Wrong Motives

Mark 12:13-15

      Have you ever been sent on a mission to do someone else’s dirty work? It really is a job they should be doing themselves, but you get stuck with it. It starts as a kid. We get sent to tell a sibling about a chore, or a punishment, instead of our parent speaking directly to them. We become the bad guy. Or perhaps the phrase, “Wait ‘til your dad gets home” sounds familiar.

      The three groups of religious leaders send these two enemies to try and do a job they failed at themselves. The chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders were too timid to arrest Jesus themselves. But they didn’t have the guts. They lacked evidence. But when did a lack of evidence ever stop tyranny?

      The Pharisees and the Herodians were on opposite sides of the political spectrum. The Pharisees wanted to establish a purely religious society from top to bottom. They wanted a Law driven society, with themselves as the arbiters of the correct interpretation and application of the Law. They wanted nothing to do with Rome and its evils. They saw Rome as an enemy, with its secular ideas and questionable moral values.

      The Herodians were political allies with the Romans. We might say they became Roman patsies. They became the front men for Roman policies. Rome spoke and they listened. They carried out policies against their own people that contradicted their Jewish values. If there was ever a question about who they would obey, it was Rome rather than the LORD. Rome had the sword, and the sword was mightier than tradition.

      So these two opponents come together to try to trap Jesus. And they start laying their trap with a big slab of butter. They flatter Jesus. Be careful when flattery is thrown into conversations, especially when they are out of context or inflated in their language. Jesus knew their hearts and could smell a rat. He wasn’t taken in by their flattery. They tell Him He is a man of integrity. They aren’t people of integrity, trying to trump up charges so that they can get Him killed.

      We might say that Jesus was His own person. He made up His own mind. He didn’t belong to any political party and wasn’t turned by a glitzy political campaign. He always told it like it is. He had no hidden agendas. He didn’t kowtow to pressure from a big named celebrity. He didn’t take dirty money. He was a straight shooter.

      There were two taxing systems in place during that time. One tax applied to everyone, including Roman citizens. The other tax only applied to non-Roman citizens. But more important than that was the accommodation that Rome made for the Jews. They allowed a minted coin to be used in that area that didn’t have Caesar’s image imprinted in it. This way money could be given to the Temple without violating the conscience of the people giving it. You wouldn’t want someone submitting “Caesar” as an offering to the LORD. “Caesar” would submit to no one, let alone to the Jewish God.

      So should Jesus and His disciples give money to support the oppressive Roman state? Should we give taxes that support abortion, corporate bailouts, ObamaCare, Fannie and Freddie Mac, secret buyouts of corrupt dictators, the International Monetary Fund…?

Trap: Episode One

Mark 12:13-17

      Paying taxes, and the negative feelings associated with the process is not a new thing. Taxes have often been a point of tension for people of all stripes and political persuasions. Even progressives want taxes to go up, only as long as it doesn’t go up for them. Let someone else pay for all the good ideas their good idea fairy has brought.

      Taxes to an oppressive government can rub with even greater fury. When your taxes go for things that you don’t agree with, it can be hard to willingly and joyfully pay the taxes due.

      And Rome’s rule was oppressive. They purposely taxed that area of their empire to keep the population in check. When people are struggling to make ends meet, they don’t have energy for rebellion. But refusal to pay taxes was a crime under Roman law. It was seen as rebellion. It could lead to seizure of your property (think cattle out West), forced labor to pay for the back taxes (think wage garnishment), and it could even lead to charges that could lead to death.

      That is why two enemies come together for this trap. The Pharisees and the Herodians are not friends and allies. The Pharisees wanted to establish a Jewish state, without Roman rule or influence. They saw the outside government as an intrusion into what should be a religiously run and God centered institution.

      This sounds much like what Islam wants to do today. For them, all of life must be under the rule of Islam. That is why they kill anyone who doesn’t yield to Islam’s rule. There are three choices: convert to Islam, become a second class citizen by paying a large tax and agreeing to live in the lower status, or be killed. The first two options acknowledge Islam’s rightful place of rule. The killings in Iraq are not a fluke. They are part and parcel of Islam’s core beliefs. That is the reality whether we like it or not.

      The Pharisees wanted no secular government over them. They despised Rome’s intrusion on what they considered their territory. That is why it is so strange for them to be joining the Herodians at this particular trap.

      The Herodians were closely connected to Rome and its rule. They had sold out in order to have peace a part of the power. They traded their soul and made a bed with the enemy, at least that is what the Pharisees would say. The compromised their core religious beliefs in order to be happy. They would display the “Coexist” bumper sticker with pride.

      So to have these two come together to try and trap Jesus around money is hilarious. And they try to use an image of Caesar on the money as the trap’s trigger. You see, Rome had accommodated the Jewish influence in that area by minting coins without the image of Caesar for use in local commerce.

      Jesus is brilliant in His answer. He pits these two groups against each other. Divide and conquer.

Hard Job

Mark 2:13-14

      Being a public figure brings with it certain challenges. I am sure you have seen the recent news, the ongoing saga of Justin Bieber. This young man is in serious need of Jesus. He has too much wealth with no wisdom. At 19 years old, he has never been given any real responsibility and his life is showing it. But many public figures have difficulty. They are constantly watched and scrutinized. Photographers are paid to take pictures of them at moments when they look their worst, or in the most embarrassing situations. The price of fame!

      When Jesus calls Levi in our text, he doesn’t call him to a life of fame, but to a life of following. The attention was clearly focused on Jesus. Jesus is out beside the Sea of Galilee (the lake) again. We don’t know the exact reason Jesus is out by the water again, but Mark told us He was forced to primarily stay away from populated areas because of the crowds created by the publicity that followed His teaching and miracles.

      Jesus shows up and word gets out. Remember that this is before Twitter or even cable news. The current location and direction of travel would not have been tracked by GPS. Everything would have been by word of mouth. I can imagine that when Jesus stayed somewhere that the word would spread that evening to the nearby villages that evening. By morning several layers of towns would know where He was and people would come. When they arrived they would be told His last known direction of travel and off they would go.

      Of course lakeshore makes a great place to teach. The land naturally slopes in toward the water making a natural amphitheater. Jesus voice would have carried across the crowd much more easily than in a residential area. From the text we see that Jesus is teaching the crowd that has gathered.  And in Mark’s condensed style Jesus is immediately walking along following His time of teaching. We don’t know what Jesus is doing while He walks. We do know that He comes upon Levi at his place of employment. I don’t know what his booth looked like, but people approaching must have known that it was time to pay the tax.

      Most people approaching the booth would have had a reaction much like our reaction to a toll booth today. Do you gleefully approach a toll booth excited to pay your toll? No! Most of us see the stop as an inconvenience, an interruption in our journey. I can imagine the name calling that Levi had to endure as he did his job. The complaining about the tax, its amount, the fact that they just paid a few miles back, about the unfairness of the system, that they were being taxed too much, about how did Levi expect anyone to make a profit. The list of verbal abuses could go on and on.

      But instead of complaining, Jesus simply speaks to Levi those words that are familiar to us, “Follow me.” They were probably the only kind words Levi had heard at work in a long time. And Levi responds. Levi follows. Are you willing to follow like this?

Sick

Mark 2:13-17

      In every society there are those individuals that are not liked. Right now in the United States, politicians are near the bottom of the list, specifically our federal representatives. Right now we don’t like our Senators or Representatives in the House. We generally aren’t fond of lawyers or used car salesmen either. The common factor is that they live off other people’s money through saying whatever they need to say in order to keep their power or make a profit.

      There was a similar class of people in Biblical times. The tax collector was someone hated for their lifestyle that lived off other people’s money through deception. Tax collectors were usually local people who worked for the Roman government. Rome would impose a percentage tax on all transactions. Usually this involved transportation of goods through an area along the well established trade routes. We call them tolls today. When these taxes were collected the local collector would add on a percentage or two for his own pocket. He was already paid for his services by Rome, so the extra money was just to support his lifestyle, which was usually much better than the surrounding people.

      This alliance with Rome, being seen as a traitor to the local peoples, caused a great deal of anger and hatred toward these collectors. The locals didn’t see why Rome should get a cut of their trade business. And the people passing through along the trade routes would be repeatedly taxed as they transported their goods through an area. And with each tax paid, the local collector added their slice to it. You can see how these fees would add up.

      Capernaum was on the main trade route between Damascus and the Mediterranean Sea. So Levi would have been a wealthy individual living off other’s hard work. He was a Jewish man, so he was seen as a betrayer of Jewish interests. No matter how you looked at Levi, he failed at the justice test. His life was one of looks of disgust and rejection by those who lived near him.

      So here comes Jesus, and who does Jesus choose to associate with, Levi, the man sitting at his tax collecting booth. What a slap in the face for all the religious leaders in that area. Here is Jesus, an extraordinary teacher, and he picks the worst person to call as a follower. Then Jesus ends up eating at his house. Eating in someone’s house was a sign of acceptance and intimacy. Families eat together, not strangers. We accept people we eat with. We don’t eat with our enemies, or those with whom we are fighting.

      Jesus accepts the worst people if they are willing to follow Him. He didn’t come after those who didn’t need acceptance. He went after those who knew they were sick. And we are all sick.