Epaggelia

It seems that once Jesus was back in the Temple complex, and upset the leaders with his rebuke towards the sellers, he was inundated with questions and a plot to take his life. If Jesus answered any of their questions wrongly, his critics (the leaders) would have good reason to turn the public against him. The Leaders don’t attempt to face Jesus down directly on these questions, instead they send their students to ask questions. This makes the deceitful plan look innocent, (Mt. 22:15-16).   The fact that “Herodians” were also sent by the Pharisees is an act of desperation to use any means necessary to pin a charge on Jesus. For quite a while they had been mindful of using the Herodians to kill him, Mk. 3:6.

1. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? If Jesus answered simply, “yes”, then the Pharisees would have reason to turn the people against him.  If he said “no”, then the Herodians could charge him with insurrection and sentence him to death. The reason Jesus gave a two-fold answer is because of God’s wisdom in Romans 13:1-7. Without knowing the view of God (his wisdom), our life becomes confusing.

2. In the resurrection, whose wife will she be, for all seven had her as wife? The Sadducees were in the crowd of inquirers. They may not be investing in a plot to kill him, but they would love to confuse him, and prove to the public that He is not the Messiah (Christ). They faced resurrected people with only the bleak end of dying again to lay in peaceful rest with The Father.  They can not accept the resurrection into eternal life, because it poses too many unsolvable problems. They do not know about the power of God to surpass all our present problems. Jesus interjects with God’s authority, a new revelation. After the resurrection, there is no marriage! That is powerful. Our bodies described in 1Cor. 15:40-45,52, will be in no need of pro-creation, nor will we have sexual desires, we will be changed!  Without knowing the power of God, our life becomes sinful.

3. Which commandment is the greatest and first of all?  A Lawyer asked this one, he is also described as a Pharisee. Jesus gave noble motives to him for replying intelligently in Mk. 12:34. When we use logic to make conclusions or application from the words of Jesus, we are drawing nearer to His reign. The Beroeans had fair minds, because they applied them to the Scriptures, Acts 17:11.  Loving God is paramount to unity, happiness and eternal rewards. Without knowing the word of God our life becomes pointless. 

DAVID HIMSELF CALLS HIM (the Christ) “LORD”,   HOW THEN, CAN THE MESSIAH (Christ) BE HIS (David’s) SON? Jesus is quoting Psalm 110:1. Where David prophesies the Messiah to be the Lord Himself. In the Jews mindset, the Messiah (Christ) would be a physical son of David which the Lord would use to oust oppressing enemies and restore David’s Kingdom in Israel, Acts 1:6.  But Jesus wasn’t interested in a physical Kingdom, only a spiritual one, because he is God. Lk. 17:20-21. Jesus knew that to make himself God would truly light a fire in their hateful hearts and set their plot running to kill him. Jesus was in control of the timing of his own death. For this moment, they quit trying to find a just reason for killing him. These are guilty of the “greater sin”, Jn. 19:11.