30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 20 19-26 THE FOOLISHNESS OF THE CRAFTY LEADERS 11 Luke 20 24-25 Foolishness proved
📖 Luke 20:19-26
14Mar2021 - *Foolishness proved* - _Luke 20:19-26_ - THE FOOLISHNESS OF THE CRAFTY LEADERS 11 – Bible reading: _Luke 23:1-4_
The Lord was now giving the answer to the question posed to Him by these leaders, who were sure that they had Jesus trapped and they would achieve their objective of destroying Him.
_Luke 20:24-25 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?" They answered and said, "Caesar's." (25) And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."_
The agenda of these leaders to get Jesus to answer this question about giving taxes was to force Jesus to somehow tell the people not to pay taxes to Rome. They asked this question in the hearing of the people.
They would then have the basis to accuse Jesus before Pilate that Jesus taught the people not to pay taxes to Caesar.
With the popularity of Jesus rising and the people having already received Him as King as He entered Jerusalem, this matter of not paying taxes to Caesar would be perceived as a serious threat to Rome and the elimination of Jesus would be certain. These leaders surely had a foolproof plan in place.
We know that Jesus did not teach the people, not to pay taxes to Caesar. We will ponder over the answer of Jesus, in-depth, but for now, let us address the matter of the accusation of these leaders to Pilate, the Governor.
_Luke 23:1-4 Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate. (2) And they began to accuse Him, saying, *"We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King*." (3) Then Pilate asked Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" He answered him and said, "It is as you say." (4) So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, "*I find no fault in this Man*."_
Jesus had not told the public not to pay taxes to Caesar, yet this was the accusation that they brought before Pilate, which was an outright lie.
They would have surely known that their falsehood would come to light very quickly since Pilate was a trained administrator in such matters.
*They were proving themselves to be the foolish crafty leaders*.
Pilate knew enough of Jewish history to know that the Jews were expectantly awaiting the coming of the Messiah, to set up His kingdom. He knew that the Jews were a nation that saw themselves high above other people but now they were bitter people, for they were under the rule of a foreign nation. There was rebellion always festering in the hearts of the Jewish people, against foreign rulers.
If Jesus was emerging as the King of the Jews, and Pilate would have known that large crowds were following Him, and if it was true that Jesus had actually taught the people not to pay taxes to Rome, then Pilate knew that that that would be enough to get the entire Jewish population to rally around Jesus and start a revolt against Rome, to push the Romans out of Judea.
This did not happen, whereas the Jews themselves were presenting Jesus to Pilate for him to execute Jesus on the basis that He taught the people not to pay taxes to Caesar.
Pilate immediately knew that the accusation that Jesus taught not to pay taxes to Caesar was false, absurd and hilarious. He never even bothered to verify the matter of Jesus telling the people not to pay taxes to Rome.
Pilate, though, was curious about Jesus being a King. He asked Jesus if He was a King and He answered that He was.
Pilate reasoned again. If Jesus was the King of the Jews, why were the Jews accusing Him and wanting Pilate to kill Him? Pilate’s astute administrative mind told him that obviously there was no fault with Jesus at all. _Mark 15:10 For he knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy._
Pilate immediately declared that he found Jesus, ‘Not guilty’ and he announced that he found no fault in Him. (Pilate, seemed to be a perceptive man at the start of the trial, but he too soon turned out to be as foolish as the Jewish leaders)
The foolishness of these crafty leaders is exposed for all through the ages to see. _I Corinthians 3:19-20 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "HE CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR OWN CRAFTINESS”; (20) and again, "THE LORD KNOWS THE THOUGHTS OF THE WISE, THAT THEY ARE FUTILE."_
It did not take very long for the foolishness of these leaders to be exposed. When we are troubled by the world let us be reminded of God’s word. _Psalm 37:10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; Indeed, you will look carefully for his place, But it shall be no more._
*Thought to ponder*
```The Lord is taking us, His church, through a period of sieving, to separate the chaff from the grain.```