Mark 12:13-17
Reflect
“Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement.” I was curious how they could trap or test Jesus with this. John Piper had some valuable insight into this whole episode. The Pharisees were rigid Jews. The Herodians were followers of Herod. If Jesus would have said, “Pay your taxes”, He would have shown allegiance to Rome and therefore forsaken His own people. If Jesus would have said, “don’t pay taxes”, it would have looked like He came to fight the Romans, which is what many of them expected of the Messiah anyway. Instead, Jesus had a wise answer that still today makes us think “render to God the things that are God’s.”
Everything belongs to God – even Caesar, even the government! (Jesus says later to Pilate, “you would not have authority if it would not be given to you by God”). Human authority is derived from God. It is limited! Humans have it because God gave it. We are asked to submit to authority for the Lord’s sake (Romans 13). But our allegiance and obedience belong to the Lord! Any claim of the government to be our final authority is where our obedience to God trumps obedience to the government.
Apply
Pray for our government to use their authority with wisdom, and in submission to God!
Annette Faszer
Pray
- For those who need to be encouraged in heart and united in love.
- Pray through the prayer section in our online program.
- Pray for our Congregational Life Pastor, Mike Bartusek and his family.
- Pray for our Hospitality Coordinator, Irene Dickau.
- Pray for Erin Gibbard, Youth Ministry Assistant.