Sunday 18 October 2026

Psalm 96

Background
This is definitely one of my favourite of Jesus' responses. It's one that has inspired me to follow Jesus and it's also one that makes me very aware of my limitations.

First, right in the moment Jesus sees straight through the Pharisees' false praise and hypocrisy. I struggle to do that.

Second, he is very direct in challenging their motivation. I don't find that easy either. I suspect there is a language/culture gap here between what it would have felt like in that situation and how it reads in a 21st-century English Bible text. If I responded to people with the words of Jesus in verse 18 then I'd expect them to walk away or get angry, even in some contexts become violent. The plain text is hiding Jesus' charisma. Perhaps this is one of those occasions where it helps to read the text many times while imagining ourselves to be there and using all our senses to immerse ourselves in the encounter.

Third, Jesus sort of answers the question, but in such a way that leaves us with more questions. A big one for me is: if we give Caesar his claimed share of our Roman coins then what are the things that belong to God? It could literally mean everything that isn't Caesar's is God's, or in Hebrew scripture style it could be 10 percent of all that is left is God's (a tithe), or it could be that God is interested in things that the Romans can't see valued in Roman coin.

Finally, the Pharisees' response to Jesus is to be amazed and they leave him alone. That is not typical, especially when they had come to cause trouble.

What we see here is a masterclass in responding to verbal attacks. The lessons from Jesus here could revolutionise our society if more of us were able to apply them. He notices people's motivations and challenges them without escalating the situation. He answers in ways that illustrate the 'bad faith questions', while making people think.

Sadly, when Christians are responding to questions about faith, what we often see is combinations of little awareness, taking offence, being offensive, making assertions and ignoring the main issue. The classic example for Christians is to respond with 'because the Bible says so' which ignores the complexity of Scripture, fails to convince people who do not accept the Bible as truth, and then take offence at the response.

To Ponder:

• Reflect on how we respond to questioning about our faith. What might we do differently if we model these ways of Jesus?
• How can we re-read familiar texts to learn more of Jesus and at the same time connect to people who have never read or don't respect them?

Bible notes author: The Revd Dave Warnock
Dave is a Methodist minister without an appointment. After much DIY, he and his wife Jane have now launched their 1977 sailing boat and are building up to sailing around the world as sustainably as possible. Their intention is to model sustainable living and help encourage connections between sustainability and faith. They also want to see sailing have a positive impact on vulnerable coastal communities. For more information, see their blog and YouTube channel