Late one night in Washington, D.C. a mugger wearing a ski mask jumped into the path of a well‑dressed man and stuck a gun in his ribs. “Give me your money!” he demanded. 

Indignant, the affluent man replied, “You can’t do this to me . . . I’m a US Congressman!” 

“In that case,” replied the robber, “give me back MY money!”  (1)

Ah, the “Infernal Revenue Service”--in one form or another, they have always been with us.

You know the story. The Pharisees were concerned about Jesus’ growing popularity. They rightfully regarded him as a threat to the orthodoxy of the day. They sought for ways to expose him as a charlatan and a fraud or to paint him as a revolutionary who was a threat to the government.

One day they sent their disciples to try to trap him. They began with some high-sounding f…