Asking questions allows us to learn things, however:
Ask with a seeking heart, then you can learn the lesson
Ask with an evil heart, then your motives and your ignorance will be exposed
Different people have come to Jesus to ask Him various questions. Most of them tried to challenge Him and find His faults, yet in the end, they exposed themselves and the Lord Jesus showed them the truth which they never saw.
The Authority
The challenge: By what authority are you doing these things? (11:27-12:12):
Jesus asked them back with the question, “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?”
To show them there is an authority from heaven
Their fate as the unfaithful tenants in the parable: Be destroyed (12:9)
There is a new house of God to be built: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (12:10-11)
Paying tax – a political trap
Pharisees (pro-Jewish religion) and Herodians (pro- Herod/Roman empire) – they were actually opponents
Their question: “is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” In their thinking,
If Jesus says yes, the Pharisees can come in and declare that Jesus is not of God.
If Jesus says no, then the Herodians can bring Roman soldiers to capture Him.
Jesus’ Answer
Knowing their hypocrisy: Because of their flattering words with evil intentions
Give me a denarius: which has the image and inscription of Caesar
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
Jesus understands the authority of Caesar because all authority come from God (Rom. 13:1)
Yet above all authorities on earth, there is the authority of God. All things are of God.
If one understands to pay the earthly tax, then how about rendering to God the things of God?
The Things of God
All things are created by God and are His. However, here, the things of God refers to what God has desired from us; that is, what should we give to Him?
And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deut. 10:12-13)
Question: Is there resurrection?
Question from Sadducees: “In the resurrection, whose wife will she be? For the seven brothers had her as wife.”
Jesus answered: You were wrong because You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
Jesus proved there is resurrection because I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living.
Knowing the scriptures and God’s power
We should not approach the Scriptures according to our natural concept but should let the Scriptures speak to us and impart life into us through our faith.
Many truths in the Scriptures may be beyond our human understanding, however, in our faith, His words become real, applicable and fulfilled.
The most important commandment
The most important is “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
The second, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
We may have many questions, yet the truths the Lord Jesus has shown will enlighten us with an uplifted understanding and direct us to live a life before God and a life rightly with others.
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