Before we do anything, we must plan and evaluate. It is important to take an outside-in approach, the situation (such as the people are for Jesus), and the perspective of the others (e.g. the religious leaders want to catch Jesus making an error). Be aware of misleading and loaded questions. When caught in such a situation, ask to rephrase the question, ask why, etc, and throw the questions back.
A key common value everyone will agree with is fairness or justice. Need to analyze the contributions of everyone and pay accordingly. Are we treating others fairly? Are we being treated fairly?
Lessons:
- Whatever we want to do, we need to plan and evaluate first, beginning with the appreciation of the situation. Do an outside-in approach.
- The religious leaders wanted to kill Jesus but they dared not do it openly because of the people. They must incite Jesus to make a big error e.g. God or Caesar, choose one. Either answer will get Jesus into trouble.
- An outside-in approach, where you analyze the situation from others' perspectives, can prevent you from falling into traps.
- Divide and Give or Pay to whoever is due. Don't pay wrongly. Analyze each contribution and the dues.
- e.g. a distinction between earthly authority (represented by Caesar) and spiritual authority (represented by God). We can fulfill our obligations to both.
- Watch out for misleading questions where a yes or no answer is wrong.
- e.g. have you stopped beating your wife?
- e.g. You wouldn't steal money from a charity, would you?
- "Do you support our candidate, or are you against progress?"
- When faced with a tricky question, take a moment to breathe and rephrase the answer to focus on the specific point you want to make. If a question seems unfair, it's okay to politely point that out and ask for clarification. Focus on What Matters: Jesus redirects the conversation to core values - give them their dues
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