The Bible Study Podcast, episode 4.53. Today, the Bible Study podcast continues the study of the

gospel of Matthew with Chapter 22. Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen.

We're continuing on with Chapter 22, Jesus here is in holy week in between Palm Sunday and Good Friday and Easter. And he has had an interaction here over the last couple episodes, the last couple chapters with the Pharisees as he's teaching in the temple and healing people in the

temple. They ask him about authority. He doesn't tell them because they won't tell him whose authority

John brought, and then he gives a couple parables that show that God will reject them because they

are rejecting him. But then that doesn't end everything. It's amazing how many of the parables here

or how many of the stories in this section of Matthew have to do with Jesus' interaction with the

Pharisees, or in this case also with the Sadducees, as we'll see later today, who are another set of

religious leaders, and we'll talk about what makes them different. So Matthew records a number

of these different interactions. So the next thing that they go to trap him with is taxes. And we're

in Matthew 22, verse 15. Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

They sent their disciples to him along with the Hurrians.

Teacher, they said, we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God

in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to

who they are. Tell us, then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar

or not? Always be a little careful when somebody

is buttering you up like they are here because it is a trap and they're trying to smooth things

over with some really slick words here. But the trap here is that Caesar is an occupying power.

Caesar is not Jewish.

And even though the Jewish people actually invited the Romans in because their kings were so bad, they don't really like.

And a lot of people are ready to actively revolt against the Romans.

And so it would be unpopular to say, yes, you should pay taxes to Caesar. But of course,

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