Satan and his servants, like spies, watch for our gaps and when they see any cracks, flaws or faults in us, they take advantage of those gaps to attack us.

The chief priests, the scribes, and the elders, who thought that the parable of the wicked vineyard farmers referred to them, wanted to arrest Jesus.  However, they were afraid of the crowd, so they couldn’t arrest Him and left.  They then sought any excuse to catch Jesus and sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to ask Him this question: 'Teacher, we know that You are truthful, and that You do not show favoritism but teach the way of God in truth.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?  Should we pay, or should we not pay?'  But knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus said to them, 'Why do you test Me?  Bring Me a denarius, and let Me see it.'  When they brought it, He said to them, 'Whose image and inscription is this?'  They said to Him, 'Caesar’s.'  Jesus answered, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.'  And they marveled at Him and were silent (Mark 12:12-17, Modern Korean Bible).  As I reflect on this passage in relation to Matthew 22:15-22 and Luke 20:19-26 in the Modern Korean Bible, today I want to meditate on the words from Mark 12:15, 'But knowing their hypocrisy, Jesus said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius, and let Me see it.’"     

(1)   The Modern Korean Bible in Mark 12:15 says that Jesus knew the 'hypocrisy' of some of the Pharisees and Herodians.  The Modern Korean Bible in Matthew 22:18 says that Jesus knew their 'deceptive thoughts'.  The Modern Korean Bible in Luke 20:23 says that Jesus knew their 'deceitfulness' ('craftiness').

(a)   As I compare and reflect on these verses, I began to think that 'hypocrisy' and 'deceitfulness' may be related.

(i)                 The term 'hypocrisy' (Mark 12:15, Modern Korean Bible) originally referred to the art of acting or performing a role on stage in ancient Greek culture.  Over time, it came to be associated with pretending (the idea of pretense) and an insincere attitude (insincerity) in everyday life.  In the context of the New Testament, this term is used to criticize those who outwardly show piety or righteousness but harbor sin or deceit within.  This concept holds particular significance in the religious context of 1st-century Judaism, and Jesus often directly criticized the hypocritical behavior of the Pharisees and religious leaders (Internet).

(ii)              The term 'craftiness' (Luke 20:23, Modern Korean Bible) is often used to describe cleverness or skillfulness associated with deception or cunning.  This term does not necessarily have a positive meaning and implies cunning, often related to manipulation or deceit.  It is used to emphasize the contrast between godly wisdom and worldly cunning (Internet).

(iii)            When I think about the original Greek meanings of these two words, I realize that some of the Pharisees and Herodians were not only hypocrites, but also cunning individuals.  Outwardly, they said to Jesus, 'Teacher, we know that You are truthful, and that You do not show favoritism but teach the way of God in truth.  You are not swayed by men' (Mark 12:14, Modern Korean Bible), but inwardly, they sought to trap Jesus with His words (v. 13).  Therefore, they asked Jesus, 'Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay, or should we not pay?' (v. 14, Modern Korean Bible).

(iv)             In short, the connection between hypocrisy and craftiness is that hypocrisy, which is being different on the outside and inside, contains craftiness or cunning deceit.  A good example of this is found in Genesis 3:1-6.  In verse 1, it says, 'Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.'  This most cunning serpent approached Eve, who had received God's covenantal words directly from Adam [(2:16-17) 'And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”'], and instead of questioning Adam directly, it perhaps indirectly approached the woman, who had received God’s word from her husband, and asked, 'Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?' (v. 1, Modern Korean Bible).  To this question, the woman responded as follows (she should not have even spoken to the most cunning serpent): 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.”' (vv. 2-3, Modern Korean Bible). When comparing the woman’s words with God's command, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die' (2:16-17), it is clear that God specifically commanded Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  However, the woman told the serpent, 'God has said, “You shall not eat or touch the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden.”'  This difference—do you think it is a small one?  I don’t think so.  The woman did not simply refer to the tree in the center of the garden; she failed to mention that God, when making a covenant with her husband Adam, had commanded, 'You shall not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die' (It’s more accurate to say that she could not have stated this).  The most cunning serpent here attacked the woman when it saw the gap in her [the meaning of 'will collapse' in Tobiah's mockery of 'it will collapse' refers to 'a broken place, a gap' in Hebrew (Nehemiah 4:3)] (reference: Genesis 14:15, Modern Korean Bible).  Seeing this opening, the serpent said to her, 'You will not surely die. God said this to you because He knows that when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil' (3:4-5, Modern Korean Bible).  Now the woman had to choose between obeying God's word, 'in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die' (2:17), and the words of the most cunning serpent disguised as Satan, 'You will not surely die' (3:4).  Her choice was to obey Satan's words: 'When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate' (v. 6).  Why did she make this choice?  The reason is that she loved this world and the things of this world, and the reason is that she did not have a love for God the Father [1 John 2:15, Modern Korean Bible, 'Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him'].  Therefore, she was led by 'everything in the world,' which includes 'the lust of the flesh' [‘good for food’ (Genesis 3:6, Modern Korean Bible)], 'the lust of the eyes' [‘pleasant to the eyes’ (v. 6, Modern Korean Bible)], and 'the pride of life' [‘desirable to make one wise’ (v. 6, Modern Korean Bible)] (1 John 2:16, Modern Korean Bible), and when she took the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ate it, she gave it to her husband Adam.  Adam, out of love for her, should have rebuked her and refused to eat the fruit, but he also ate it (Genesis 3:6).

·         Just as there was the 'most cunning' serpent (v. 1) for Adam's wife, Eve (v. 20), there was 'exceedingly cunning' Jonadab for David’s son Amnon (2 Samuel 13:3).  The 'exceedingly cunning' Jonadab persuaded Amnon to do a foolish and disgraceful act in Israel, to dishonor his sister Tamar, the daughter of Absalom, and after forcing her to lie with him, he 'hated her with a very great hatred,' and 'the hatred was greater than the love with which he had loved her' (vv. 1-15).

·         Like spies (Genesis 42:9, 14, Modern Korean Bible), Satan and his followers look for any gap in us (42:12) or any fault, weakness, or failure (Daniel 6:4), and when they find it, they take advantage of the opportunity to attack us (Genesis 14:15, Modern Korean Bible).  Therefore, we must not expose any gaps to Satan and his followers.  The reason is that Satan and his followers are waiting for those openings.

-          If we do not carefully 'repair' 'those broken gaps' within us, Satan will exploit those gaps, attacking and tempting us, leading us into trials and causing us to sin against God and the church family.

(2)   However, Jesus knew the craftiness of Satan [See: 'But Jesus knew their hypocrisy' (Mark 12:15, Modern Korean Bible); 'Jesus knew their craftiness' (Luke 20:23, Modern Korean Bible)] and when the crafty Satan tempted Jesus, He opposed him with the words of God recorded in the Old Testament and triumphed over him (Matthew 4:1-11; James 4:7).  We too must 'put on the full armor of God' to be able to stand against the devil’s schemes, just like Jesus (Ephesians 6:11). And like Jesus, we must resist the crafty temptations of Satan with the word of God and triumph.