Dear Theophilus,
I appreciate your passion for the
message, but it’s just so hard for those of us on the outside to see Jesus and
recognize him as the Son of God. First
of all, I struggle to even believe in God—and when I can wrap my mind around
the concept of an other-worldly being that exists high in the heavens above and
has made the earth and all that is in it, it’s even harder to understand how
and why he would come to earth. Why
would he want anything to do with us, especially since we all seem to have a
different idea of who he is? People in
this town worship all sorts of gods, and I suppose it’s possible that they’re
all symbols of the same god, but they worship him in such different ways that
it’s much easier for me to view them as all having been made up on the spot.
I guess what I’m trying to say is
that I understand how upset the Pharisees would be at Jesus’ challenge of their
position in the world. If I were one of
the Pharisees, I’d wonder just who Jesus was to be saying and doing such
things. I know he had done all sorts of
miracles as proof of his identity, and so often I’m ready to believe in his
miraculous identity, but it’s such a big leap from that precipice into the
lifestyle of laying everything down and worshipping him, being willing to give
up positions of comfort and power. Maybe
it’s all true, Theophilus, but if it’s not, then you’re giving up everything
for nothing.
So I guess I don’t always blame the
Pharisees for trying to trap Jesus.
Having him arrested seems extreme to me, but I can understand why they
want to discredit him. In this case, the
Pharisees recruited several outsiders to approach Jesus and seem like innocent
inquisitors. The Pharisees were hoping
his answer would lead to his arrest, but they weren’t counting on Jesus’
ability to squirm his way out of every trap that is laid for him.
These spies started with flattery,
declaring their confidence in his proper teachings and his authority in
teaching the truth of God for everyone.
They then moved on to the trap—they asked him whether it was lawful to
pay taxes or not. For most of us, this
would be a tough question to answer in front of the Jews in Jerusalem. Telling them not to pay taxes would be a slight
to the Roman empire, who would probably then view him as an insurrectionist. Telling them to pay taxes, however, might
turn some of the people against him, for they dislike having the Romans in
charge. So we might say that Jesus was
in a tight spot.
Jesus, however, recognized the trap
for what it was, and he wasn’t about to be taken down by such an easy
question. He asked them to show him a
denarius, a Roman coin, and asked whose head was on the coin. The spies replied that the emperor’s head and
name were on the coin.
Jesus then replied, with tact and
ease, that they should give the emperor what belonged to the emperor, and that
God should receive the things that belong to God.
The spies must have been shocked at
the way Jesus answered them, for they were able to say nothing. Their trap had failed, and they were left in
awe of the way that Jesus responded.
Theophilus, I’m impressed by
Jesus. He’s clearly a step ahead of
everyone else. But I’m not sure that
makes him worthy of worship in my book.
I want to see him as more than just a man, but I’ve felt that about
other people in my life, too—I want them so badly to be something that they are
not, and when I discover that they are simply human I leave disappointed. I don’t want the same disappointment with
Jesus, and so I am not ready to elevate him to a position of honor beyond what
I think he deserves. Is he God? I don’t know, Theophilus, I just don’t
know. Maybe he is, and maybe it’s all
just a fairy-tale, too good to be true, but too captivating for me to want to
discover that it’s all false before it ends.
Sincerely,
Luke
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