“Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words.” They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked.
(from Mark 12)
I have been under a lot of financial pressure and this morning happened to turn to this famous Bible passage seemingly about money and taxes where Jesus outfoxes a group of religious men trying to trap him, by saying give back to Caesar what belongs to him – taxes – but give back to God what belongs to Him.
However, I was really struck by the first line where these men try “to catch him in his words.” My mind wandered and the thought occurred to me: I wonder how often either some people in churches or atheists trying to denounce the Christian faith put their energy into arguing about the sayings of Jesus – weaponising his words to suit their own ambitions? They try “to catch him in his words” so to speak.
Paul tells his disciple Timothy in 2 Timothy 2: “Warn them before God against quarreling about words; it is of no value, and only ruins those who listen.” There’s certainly a place for studying and debating and listening on theological matters. But when this slides into power games and attempts to undermine the holiness of THE Word – as I have witnessed many times in academic and public scenarios – then the whole process falls foul. There’s also a danger of endless scrutiny damaging our flesh: “And further, my son, by these words be admonished: of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness to the flesh.” (Ecclesiastes 12:12)
I’ve said before that Jesus once took a child and told his arguing disciples that unless they changed and became like children they wouldn’t even enter the kingdom of heaven. That’s a warning to intellectuals to surrender their will, mind, in fact everything to the simplicity of the gospel. And what IS the gospel? Jesus himself is. He is the embodiment of God and bringer of good news!
Surely John 5 makes the point clear, when Jesus says. “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
In a nutshell, yes let’s debate and do apologetics. But it’s incredibly dangerous to pick pedantic fights about what Jesus said. He is life defined in all its fulness and the only way to find that life is by coming to him.
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