Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-27

Herodians, Sadducees, Pharisees,
who were filled with bitter hostility to
each other, had formed an alliance
against Jesus. whom they all hated.
They were determined to entangle
Him. They had failed in their attempt
to involve Him with the ecclesiastical
authorities, their challenge only re-
sulting in their condemnation by the
multitude. They planned to bring
Him into collision with the civil
powers. They framed up their pro-
| gram in a secret conference and ar
ranged that He should be visited by a
delegation of young Pharisees and
Herodians in an effort to catch Him
In His conversations.
| The questions were cunningly
framed. Christ was accustomed to
! meeting every question, especially
those that were asked for information
! and light when prompted by proper
motives. The famous arguments be-
| tween our Lord and the PhariSeeS and
| Sadducees on the last day of His pub
| lie ministry present examples OF
breadth and acuteness in questioning
! that have never been surpassed. Some
of these problems are reappearing
under different forms in our modern
times. Christianity has always vel
coined investigation. It's adherents
know that every problem that men are
called upon to solve has it's solution
| in the application of the principles
of the Lord Jesus, who triumphantly
answered the questions which men
believed were unansWerable. The last
of series put to Jesus in the temple
| they believed cut like a tWo-edged
sword. 1t touched upon semi-political
question of the day over which the
| feelings of the people ran high. No
matter how He answered 1t, they
thought that they had Him cornered
| by their crafty question.
The Crafty Question.
The Herodians, whom we find joined
with the Pharisees in an effort to
catch Christ, were members of q po-
litical party who held that the house
of Herod were lawful occupants of the
Jewish throne and were semi Roman
and semi Nationalist" in their SYM
pathies 1t was natural for them to
differ with the PhariSeeS on the queS-
ton of paying tribute to Caesar. 1t
was customary to present such PROB
lens to the rabbis and public teachers
| for settlement. 1t was a Cleverly
worded and craftily put question that
they presented to Jesus after confess
| ity.
They presented the Great Teacher
with the problem: Is it lawful to pay
tribute unto Caesar? They thought
they had Him caught on the horns of
a dilemma An Endorsement Of trib-
ute paying would ALLEVIATE the tax
| burdened Jews and the affection of
! His followers, who were periodically
! looking for the establishment of a
| temporal kingdom, which would throw
off the hated Roman yoke. If He pro-
tested against paying tribute, they
, would use that fact in their testimony
| to have Him convicted of treason
against Rome. 1t would bring upon
| Him the strong arm of Herod's gov
eminent. The situation was grave.
! They thought that they had put Him
| off Ills guard by their honeyed words.
| They had appealed to His fearless
ness and singleness Of moral purpose,
| to induce Him to commit Himself
without reserve.
The Wise Answer.
Jesus unmasked their hypocrisy.
He made it plain that they had not
| deceived Him. He did not try to
| dodge their question because they had
not come to Him with true motives.
narius. They brought it to Him. He
then asked them whose superscrip-
| ton and image it bore. When they
answered Caesars, they opened an OPP
portunity for Jesus to lay down the
principle of separation Of church and
state. His command that they there
fore "Render unto Caesar the things
that are Caesars; and unto God the
things that are Gods" made them
marvel at His saying. Unable to ques-
ton it's statement, they left Him ana
went away.
In a few words Jesus condensed a
principle that is not without it's sig
nificance to our times. The duties to
| Caesar and God do not conflict. The
Master taught that the claims of the
political power and the kingdom of
God can be reconciled. 1t IS our duty
to reconcile the seemingly antago-
nistic claims. The world makes great
demands upon us. We do not feel in
America the oppression. of any des-
potic ruler, so that we do not SYM
pathize with the poor Jew, who felt
the pressure of Rome In the affairs
Of family, faith and finances. The
government demanded virtually all
he possessed. We are more apt to feel
the pressfire and antagonism between
GtIu pOlitiNS, CiAi
| and commerce, Christianity and social
| welfare, Christianity and science,
when there is no conflict. More and
more the supremacy of Jesus in all
| the affairs Of man is being conceded.
The ethics of the publisher, phiian-
thropist, publicist, pedagogue, physi-
| clan and preacher are drawn from the
! Masters teachings. We are commend
| ing to recognize that we were made
in the likeness Of God and that our
Lord came to restore the image that
had been defaced by sins in the life
| Of men. We bear the image and SUI
prescription of God, therefore it is our
duty to render to Him the things that
| belong to Him.
BY pointing to the coinage of
| Caesar as an argument for them to
| be loyal to their country, Jesus was
! claiming that the power of coinage
| implied the power Of taxation. In
| the case Of Rome, the citizens of
Palestine owed much to their rule.
| The authority of the Caesars had
| brought peace, developed commerce,
built highways on which travel was
| safe. imposed a common law through
out the empire, and introduced a sys-
| tenn of coinage that increased values.
| They had a right to expect loyal sup
| port and the prompt payment of
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