The Day of Questions (Matthew 22:15-46)

Questions are usually important because they are a way of getting information. Questions are also a way of revealing our hearts and of indicating what we think of a situation. And that was the case in connection with the questions and answers given on this day in the last week of the life of Jesus. They reveal what his opponents thought, and they reveal what Jesus thought.

Spurgeon, in a sermon on this passage, pointed out that the same three types of question are asked today. The question asked by the Pharisees and Herodians is similar to discussions connected to the relationship between church and state; the question of the Sadducees is like many comments made concerning what takes place in the eternal state; and the question about the greatest commandment reminds people of pointless questions asked in theological discussions. In response to those questions, the important question is the one that Jesus asked the Pharisees about himself.

As we observe the approach of those asking the questions, we can see that they made use of flattery in that they pretended to give to Jesus a place of authority when they called him ‘Teacher’. The questions were not expressions of faith. Instead, they were expressions of unbelief and of hostility. Moreover, we can see that they failed in their intention of trapping Jesus and bringing some kind of disrepute on him.

Unexpected allies

It was not every day that one would see the Pharisees and the Herodians doing something together. As groups, they preferred to have nothing to do with one another because their aims were totally different. The Pharisees wanted a society in which their ways and traditions would be practised and the Herodians wanted a society in which the will of Herod would be done. What combined them was their mutual hostility towards Jesus.

It looks as if the leading Pharisees recognised that it would look inappropriate in the eyes of the public for them to seen with the Herodians, so they sent along some of their disciples instead with the Herodians. Since both groups were aware that Jesus taught often about his kingdom, it looks as if they tried to trap him by getting to say something disrespectful of Caesar, the then ruler of the biggest empire in the world, by implying that it was wrong to pay taxes to him.

It has been pointed out that the question can have four answers. One is that God alone has authority, a second is that Caesar alone has authority, a third is that both have authority but Caesar has more, and the fourth is that both have authority but God has more. Which one would Jesus choose?

This unexpected group of questioners had a big disadvantage, because Jesus did not only know the answers to give, he also knew their hearts. The problem with the question is not what words are included, but with the motives behind the words. Jesus knew that their hearts were full of malice and hypocrisy, a pair of terrible twins that usually work together.

It was not difficult for Jesus to deal with this question, which he did so by using a coin to illustrate his point that there are two kingdoms in this world and we have to behave appropriately in each. If we are required to pay taxes, we have to pay them, even to a government that opposes us. After all, the government represented by Caesar would be responsible for the execution of Jesus in a few days’ time, and he knew that would be the case. Yet he still affirmed that Caesar should be acknowledged by paying taxes.

Of course, while it is important to acknowledge Caesar, it is much more important to acknowledge God. The Pharisees imagined that they were acknowledging God and the Herodians imagined that they were acknowledging Caesar. The answer of Jesus points out that both of them were wrong. They also discovered that he could answer their devious questions easily.

Unspiritual

The Sadducees were a different group from either the Pharisees and the Herodians. At this time, they ran the Sanhedrin, the gathering of important Jews who discussed various issues. Although many of them had connections to the temple, they were liberal in their theology. Matthew points out that they did not believe in the resurrection, and elsewhere we are informed that they did not believe in the existence of angels (Acts 23:8). For some reason, they only accepted the teachings of the five books of Moses.

Their question is one that describes an unlikely circumstance and reveals a hint that they imagined they had discovered a way in which the Bible’s requirements could not be fulfilled. They wanted Jesus to give an answer to a dilemma that they thought could not be solved, which is often the case when opponents ask questions.

Jesus easily deals with this question and does so by directing them to a passage found in the books of the Old Testament that they accepted (Exod. 3:6). They were wrong in two ways. One was their ignorance of the Bible and the other was the power of God. We can see that Jesus pointed out to them the existence of angels. He also pointed out to them that in the biblical account God not only speaks about certain people such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he also spoke to certain people, that is the Sadducees, which is a reminder that when we read the Bible God is speaking to us.

In his answer, Jesus teaches two things. First, marriage is not a feature in the resurrection state. Earthly ties will no longer exist, which is something we need to recognise. One of the English martyrs, in a letter to his wife before he was put to death, closed it with the words, ‘Your husband for a season and your brother for ever.’ Of course, it is not for us to pry into what ways earthly ties will be recognised in the world to come.

Second, Jesus says that relationship with God is only possible for those who are alive. The Sadducees focussed on the deaths of the men and the woman in their story whereas Jesus shows them that in his story God speaks to the living, even although they are dead as to their bodies at the moment. But in heaven, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in contact with the living God. In other words, there is life after death and the Sadducees discovered that even the Old Testament books they accepted contained details about the doctrines they denied.

We are not told what the Sadducees thought of this incident, but we are told that they were silenced. But the crowd were astonished at the teaching of Jesus. I wonder why that was the case. Maybe they realised that what he said was scriptural and yet simple and straightforward. So unlike the silly stories of the Sadducees.

Seeker for truth

The third attempt to trap Jesus was based on priority among the commandments of God. Not all the commandments are equally important. Maybe the Pharisees imagined that this was a difficult question to answer and that it might reveal an inability in Jesus if he had difficulty in answering it.

Yet we can see from Mark’s account of the incident that the man who asked the question was a seeker for truth because he agreed with the answer of Jesus. Jesus told him he was not far from the kingdom and hopefully he did enter it. Yet the words of Jesus to him warn us that we can recognise the truth and not be in his kingdom.

The question gave to Jesus the opportunity of highlighting the two essential features of his kingdom. One is that people should love God affectionately, deeply and intelligently (Deut. 6:5). Love for God influences the whole of our personality and we cannot love him partly. The second mark of his kingdom is that its members love one another as much as possible (Lev. 19:18). Jesus points out that such love cannot be as strong as love for God.

Jesus here is reminding people of how the members of his kingdom continue doing the right thing, whether it is towards God or towards people. Love is personal, but it is also persistent. We cannot force people to love God and to love others. The presence of such love reveals that a radical change has taken place within them, and the absence of such love is a serious sign that someone is outside the kingdom.

I would suggest that the lawyer who asked the question realised immediately that there was a very big difference between the outlook of the Pharisees and the emphasis of Jesus. 

Questioned by Jesus

I suspect it was rare for the Pharisees to be on the receiving end of a question. Even when they were, their response would depend on the competence of the person asking the question. Jesus asked them concerning who he was, although they did not think that he was the Christ.

Jesus refers them to Psalm 110, which is a psalm about the Messiah and his activities as king and priest and judge. The psalm was written by David and in it he affirms that the Messiah is divine. So a point that is made by Jesus to them is that the Christ, when he appears, will be both God and man. Since the Pharisees did not believe that was the case, they could not answer Jesus’ question without having to admit that they had been wrong.

Moreover, the psalm states the place where the Messiah will reign – it will be at the right hand of God. From there, he will obtain complete victory over all his enemies. Those in the know recognise that Jesus is describing what is going to happen to himself in a short time when he ascends to heaven.

Applications

We should note how Jesus expresses the divine origin and authority of the Scriptures. He says that David was led by the Spirit when he composed Psalm 110. He defeated the Sadducees by stressing the importance of the tense of one verb which reveals that those who have passed on still have fellowship with God. And he mentioned only commandments from the Bible when he was asked about which were the most important. 

Another important detail that Jesus stressed was the nature of his kingdom. It did not concern itself with the earthly matters that are priorities for human governments. The question about taxes was not one that would concern Jesus. Of course, the taxes have to be legitimate, but in the main the kingdom of Jesus does not operate on the level of earthly kingdoms. His kingdom is about the reign of God in the hearts of people and delivering grace to them in their situations.

Jesus pointed out what the most important question was. It may be that the order of the questions had the least important one recorded first and the most important one last. Even if someone got the answers right with regard to the first three, the correct answers would be of no value if he was wrong with regard to the fourth. What really matters is knowing Jesus.

As we can see, Jesus drew attention to himself in the debates about him. The Pharisees knew that he claimed to be the Messiah and they also would have realised from his question that he claimed to be divine. Instead of submitting to him as God’s appointed Messiah, they persisted in refusing to accept his offer. They could have crossed over to his side and become his disciples. But they chose not to do so, which was a fatal mistake for many of them.