Holy Week in Art: the Pharisees Question Jesus
On the third day of Holy Week, the religious leaders confront Jesus in order to entrap him.
The Authority of Jesus Questioned
One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,” they said. “Who gave you this authority?”
He replied, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me: John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ all the peoplewill stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
So they answered, “We don’t know where it was from.”
Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
Luke 20:1-8
Paying Taxes to Caesar
Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.
Luke 20:20-26
Artwork on this page, from the top:
Peter Paul Rubens (German, 1557-1640). The Tribute Money, ca. 1612. Oil on panel. Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco.
James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). The Pharisees and Saduccees Come to Tempt Jesus, 1886-1894. Opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper. Brooklyn Museum.
Titian (Italian, 1888/90-1576). The Tribute Money, 1516. Oil on panel. Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany.
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