“They might entrap him in speech.”
What is entrapment? Entrapment means catching someone by deceiving them usually by their own words or actions. In this case, the Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus with His answer about money.
Why would they try to trap Jesus in His words? “The question that they will pose is intended to force Jesus to take either a position contrary to that held by the majority of the people or one that will bring him into conflict with the Roman authorities.” (Matt. 15:16 footnotes ) Another way of thinking of it is, “In order to find some reason to accuse Him before the emperor, or to make Him hated by the Jews; for had He denied tribute to Caesar, treason; had He, on the contrary, made it obligatory to pay tribute, then they would have denounced Him as a destroyer of the liberty of the people, who considered themselves a free nation owing allegiance only to God. Like the Pharisees are all those who, under the appearance of friendship, only cause vexation and misfortune to their neighbor.” [1]
Who was asking Jesus the question? Technically, it was the disciples of the Pharisees, but ultimately it was the Pharisees who formulated the question. The other tricky part about the Pharisees was they sent the Herodians. The Herodians were the ones who would have favored payment of the taxes while the Pharisees would not. (Mat. 22:16 footnotes) Both wanted to bring something to their respected courts to put Jesus on trial. This Gospel is one of the last public teachings of Jesus. His enemies (Pharisees and Herodians) have joined forces to destroy him. “It was the last day of Jesus’ public teaching; it was almost the eve of His departure from this earth. His enemies had failed in ever attempt hitherto made to ensnare Him; this last plot was to be unusually deep-laid. The Pharisees, who refused to recognize Caesar’s authority and denied his claim to tribute, joined issue with their adversaries, the partisans of Herod and Rome, to propose this insidious question to Jesus: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not? If our Lord’s answer was negative, He incurred the displeasure of the government; if He took the affirmative side, He would lose the estimation of the people. With His divine prudence, He disconcerted their plans. The two parties, so strangely made friends by partnership in one common intrigue, heard the magnificent answer, which was divine enough to make even Pharisees and Herodians one in the truth. But the truth was not what they were in search of; so they returned to their old party quarrels. The league formed against our Jesus was broken; the effort made by error recoiled on itself, as must ever be the case; and the answer it had elicited, passed from the lips of our Incarnate Lord to those of His bride, the Church, who would be ever repeating it to the world, for it contains the first principle of all governments on earth. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” [2]
Many times we will be trapped as Jesus was and perhaps many of our enemies will unite to team up against us. When this occurs our weapon is truth. Jesus’ enemies were exposed to the truth, but they did not want the truth and so they left. When we speak and defend the truth, one of two things will occur; One, we will win our enemies over or two, our enemies will be defeated by the truth and will have to flee. Even in the case of martyrdom, when it appears that the enemy has won, in the end the enemy is defeated by the truth. It appeared at the Crucifixion that the enemy, Satan had won, but in the end truth reigned and in the power of the Resurrection the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and that He rose from the dead prevailed.
Search: Mission of the Church: Church and State
The questions and answers by the disciples of the Pharisees show how far they were from God. First, the surface of their question asks if is it “lawful”, which means the law of God (Mat. 22:17 footnotes ), but in their hearts they do not focus on God, but only focus on Caesar and taxes. This is why Jesus puts the perspective back on God. Secondly, they are quick to answer whose face was on the coin. So many times, we can know so much about our world, our leaders, and culture, but we do not know anything of the nature of God. Jesus’ answer is quick and to the point when He tells them to repay God what belongs to Him.
Jesus’ answer avoids taking sides on the question of the lawfulness of the tax. Jesus raises the debate to a new level. Those who have hypocritically asked about taxes in respect to its relation to the law of God, should be concerned rather with repaying God with the good deeds that are due. (Mat. 22:21 footnotes )
Why should we be careful about what we say? Like Jesus, there may be a time in our lives, where forces of evil are looking to ensnare us with what we say. We must remain on guard with our words. When we speak about our faith, it is perfectly fine to say, “I do not know”, rather than making something up and saying the wrong thing. We should always look for the truth and speak correctly when answering any question that comes our way as Jesus did.
How can we avoid being entrapped by our speech? We must be in complete connection with Christ through prayer. We must listen to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to keep us faithful. If we are in communion with God, He will give us the answers we need. We must be willing to listen intently to the person who is asking the question. When we answer, as mentioned before, it is okay to say that we do not know something, but always offer to look it up together or take it upon yourself to look it up. If we do know the answer, we should imitate Christ in this week’s Gospel reading when He is simple and poignant in His answer. We should never try to confuse or deceive people. “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from trouble.” (Proverbs 21:23)
[1] The Church’s Year pg. 453
[2] Abbot Gueranger, OSB; The Liturgical Year; Vol. 11