Newsletter March 2024
The Way of God
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk. And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
When Jesus had arrived at Jerusalem, He was welcomed by an expectant crowd as their Saviour (Matt. 21:8-9). Yet immediately we read of a series of verbal exchanges with the unconvinced religious leaders. These teachers of Israel made every possible effort to prove that this man could not be the expected Messiah by trying to catch Him out with their questions. In this particular case, they sought to create a dilemma for Jesus. If He answered ‘yes’ He would be perceived by the people as being complicit with their Gentile oppressors rather than being their deliverer from foreign rule. If, however, He answered ‘no’ the Herodians would report Him to the Roman authorities as an instigator of rebellion, a crime punishable by death. Jesus’ response was to take a coin and pose a question to his challengers: “Whose image and inscription is this?” Caesar’s? “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
What did Jesus mean by ‘the things that are God’s’? Clearly He was speaking of all we have received from our Creator – life itself. Jesus was on this final journey to Jerusalem in order to give His life as a sacrifice for sin. The only righteous One (Isaiah 59:16; Jeremiah 23:5-6), the faithful Son, was about to lay down His perfect life for a people that had strayed from their God and gone their own way. And He called, and still calls, His followers to lay down their lives so they can find true life in Him. Only those who will deny themselves and take up their cross will experience the new life that comes through His death and resurrection.
As we read this passage, it is interesting to note how the Pharisees address Jesus: “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth” The way is a theme that runs through scripture from Enoch, who walked with God (Genesis 5:22), to the messenger of God who would prepare the way for God’s Anointed by calling the people to turn their hearts back to God (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3). In the New Testament Jesus declares “I am the Way” (John 14:6) and His followers are referred to as the Way (Acts 9:2; 19:9; 22:4). Jesus has gone ahead by giving Himself as a perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 12:2-3), something only the Son of God could do. But He calls us to follow Him by walking in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7). God’s salvation does not stop at receiving forgiveness; it continues as a daily walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8), guided by God’s Spirit (Romans 8:4) and His word (Psalm 119:105). This is the way of God that Jesus not only taught as a true teacher of Israel, but that He came into this world to exemplify through His life and death, ultimately overcoming the curse of sin and death for us through His resurrection.
Like the scribes and Pharisees at the time Jesus’ life on earth, the leaders of Judah at the time of Jeremiah had knowledge of the scriptures. Yet God had to remind them through His prophet and warn them of the coming judgment if they failed to follow His way. The words of Jeremiah still stand as a call to us and as a warning: Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ (Jeremiah 6:16-17)
How will we respond to this admonition? Will we truly give to God the things that are God’s? Will we lay down our lives as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) and allow ourselves to be transformed by His Spirit into His image? (2 Corinthians 3:16-18) Or will we follow our own way and thus be conformed to a world (Romans 12:2) that is drifting further and further from God’s light?