Three Hostile Questions Asked of Jesus
Tribute to Cæsar
Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might ensnare him in his talk so as to deliver him up to the rule and to the authority of the governor. And they send to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, and carest not for any one: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?”
But Jesus perceived their craftiness, and said, “Why make ye trial of me, ye hypocrites? Show me the tribute money.”
And they brought unto him a denarius. And he saith unto them, “Whose is this image and superscription?”
They say unto him, “Cæsar’s.”
Then he saith unto them, “Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”
And when they heard it, they marvelled, and left him, and went away.
The Question of the Resurrection
And there came to him certain of the Sadducees, they that say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote unto us, that if a man’s brother die, having a wife, and he be childless, his brother should take the wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and died childless; and the second; and the third took her; and likewise the seven also left no children, and died. Afterward the woman also died. In the resurrection therefore whose wife of them shall she be? for the seven had her to wife.”
And Jesus said unto them, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. The sons of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they that are accounted worthy to attain to that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: for neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the place concerning the Bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him.”
And when the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.
The Greatest Commandment
And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, “What commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.’ The second is this, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ There is none other commandment greater than these.”
And the scribe said unto him, “Of a truth, Teacher, thou hast well said that he is one: and there is none other but he: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”