Entrapment
Sometimes answering a question could get us in trouble.
The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. - Matthew 22:15-22
Jesus knew he was being tested and he took them up on it. He was prepared. He was ready for them.
While his answer was clever, and it caused them to go away, the situation could have had very different results had he tried to answer the question directly. Instead, he found a way to bring them into the conversation and that led them to their own solution.
The trap was to get him to show he paid no allegiance to the Emperor, and of course, that would get him in trouble, but that wasn't where he was going to go.
He could have said, I pay allegiance to God and no one else, and that would have been a problem, so he found a way to show he would not break the law of Rome while living the laws of God.
We have seen many examples of this form of questioning of late. It appears that questions are designed to trap rather than gain understanding and knowledge.
We don't respect opposing views, but instead want to discredit them, and what better way than to trap the supporter of such views into saying something that goes against his or her beliefs?
This is nothing new, since even Jesus had to put up with it, so we should learn from Jesus and anticipate the ways people will try to trap us.
In the end, we may not be as clever, but we will not fall victim to deceitful ploys like these.
More to come...