“13 Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Him to trap Him by what He said. 14 When they came, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know You are truthful and defer to no one, for You don’t show partiality but teach truthfully the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay, or should we not pay?”

But knowing their hypocrisy, He said to them, “Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at. 16 So they brought one. Whose image and inscription is this?” He asked them.

“Caesars,” they said.

17 Then Jesus told them, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were amazed at Him.”

Mark 12:13-17

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This classic shut-down by Jesus both teaches and corrects these religious leaders who were trying to be inflammatory and divisive. Like students trying out the boundaries with a new teacher or principal, these Pharisees and Herodians are dong their best to try and be clever and ask what they think are unanswerable questions. This is their equivalent of “Can God create a rock so big that He Himself can’t lift it?” or something along those lines. 

Jesus, of course, is not daunted or distracted by their childish question. They don’t really care for the right answer, they want Him to choose one side or the other so they can play ‘defender’ for the other. They simply want to trap Him and then try to argue Him down in front of the people. 

The hearts of these men cared nothing for the truth and only for position and power. They were concerned for the Law and things of God inasmuch as they kept them just above the heads of the people. They wanted to have the ‘better’ answer for everything, the ‘deeper’ explanation and the thoughts that seemed to make them unapproachable for the average believer. 

They wanted to be intellectual bullies, holding sway over the crowds with unassailable arguments. They thought they were prepared when they came to Jesus, not knowing that they were trying to slip one past the teacher who wrote the text book. 

People with this level of pride are rarely going to be in a teachable mood, or have a humble spirit. They need to chew on answers for a little while. And after that answer has had plenty of time to work its way into their mind, they may just begin to wonder and think differently. Their pride, though, will actively battle against it. They will struggle with semantics and languish over logic trying to find a loophole to jab back at their opponent. Their pride, typically, knows no end. They will not listen and their hard hearts will not be penetrated. The soil of their hearts is like hard-pan clay, twice baked and dry as stone. 

As we GoLove people, we must continue to spread seed and move along when difficult people try to test our mettle. We must also remember that their problem isn’t with us, but with God. They project their dissatisfaction and disdain onto us, simply because they want to try to pull one over on us and therefore attempt to justify their positions and arguments. They see a ‘victory’ over us as a victory of God Himself. Take a Bill Nye or Christopher Hitchens as your example. If they can convince themselves that they ‘beat’ your argument or keep finding ways around what you’re saying, then they can keep justifying their viewpoints. But, forced to discuss the truth of the matter, they will get defensive and close themselves off. They will pretend to be ‘fair and open-minded’ when in reality, they are about as fair as a set of rigged dice and as open as a clam out of water. 

There are certain situations where we must take Jesus’ instruction to ‘shake the dust from our feet’ and move on. You will typically know after the second or third conversation if this is the proper course of action. You just present the truth and trust God to do His part.