Luke 20:20-44

Paying Taxes to Caesar
20Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" 23He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24"Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?" 25"Caesar‘s," they replied. He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar‘s, and to God what is God‘s." 26They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.The Resurrection and Marriage 27Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man‘s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30The second 31and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32Finally, the woman died too. 33Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?"
34Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God‘s children, since they are children of the resurrection. 37But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." 39Some of the teachers of the law responded, "Well said, teacher!" 40And no one dared to ask him any more questions.Whose Son Is the Christ? 41Then Jesus said to them, "How is it that they say the Christis the Son of David? 42David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: " ‘The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand 43until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ’ 44David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?"

DEVOTION:
There is so much going on in this passage that it sometimes makes my head swim. However, I think it is a good look into who Jesus was. First of all, to understand who Jesus was as a man, we must realize the cultural context this passage occurs in. This passage takes place in Galilee. Many scholars believe that the Galileans were some of the most well educated religious people of the time. These Jewish men have spent the better part of their life learning and memorizing scripture. They know it from memory, and have been taught what it means. It is also important to note that Jesus is called teacher or rabbi. We often think of the term rabbi as equal to a position, but for the Jewish people of Jesus’ day it was a title given to one who teaches. It is also an indication of the great respect people had for Jesus and his ability to interpret and teach scripture.
So we see that as a man, Jesus was an amazingly articulate and accurate teacher, even when surrounded by some of the world‘s greatest scholars. How about what we see of Jesus as God? In Jesus’ day, rabbi‘s often visited the local temple or synagogue where they were staying. Primarily this was due to the fact that it was the place where scripture was most often discussed. It is also important to note that there were some teachers who simply taught what the scriptures literally said, and there were others that were able to interpret it‘s deeper meanings. Because of these various interpretations, learners would sometimes need to question the teacher to determine the best and most accurate interpretation. Jesus fell into the latter category of teachers. This may be why the religious leaders felt Jesus would easily fall into the trap of their difficult questions. Why would he suspect anything was odd about people questioning an interpretation of the scriptures? But then we see that he could not be fooled.
Verse 23 tells us he "saw through their duplicity." This shows us his god-like quality of being all-knowing. Because he was fully God, Jesus was able to see into their hearts and understand the true purpose of their questions. While it‘s good to have this knowledge, we shouldn‘t stop there when reading God‘s word. We should go on to ask, "Does this speak to something in my life?" How does understanding that Jesus was both fully human and fully God affect your life? Take some time to pray about that and ask God what he would like to teach you about himself?

PRAYER: Father, you are so awesome that I often feel like I can never hope to understand you. I can barely wrap my brain around the fact that you are both human and God. Help me, God, to understand more fully who you are and how that impacts my life. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen