Read Matthew 22:15-22
Don’t ACT Nice To Me. I Know What You’re Doing!
The Pharisees wanted to trap Jesus into saying something they could hold against him. So they sent their disciples and the Herodians to test Jesus. They pretended to be buddy buddy with Jesus and even greatly complimented him saying, “Teacher”… “You are truthful” … “You teach the way of God in truth”. Then they go for his juggler asking, “Is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar, or not?”
Here’s an interesting fact to know: the Pharisees were a religious party and the Herodians were a political party. The Pharisees hated the Romans and Herodians did not hate the Romans. In essence, the Herodians would love for Jesus to stick with the Jewish mode of thinking and say something negative about the Roman Poll Tax. But he doesn’t. Instead, Jesus says, give to Cesar what belongs to Caesar, meaning the poll tax, and give to God what belongs to God. They marveled at his answer. The Herodians couldn’t go to Caesar and say Jesus was anti-Roman. And the Pharisees’ disciples couldn’t go back and say he was anti-giving to God.
Have you ever had someone be nice to you, but you knew that they were doing so with ill intent? They were after something or wanting to get you to say something that they could hold against you or share with your peers to cause strife?
I remember, as a college student, a pretty young lady that I was kind of friends with, approached me and started with some compliments. But then tried to get me to say something negative about this guy on campus who was always trying to start a fight. I knew if I said anything negative it would be the start of something terrible. I knew she would say to him whatever my response was. So I played dumb, which I can do real easy sometimes, and said all kinds of nice things about this guy. Then, whenever I saw him, I made sure I said hi to him with a smile.
What was meant to be evil turned out to be positive because this guy had an increased respect for me.
When challenged by someone with malice intent, rather than engage in negativity, speak words of Love. It’s the best solution for breaking down the walls of hate.
