PAYING TAXES

A TRICK QUESTION

Read: Luke 20:20–26
     So the spies questioned him:… Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Luke 20:21-22 NIV

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     Jesus had just told a parable which implicated the religious leaders in the plot to kill Him. Not only that, but he referred to prophesies from Psalms and Isaiah: “Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone'? Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." (20:17-18 NIV)

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     They knew He spoke the parable about them. So in order to trick Him into saying something against Rome they asked, "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…” (20:22-25a)

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     Lord, those leaders thought they could trick You into a capital offense. But what they didn't realize was that no one could take Your life from You. They must not have been listening when You said, "My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." (John 10:17-18 NKJV)

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     …He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's." (20:25b NIV)