus smelled them coming and headed them off with His famous, “Give Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s.”

            Lastly, the challenge about marriage in the resurrection was a typically Sadducee move: the Sadducees didn’t believe there was a resurrection. Trying to catch Jesus in with an absurd argument, they find themselves trapped when Jesus outright contradicts them: “You don’t understand the resurrection.”

            What does this mean for us? Well, certainly, in terms of the story of Jesus, it helps us understand the hostility that led to His crucifixion. It also helps us see a little bit how we, in our sin, challenge Jesus, trying to hold on to our viewpoints, trying to make Him say what we want Him to say. And, it reminds us of 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Human reasoning must always place itself under God’s own words.