Luke 20

“ 20Keeping a close watch on him (Jesus), they (teachers of the law – chief priests) 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.”

Notice, if you will, the method and web of deceit that the enemy is using at this point to stop Jesus. The chief priests sent SPIES to try to catch Jesus in a “slip up” so they could turn Him over to the governor. Ok, that alone is disturbing in many ways.

First, the chief priests, supposedly men of God, are TRYING to stop Jesus, simply because His TRUTH is stripping them of POWER; not that Jesus is spreading lies, or that He is desecrating God, but that His teachings are taking away their WORLDLY POWER over the people. The power that they covet so dearly, even above God’s will.

Next, they resort to sending SPIES to trap Jesus. Not just content with waiting on Jesus to snare Himself (as if He would, lol), but ACTIVELY sending spies out with the intent on twisting and confusing Jesus into a mistake. This is no ordinary fear that compels them, satan was working hard to stop Jesus.

Then, they were too afraid of Jesus to take care of things themselves, they planned to turn Jesus over to the governor. They weren’t going to take care of things using God’s authority, but man’s. I think there were two reasons behind this. First, satan was pulling the strings, so he knew that he couldn’t use God’s people to punish Jesus. Lastly, the priests KNEW (maybe deep down) that they were wrong, so they were afraid to take care of things themselves, choosing rather to use the governor to do their “dirty work”, what cowards.

Finally, Jesus knew what they were up to, and refused to be trapped. Instead He relied on God’s wisdom and answered in a method to thwart the spies and teach the crowd. When He did, the spies were QUIETED IMMEDIATELY. You see, satan realized that he couldn’t get the upper hand on Jesus and his minions (the spies in this case) were immediately defeated, shamed and afraid. Why? Because they could not goad Jesus into a “sparing match” to trip Himself up AND they could not stand in a battle of wits and will with the Son of God. So what did they do in fear? They became quiet!

This entire confrontation is a huge lesson for us to learn and apply in our daily lives. While you are out in the world as children of God, satan will be there to try to trip you up. While you are spreading the word of God’s goodness, others will try to question you, cause you to stumble, tangle your words to shame you and make you feel like a fool for following Jesus. If you let pride get in the way (these people are questioning ME, I’ll show them) there could be trouble. However, if you allow the Holy Spirit to prompt you, then the situation can quickly turn from a “grudge match” into an opportunity to witness and minister to people, as Jesus did. Now, we don’t have all of the answers or the authority that Jesus did, but WE DO have Jesus. I’m not saying to scream challenges to everyone from the corners of the streets, but be willing and confident in the Lord our God, for He can make the impossible possible. Amen?