“Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar…and to God what belongs to God.”

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Gospel: Mark 12: 13-17

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent
to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.
They came and said to him,
“Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion.
You do not regard a person’s status
but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Should we pay or should we not pay?”
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them,
“Why are you testing me?
Bring me a denarius to look at.”
They brought one to him and he said to them,
“Whose image and inscription is this?”
They replied to him, “Caesar’s.”
So Jesus said to them,
“Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
They were utterly amazed at him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”

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The Pharisees know how much their Jewish peers hate paying their taxes to Rome. They want their own land and their own government; they want to rule themselves.

If Jesus tells the Jews it’s lawful to pay their taxes to Rome, then he’ll appear to be a friend of the occupying empire, and in opposition to the Jewish cause.

But if he tells the Jews not to pay their taxes, then he can be arrested as an enemy of the State.

It’s a catch-22.

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“Bring me a denarius to look at,” Jesus says.

Where else will the Pharisees draw a Roman coin from but their very own pockets?

As much as they hate to admit it, they, too, pay their taxes. “So, repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar,” Jesus says.

Pay your taxes, because that funds secular causes like building roads and cisterns for water.

But, “give to God what belongs to God.”

So, what belongs to God?

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Our very selves.

In one of the first verses in the bible, God says, “Let us make man in our image and likeness.” 

Every human being bears the image – not of Caesar – but of God. And if we bear his image, then we belong entirely to him.

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Pay your taxes. 

But offer your life to God.

In what ways do I offer the Lord my time and heart? And what would that look like today?

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Image credits: (1) Got Questions (2) The Getty Museum Store (3) Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel