The expectation of Jesus was thwarted by the will of man. Jesus expected to be accepted by His people. His Father God also expected Jesus would become the King and Priest to His people. Things changed. The leadership was unwilling to accept the authority and leadership of Jesus. They were happy with the way things were “in the church”. They desired a Messiah to overthrow Rome and to endorse their religion. Problem. Jesus came to correct the leadership. The Pharisees said, “We know you came from God because you don’t care what people think of you.” Jesus was leaven-free! Throughout the gospel story you read “what sayeth thou?” They expected Jesus to be different.
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96: Jesus Is Asked Three Questions
Matthew 22:15-40; Mark 12:13-34, Luke 20:20-40
Shall We Pay Tribute To Caesar?
The chief priests, scribes, and elders sent spies into the multitude that gathered around Jesus, hoping that he might do or say something that would enable them to turn him over to the civil authorities.
These opponents of Jesus asked him, saying:
“Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man; for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?”
Jesus perceived the craftiness behind the question. He said:
“Why tempt ye me? Bring me a penny, that I may see it.”
When it was brought, he said to his tempters:
“Whose is this image and superscription?”
His opponents said:
“Caesar’s.”
Thereupon Jesus said to them:
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus’ enemies could find nothing in this answer that warranted accusing him; so they went away.
Which Of The Brothers Shall Have The Wife In The Resurrection?
Some Sadducees, a sect that denied that there was a resurrection, came to Jesus and said to him:
“Master, Moses wrote unto us, ‘If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.’ There were therefore seven brethren, and the first took a wife and died without children. And the second took her to wife and he died childless.
And the third took her and, in like manner, the seven also. And they left no children and died. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she, for seven had her to wife?”
Jesus replied to them:
“Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?
For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in Heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise, have ye not read in the book of Moses how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Ye therefore do greatly err.”
Which Is the Greatest Commandment?
When the Pharisees learned that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, one of them, a lawyer, asked Jesus:
“Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
Jesus replied:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.’ This is the first commandment.
And the second is like, namely this, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ There is none other commandment greater than these.”
The lawyer responded, saying to Jesus:
“Master, thou hast said the truth; for there is one God, and there is none other but he. And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus heard the lawyer, he said:
“Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”
After that, no man dared ask Jesus any question.