Matthew 22:15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

Thinking about this from our perspective, this has got to be a “time to pop the popcorn” moment, because it’s going to be very entertaining. You can’t trap the Son of God with word games! Today’s reading is the Pharisees’ attempt, which is then followed by the Sadducees’ go at it. Jesus very artfully destroys their arguments, that had been so carefully constructed to trap Him. If we didn’t know that they would eventually resort to murder at the hands of the Romans, this would be purely amusing. It all comes back to the fundamental sin of pride, that these men thought they could outsmart Jesus. From their perspective, it was a reasonable expectation, because He had never been to one of their rabbinical schools, and was just a carpenter-turned-itinerant-preacher, a hick from Galilee. There were some, like Nicodemus, who recognized the divine truth in what He said, but the others were jealous for their systems, and their position in those systems, and refused to see Jesus for Who He was. A similar thing happens today, with people looking at Christianity as “just another religion,” getting distracted by the human trappings and failings and not recognizing the truth of God. Even from a strictly logical standpoint, the Bible stands up to analysis far better than any other “holy book” known to mankind. Even Thomas Jefferson, who denied miracles and “edited them out” of his Bible, knew that the truths stated were above and beyond anything man on his own could have come up with. Genuinely objective analysis can only lead to the incredible conclusion that Jesus was who He said He was, God made flesh, for the purpose, not just of teaching us truth, but of taking our sins on Himself, with their penalty of death, and then demonstrating the reality of atonement by rising from death. Few people analyze the Bible that carefully, but there are some beautiful testimonies of people who have done so. Jesus is God, and the Bible is the Word of God. When we have the humility and honesty to accept that, we’re in good shape.

One of the members of this church, a doctor who is retiring, finally, at the end of this month, attended an English Bible class I was leading about 40 years ago. After about a year, he came into the room and told me he wanted to be baptized. I was delighted, but I asked him why he had made that decision, and his reply has stayed with me all these years. “This book was not just written by people, and if God caused it to be written, then I had better believe it.” That was so intellectual that for a while, I wondered if there was an emotional component to his faith at all, but I was later reassured on that score. For myself, I was raised by a man who earned his PhD degree at 23, and was totally sold out to Jesus as Lord. His famous phrase was, “Give all you know of yourself to all you know of Christ.” That is an example I am honored to seek to emulate. Logic and intellect in no way conflict with faith, when we understand the greatness of God.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You that I need no excuses for my faith! Help me share that faith with others on every level, not by my strength and wisdom, but by Yours. You alone can save, and cause people to be reborn by Your Spirit. May I be increasingly effective as Your agent, today and every day, for the salvation of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!