A "Gotcha" Question #155

We all know the purpose of a “gotcha” question is to catch someone in a lie or contradiction that embarrasses them. They’ve been around for a long time and usually the stakes are not life or death. Except when the Pharisees are involved. 

In the Gospel of Matthew the Pharisees try to trap Jesus. They ask Jesus if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. The “gotcha” is that if Jesus says ‘yes you should pay taxes to Caesar,’ the Jews would give up on him because they abhor the Roman occupation and are looking for Jesus to be the messiah who frees them from the oppression. So he can’t say yes. But if he says “no” Jesus would commit treason against Rome and be summarily executed. 

The Pharisees (not good people) are probably inwardly chuckling at their own cleverness and fiendishly rubbing their hands in glee at putting Jesus in an impossible situation. 

Jesus asks for a coin and asks whose image and title is on the coin. The Pharisees, unaware that the tables have turned, reply that the image is Caesar’s. And then Jesus flips the script on them and says, "Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's". 

Gotcha avoided. 

But maybe the assumption I’ve made about the Pharisees is wrong. The Pharisees also hate their occupiers, they want their own homeland, and Jesus may very well be the Messiah. It could be that the Pharisees are actually trying to figure out what to do with the Romans and asking Jesus how to navigate this dangerous time makes sense. Nah. I like how I see the Pharisees just fine. 

Matthew 22:15-21