Whose Face Is This?

Luke 20:19-26

Whose face is this?

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When the scribes and chief priests realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?" They said, "The emperor's." He said to them, "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent. - Luke 20:19-26

Don't you wish you could be as clever as Jesus was?

Whenever Jesus is challenged with a question or situation where he could be captured and beaten for saying the wrong thing, he comes through with a great line.

If we could only learn how to be like him, we could get out of so many awkward teenage moments.

"Who cracked up the car?"

"Whose keys are these?"

"Those are Mom's car keys."

Shrug. "Did you check with the one who owns the car?"

Of course, we know that wouldn't have worked. It would have been funny, though, especially with what would have come next.

Parents don't act that way today, though, do they? So, maybe a teenager could get away with that now.

But the line isn't as great as if Jesus said it. He had a swagger about him. He was like Ancient Israel's Fonzi. Woah!

We talk a lot about young people who have left the church, not realizing they were never connected to it in the first place.

The church didn't capitalize on the Jesus Cool Factor. Jesus was cool, He did and said things without worrying about the consequences. They were always the right things, or at least in the minds of us kids (at the time), they were the kinds of anti-bully comebacks that we needed to know.

So, why didn't we learn about Jesus, the leather jacket biker rebel who stood up for the weak?

Maybe if we had, we would have a lot more people attending church today.

Woah!

More to come...

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