The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-09-13
THREE
QUESTIONS
sunday sehooI Le..on for sept. Is. 1glO
Specially arranged for This Paper

\ unto Caesar the things which are
\ Caesars; and unto God the things that
are Gods Matt 22:22
TIMD.-Tu tuesday. April a. A. d. 80.
The same day as our last lesson.
PLACE The Court of the Temple Ia
Suggestion and Practical Thought.
The rulers Of the Jews had deter
mined on the death of Jesus (Mark
ll:1S), and were now seeking some
way Of ensnaring Jesus into express.
ing opinions which could be used as an
accusation for which he could be con.
victed in the courts. But by Jesus an,
swers Divine truth was made more
clear
The question was asked by a willy
| combination of two parties 1t was. is
it lawful to give tribute to Caesar. or
not? The Pharisees sent their disci-
pies, learners, students, who would
come as those who wanted to learn,
| and not as the teachers who, being
} supposed to know, would appear to be
merely wanting to entrap Jesus, "A
cunning device" These would repre-.
sent one side Of the question, opposed
to paying tribute to Caesar
Fierce opposition was offered to
the tribute law 4. which was regard
ed as an impiety, inasmuch as no Lord
could be recognized but God
Others offered opposition to the legal
ity of the tax, while one leader, Judah
of Gamala, associated with a Pharisee
named Zadok, formed party to work
solely on this line Of attack. Then ven.
geance was sworn against whomso.
ever should transgress the Mosaic law,
and the Zealots were pious assassins
who imposed upon themselves the ga.
cred obligations of killing all trans.
gressors of the law
The Herodians were adherents OF
the Herods, who owed what power
they possessed to the Roman govern.
ment. They, We'd with the Sadducea
In skepticism, and with the Greeks in
Righteousness, pandered to the vice
and cruelty of the Herods and truckled
to the Romans" These represented
the other side of the question, favoring
tribute to Caesar, and opposed to the
Messianic hopes of the Pharisees.
No matter which side Jesus took 1t
seemed impossible for him not to seri-
ously damage his cause If he decided
for either jarty, the other would be his
enemy. He was sailing between Scylla
and Charybdis. If he said it was not
right to pay taxes, he would be in col
lision with the whole Roman power,
which would regard and treat him as a
criminal. His career would be ended.
he sol 10
the great mass of the people would be
against him, and he would lose his
hold upon them: for they hated the
Roman government, and one of the
first and greatest things they expected
OF the Messiah was deliverance from
this subsection to a foreign power
THE taxes were constant cause Of
revolt
They say unto him, Caesars
pronounced Kaisar by Romans and
Greeks. 1t is the German kaiser and
Russian czar) Render therefore unto
Caesar the things which are Caesars"
The image and superscription on the
coin implied the sovereignty of Caesar.
The Jews. by using the coins, in so far
were served by the Roman govern
ment. They therefore owed it some
service in return. This service was the
payment Of taxes.
"And unto God the things that are
Gods" God as your maker, preserver,
giver of countless good gifts, one Of
the choicest Of which was the gift of
his Son, their Messiah, had a right to
claim love and obedience from them.
Christians have to live in countries
where the government is not perfect,
and it is their duty to be good citizens
in them, the best citizens they have.
This was one of the ways by which
Christianity conquered the Roman en-
pire. To have fought the empire with
their worldly weapons would have
been ruin; as Christ himself said:
For all they that take the sword shall
perish with the sword" (Matt. 26: 52).
Gods image is stamped in the soul
of man. It is sometimes soiled in the
mire Of sin, dimmed by the friction of
worldly cares, bent and distorted by
wrongs done and wrongs received; but
every man was created in the image OF
God. This makes 1t possible to be re-
stored, to. receive the fuller, sweeter,
more perfect image Of Gods holiness.
When Tamerlane was in his wars,
one Of his captains dug up great pot
Of gold. and brought it to him. Tanner
lane asked whether 1t had his fathers
stamp upon it; but when he saw it had
the Roman stamp, and not his fathers,
he would not own 1t.
A lawyer. scribe, a student and
teacher Of the law, asked. Master,
which is the great commandment OF
the law?' Tempting him, testing him
! to see what kind of an answer the
! wise teacher would give to one of the
stock questions which divided the
Jewish teachers into rival schools, for
he realized that Jesus had answered
wisely the Sadducee's question MARK
| All we have and are we owe to
| him; and the only way in which we
can make any return is to love him
and obey him in love. That is all that
| is ours to give; to withhold 1t is unut
terably mean. THE best thing in man
1 is love, and God wants the best" Such
! love not only honors God. but elevates
man. Love is the most ennobling act
Of the SOUL and the nobler and higher
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