But your interpretation of this incident, is that Jesus really wasn't teaching standards at all? He just gave a weasel-worded comment to get himself out of a politically dicey situation, rather than give a clear teaching showing the more perfect expression of the will of God?
Can't say I'd buy that.
You can’t pit Jesus against Jesus.
I didn’t say He was trying to weasel out of anything, He gave them correct answers, but Jesus Christ was not going to take the bait. The Pharisees thought they had him boxed into no-win questions, and Jesus, being who He is, not only knew why they were asking them (to try to trick Him up somehow) but knew the answer to give them that they could not refute.
There is nothing wrong with capital punishment in this age. We don’t just stop administering justice and abolish all laws because we’re under God’s grace. We don’t get rid of temporal consequences and punishments because for one thing, fear of those punishments keep a lot of non-believers from doing whatever the hell they want to others. Laws like this keep the unsaved from rampaging over the saved.