The Good Survives
It is hard to defend yourself when people make up lies about you.
Then the assembly rose as a body and brought Jesus before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor, and saying that he himself is the Messiah, a king." Then Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He answered, "You say so." Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no basis for an accusation against this man." But they were insistent and said, "He stirs up the people by teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he began even to this place." When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him off to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at some length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then he put an elegant robe on him, and sent him back to Pilate. That same day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other; before this they had been enemies. - Luke 23:1-12
According to Gospel accounts, Jesus never forbade anyone from paying taxes to the emperor.
They tried to get him to say that Jews shouldn't pay taxes to Caesar, but he turned the tables on them and their attempt failed.
But that didn't stop them from saying he did.
We can't expect people who are out to get you to be truthful, can we?
If you are willing to lie, the truth becomes irrelevant.
Jesus spoke in parables and told stories to get his message across and still the enemies of the faith managed to make up a tale to condemn him.
Now, Jesus did claim to have a kingdom and that was the most damning thing he said, so they used that against him.
Imagine if he had told the whole truth from the start. He never would have had a ministry at all. He would have been shut down sooner.
Even though he only shared his message for a short time, his message continues today.
They couldn't kill the message with the messenger, and that is what is so amazing.
We continue to talk about Jesus today.
Maybe when we set out to do good, we should keep that in mind. The good survives and continues to make a difference.
More to come...