Weekly Devotion: Loyalties
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The Pharisees and the Herodians were two groups that were also dealing with being people within the Roman Empire and also people of faith. The Pharisees kind of straddled the line. Some sects of the Pharisees were against the Roman occupation. Others had a live-and-let-live style. The Herodians, however, were big supporters of the Empire. They derived their name from King Herod, Rome’s puppet ruler. The two groups had one thing in common, they didn’t like Jesus. They worked hard to find a way to trap Jesus and came up with a plan. They sweet-talked Jesus while asking a question: Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor or not? This was such a good plan, they thought. If he said that they shouldn’t pay the tax, then the Romans would get angry. If he said you should pay the tax then the people would get angry for being a sellout. It was perfect!
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-Dennis Sanders, pastor