October 21st, 2017

​One of the verses from the text for this Sunday, Matthew 22:15 is an extremely interesting one when compared to the other, similar gospel accounts. The verse reads in this way (in the ESV): 'Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his talk.'

The most similar verse in Mark (12:13) reads this way: 'And they [the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, cf. 11:27] sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.' And the most similar verse in Luke is 20:20: 'So they [the scribes and the chief priests] watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authorities.

There are many ways to trap animals. There are many ways to trap people. How did Jesus' enemies want to trap him? Any way they could!

In the same way that Jesus had a significant amount of authority on earth, the writers of the gospel accounts, each in their own way, point to that authority within each one's particular account. Matthew emphasizes Jesus' authority as a human being; Mark emphasizes Jesus' authority as a lion, 'the king of the jungle'; Luke emphasizes Jesus authority as an ox, a 'workhorse'. These connections have been emphasized for many centuries (and unfortunately have been overlooked in recent times).

The dictionary I was using (BDAG) made what I believe to be strong connections between the word used and the symbol of authority.

In Matthew they want to 'entangle' Jesus. This is the only time this word is used in the New Testament, and it appears in the Old Testament, in the Greek translation, in Ecclesiastes 9:12, describing a trap or snare. This kind of trap is based on intelligence. The person setting the trap sets out something he or she thinks is appropriate to catch the desired object.

In Mark they want to 'trap' Jesus. Again, this is the only time this word is used in the entire New Testament. It is used in a secular writing to describe a hostile force approaching someone in stealth and catching them off guard. This essentially contains the word 'surprise'. And all the members of the cat family are pretty good at this. And sometimes that is the best way to catch someone (who might be smarter than you).

In Luke they want to 'catch' Jesus. The most common use of the word 'catch' describes the action of grasping or taking hold of something. While it obviously can be used to describe catching something, it can also be used to describe the action of taking hold of something to make it one's own. This fits with Jesus being the obedient worker for his heavenly Father.

The great thing is that Jesus is eventually wanting to be caught, trapped, entangled--there, on the cross, he is for us. And his authority today still matters--especially those who consider themselves caught, trapped, etc.