Submitting to God-ordained authorities, including the government; the reality of the resurrection; the truth about the Messiah – the unique God-Man; the danger of religious hypocrisy and the true religion of the poor widow.

If you knew that you were getting toward the very end of your life, how would you spend your last week? You would do what is most important to you. The Son of God knew He was about to die, and He spent His last week doing what He knew God had called Him to do – telling the Chosen People the truth, correcting us where we needed correction – even if it meant conflict with the leaders who were far from God – followed by suffering and death – but also resurrection!

The miracle working Rabbi from Nazareth had entered Jerusalem triumphantly, hailed by many of His disciples as Israel’s Messiah King. But Yeshua knew that the majority of the nation and our leaders would reject Him, and that God’s severe judgment would come to the Chosen People as a result of not recognizing the time of our visitation.

When He entered Jerusalem, Messiah went to His Father’s house and cleansed it and rebuked the leaders of the nation. It took tremendous courage and boldness and zeal for the young Rabbi to go to the center of power of those who wanted to kill Him. But, Yeshua had that kind of courage, that kind of love and zeal and enthusiasm for God and the things of God, and He didn’t let opposition deter Him from doing what was right!

The popularity of the young and courageous miracle working Rabbi prevented those powerful political and religious leaders from immediately doing what they wanted to do – kill Yeshua. But, that didn’t prevent them from trying – and ultimately succeeding.

They tried to get into confrontations with Yeshua, hoping to manipulate Him into saying something that they could use to destroy Him. But the Wonderful Counselor is wiser than the wisest, smarter than the smartest! He was and is and always will be the master of every situation!

And, what these men meant for evil, God turned into our good. Yeshua’s amazing responses to these confrontation are full of wisdom that teach us very important lessons that if acted on, will bless our lives.

The first question/confrontation teaches us about the perspective we need to have about submitting to God-ordained authorities like government – even governments that we might not like.

So they (the experts in Torah and the leading priests) watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and the authority of the governor. They questioned Him, saying, “Rabbi, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth.

If someone acts friendly toward us, we tend to let our guard down. We are rightly cautious with our enemies, but not on guard with our friends. Yeshua’s enemies knew this and used flattery to try and catch Him off guard and prevent Him from seeing the trap they were trying set for Him. After their flattery they asked their trick question: “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not”?

These men must have thought that Yeshua was cleverly trapped, and there was no way for Him to escape danger if He answered their question. If Yeshua answered yes – it was right for the oppressed and impoverished Jewish people to pay outrageous taxes to the unrighteous Gentile conquerors – that was not the entirely true. It was not the whole story, and the people knew it and that response would have offended most of them. Yeshua would have lost the esteem of the crowds of admirers who were protecting Him. But if He said no, He would have been accused of treason against Rome. It was very serious crime to advocate not paying taxes to the Roman Empire. There was no way out of this tricky and potentially deadly question, right?

But, Israel’s Prophet, Priest and King is shrewder than the shrewdest, cleverer than the most clever and saw through this plot and immediately came up with an astounding answer. But He detected their trickery and said to them, “Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s”. And He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”.

Roman coins were used in Israel, and on the coin He was shown was the image of the Roman emperor. That coin was connected to Rome. That coin was issued by Rome. That coin came under legitimate Roman authority. So, it was right to give that coin back to Rome. Makes perfect sense!

But, there is a larger lesson to be learned. The greater lesson is that we have obligations to the state – even if it is pagan or secular, as well as having obligations to God. The Creator raises up political leaders and governments, and when they do what is generally right, they are servants of God, and they have the right to be supported by our allegiance and by our taxes. This is not always easy or pleasant for us to do.

Because of the Fall, we are rebels against authority. It is easy for us to rebel against authority – God’s spiritual authorities and human authorities that He has raised up. We need to learn how to be obedient to the legitimate authorities that God has placed us under – the state and the synagogue – and that includes paying our taxes.

Luke tells us the conclusion to this confrontation. And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and being amazed at His answer, they became silent. They remained silent – but only for a time. Another group of those who want to destroy Rabbi Yeshua will bring a second question/confrontation that will teach us about the reality of the Resurrection.

Now there came to Him some of the Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) – and who were closely associated with the priests and the temple – and they questioned Him, saying, “Rabbi – this group also approached Yeshua with insincere respect and flattery – calling Him Rabbi. They really didn’t think the young uneducated carpenter from Nazareth was much of a rabbi. And, they were insincere because they posed a question they didn’t believe was a real possibility. They didn’t believe in the resurrection. Their question was designed to make Yeshua look foolish in the sight of the people and lessen His credibility. Watch out when people ask you trick questions that they don’t believe the premises to! They are trying to make you look foolish to further their agenda.

Here is their question. Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should marry the wife and raise up children to his brother. This is the law of “levirate marriage” that is part of the Torah (Deuteronomy 25).

Now there were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and died childless; and the second and the third married her; and in the same way all seven died, leaving no children. Finally the woman died also. In the resurrection therefore, which one’s wife will she be? For all seven had married her”.

Someone observed: The question of the Sadducees was based on the premise that the resurrection body and way of living is an exact counterpart to our earthly bodies and our way of living on Earth. If that is the case, then in the resurrection, the woman would be guilty of incestuous marriage relationships, or she will need to be arbitrarily designated the wife of one of the brothers. If so, then which brother? Or – and this is the real answer that the Sadducees were pushing for – isn’t the whole idea of the resurrection absurd?

The Sadducees were in some ways like many people today who do not believe in the supernatural. Realities like a personal God who enters into relationship with human beings, and His ability to hear and answer prayer, and intervene in the world, and miracles, and the coming of the Messiah, and the resurrection, and the day of judgment, and Heaven and Hell are not believed by many people in today’s secular society.

But the Son of God knew better! Yeshua said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. The Son of God, who is never wrong and knows what He is talking about, informed these Sadducees (and us!) that the resurrection is very real, and the bodies and lives of those blessed individuals who will experience the resurrection of the righteous will be different from their bodies and lives in this age. They will not be married like we are now. They will be more like the angels who don’t marry or procreate. In fact, Yeshua’s mention of the angels is another correction of the lack of faith of the Sadducees, because they denied the existence of angels (see Acts 23:8).

The Sadducees were wrong about the reality of angels, and they were wrong about the reality of the resurrection. From the very beginning, right after the Fall, the Lord wanted us to be very sure about the reality of resurrection! That faith in the resurrection very much needs to be part of our core beliefs, our thinking and our motivation. We will never have meaningful lives, and the peace and joy that we are able to experience if we don’t believe in the resurrection!

Yeshua knew that the Sadducees were wrong about the resurrection, and He graciously tried to correct them. The Sadducees accepted the authority of the Torah, and so Israel’s Supreme Teacher quoted a passage from Exodus 3 that proves the truth of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now He is not the God of the dead but of the living; for all live to Him”.

Here is what Messiah is arguing. The Lord states: I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – not using the past tense – I was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. If God is addressing Moses hundreds of years after the Fathers died, and He is not using the past tense, then in some way they must still be alive! They must be present to Him! If He is still their God, and He is eternal and living, then they must be resurrected so He can continue to be their eternal and living God. Brilliant!

Some of the Torah-teachers answered and said, “Rabbi, You have spoken well”. For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything. Their plans to use trick questions to trip up the Rabbi weren’t working. In fact, Yeshua’s wisdom intimated His adversaries and raised Him even further in the esteem of the people! Now Yeshua goes on the offensive. The third question/confrontation is one that Messiah initiates. It teaches us the truth about who the unique God-Man is.

Then He said to them, “How is it that they say the Messiah is David’s son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‘the Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”’. Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord,’ and how is He his son”? So many Jewish people today are not familiar with the Divinely Inspired Special Writings, especially what they have to teach us about the Anointed Prophet, Priest and King that God promised to send to us to save, rescue and redeem us from Satan, sin and death; from powerful and wicked nations; and from all injustice; to bring in unending righteousness; peace with God; atonement; everlasting life! But, the majority of the Jewish people 2,000 years ago, especially the leaders, were familiar with the Messianic prophecies and the qualifications for messiahship they contain. Everyone knew that the Messiah had to be a descendant of David, Israel’s greatest King (see  2 Samuel 7:13-14, Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:1-10, Jeremiah 23:5).

But, the Messiah will not only be a descendant of David, but someone greater than David, who was the greatest King of Israel! Yeshua’s argument comes from Psalm 110. In Psalm 110, David is allowed to overhear a conversation between Adonai – the Lord God – who is God the Father, and One whom David refers to as his Adon – his Lord – who is God the Son.

Who is greater than David, and sits victoriously and exaltedly at the right hand of God the Father, waiting for God to defeat all of His enemies, so He can wonderfully rule over Israel and the nations? Who is greater than Israel’s greatest King, and is worthy of being called David’s Lord? Certainly not Saul who came before David, or any of David’s descendants who came after him, or any of the leaders of the nations of the world. It is the Messiah.

Yeshua is teaching us that He is the son of David and the Son of God! He is Adon David – David’s Lord, but also David’s son. He is a human being from the line of David, but also the Divine Son of God. He is that son who was born to us, and yet also El Gibor – the Mighty God; He is part of Israel, but also Immanuel – God With Us. He is fully man and fully God. He is the Divine Messiah, the ultimate Prophet, Priest and King who is powerful and authoritative and who will rule Israel and the nations forever! He is to be believed in, respected, reverenced and obeyed!

The leaders of the holy nation were so close to God, and yet so far from Him. The leaders of the Chosen People were in the most special city – Jerusalem; they were in the center of Jerusalem, in the temple of God, which was closest to the presence of God on Earth; they were so close to the sacrifices and the principles of atonement; so close to the Bible; so close to Immanuel, and yet so far from God and Messiah and the truth that would save them! We never want to be like that – so close and yet so far! We don’t want to find out on the Day of Judgment that we were religious hypocrites who will be refused entrance into the kingdom of God!

Next comes a warning about religious hypocrisy. Our faith must be real! It must be genuine. It must be sincere! We must not use religion as a covering to accomplish our own corrupt agendas. And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, “Beware of the scribes – the experts in the Torah, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation”. The experts in the Torah used their knowledge about the Word of God to gain honor from those less knowledgeable. But, they were also greedy and took advantage of the poor – something the very Torah they were experts in, condemns.

True religion is demonstrated not only by our knowledge, but also by our actions. True religion is demonstrated by our relationship with God and also by our relationships with other human beings. We must really know the Creator and we must be loving, kind, generous people. We must be givers, not takers; helpers of humanity, not those who take advantage of others.

It is not enough to claim to know God but wrong other human beings; nor is it enough to be good to other human beings but ignore the Three-In-One God. We must have right relationships with God and with man.

If you are not in a right relationship with God the Father, and with Messiah His Son, and filled with the Holy Spirit, you need to do so. And, if you are not being loving and generous toward others, and teaching them the truth about God, you need to change and start doing that.

Our religion must be genuine. We must be generous givers like the poor widow whose religion was genuine, and not like the greedy Torah experts. Luke tells us that Yeshua was in the temple. And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. Wow! Big donors with big money. They are easy to notice and easy to honor. It is nice for a ministry to have big donors, and thank God for the donors who can give generously to support good works. But, it wasn’t the big donors who impressed the One who made the Earth, the Sun, moon and trillions of stars. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. Outwardly, this was not impressive. A poor widow who gave two small copper coins to support all the work that went on at the temple was insignificant. Her few pennies couldn’t do much to support the glorious house of God. But, to the God who sees the heart, to the Creator who looks at the inner motivation of our actions, and who considers them more important than the outward deeds; to Immanuel who came in great humility and who taught that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed – these two small copper coins given by the poor widow were more impressive than all the gifts of the big donors!

And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on”.

The Lord wants us to know that it is not the mere size of the gift that is praiseworthy, but the generosity based on the ability to give.

It is not according to mere outward accomplishments by which we will be judged and rewarded, but our desire to serve and to sacrifice with the abilities and talents and gifts that we have. And, each one of us, no matter how rich, how poor, how gifted or not, can do this! We can be like this poor widow! This should motivate us and encourage each one of us to be the kind of men and women who, despite our circumstances, generously love and serve God and man from our hearts!