In 20:1 we see that as the Lord was teaching in the temple and preaching the good news, the chief priests, scribes, and the elders came to Him. The priests were the serving ones in the temple, the scribes were those with a thorough knowledge in the Mosaic law, and the elders were administrators among the Jewish people. These three categories of people were the outstanding leaders in the Jewish community. They came prepared to carry out a thorough examination of the Lord as the Passover Lamb.
Luke presents the examination of the Lord Jesus from a different angle from that found in Matthew and Mark. Luke’s presentation is from the angle of the highest standard of morality. In chapter twenty of the Gospel of Luke we have a picture of the Man-Savior behaving Himself in the highest standard of morality. Of course, in all the foregoing chapters we have seen the Lord’s high standard of morality produced by His divine essence with the divine attributes and His human essence with the human virtues. Now in chapter twenty we have a more detailed portrait of the Man-Savior’s highest standard of morality.
The chief priests, scribes, and elders said to the Lord, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things, or who is the one who gave you this authority?” (20:2). They thought that they could catch the Lord by asking Him about the source of His authority. As the One who was being examined, the God-man was frank, genuine, wise, and dignified. But those who were questioning Him were base, subtle, insidious, and dishonest. They did not come either with a proper attitude or in a proper spirit.
In answering the question raised by the chief priests, scribes, and elders, the Man-Savior was wise. When asked who gave Him authority, He did not say, “My Father gave Me this authority.” To answer the question in such a way would not be wrong, but it would be lacking in wisdom. In His wisdom the Lord said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and you tell Me: the baptism of John, was it from heaven or from men?” (vv. 3-4). This question put them into a dilemma, and they debated among themselves about it, saying, “If we say, From heaven, he will say, Why did you not believe him? But if we say, From men, all the people will stone us to death, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet” (vv. 5-6). Eventually, not having the wisdom to handle the situation, they could do nothing except lie by answering, “We do not know where it was from” (v. 7). Knowing that they were lying, the Lord said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things” (v. 8). This indicates that the Lord knew the Jewish leaders would not tell Him what they knew. Hence, neither would He tell them what they asked. They lied in saying, “We do not know.” But the Lord spoke the truth wisely to them, exposing their lie and avoiding their question.
In this incident we can see how base and insidious were the chief priests, scribes, and elders. At the same time we see how pure, wise, and dignified the Man-Savior is. What a sharp contrast!
After the chief priests, scribes, and elders were defeated by the Man-Savior, the Pharisees and the Herodians tested Him (20:20-26). The Pharisees, a religious party, were patriotic and faithful to the Jewish community. The Herodians took sides with King Herod’s regime and took part with him in infiltrating the Jews with Grecian and Roman manners of life. They sided with the Sadducees, but were opposed to the Pharisees. But here they joined with the Pharisees to ensnare the Lord Jesus. They worked together in the attempt to carry out a plot to trap the Man-Savior.
According to verse 21, the Herodians and the Pharisees questioned the Lord, saying, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and do not accept man’s person, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” This was truly an ensnaring question. Paying taxes to Caesar was opposed by the Jews. If the Lord Jesus said that it was lawful to do this, He would offend the Pharisees. But if He said that it was not lawful, He would give the Herodians, who stood with the Roman government, ground to accuse Him. By asking the Lord such a question they exposed themselves as being base, dishonest, and insidious.
In handling this dilemma the Lord was again honest, pure, and wise. Considering their craftiness, He said to them, “Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have? And they said, Caesar’s. And He said to them, Therefore pay the things of Caesar to Caesar and the things of God to God” (vv. 24-25). To pay the things of Caesar to Caesar is to pay tribute to Caesar according to his governmental regulation. To pay the things of God to God is to pay the half shekel to God according to Exodus 30:11-16 and to offer all the tithes to God according to the law of God.
In 20:20-26 we see two completely different standards of morality. The Pharisees and Herodians were base, dishonest, and insidious. But the Man-Savior was genuine, frank, honest, and wise.