The gospel of Matthew includes an account where a group of Pharisees approach Jesus in an effort to trap him by posing a no-win question. They asked: “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?” Today this seems like a pretty innocuous question. We might disagree regarding taxes and complain about them, but very few people question the morality of paying taxes. However, in ancient Israel, it was a bit of a hornets nest topic. You see, if Jesus said it was immoral to pay taxes, then he could be accused of encouraging rebellion against the Romans. The consequences for such an action were pretty severe. The alternative was to say that it was right to pay taxes. The problem with this answer is more complicated. The ancient Jews didn’t like living under Roman occupation, and they especially resented the “poll tax.” This was likely what was being referenced in the discussion. It was a flat, automatic tax on every person every year. The amount wasn’t much, but it was a tax with no obvious benefit, like the ever-present tolls that paid for Roman roads. The Jewish people resented it. The other reason the Jewish people hated paying taxes to Caesar had to do with the coins and the idea behind the poll tax. Roman coins had an image of Emperor Tiberius and an inscription glorifying the cult of emperor worship. To some degree, the poll tax was a religious offering and paying the tax admitted that he was a deity. The ancient Jews were so offended by the currency and the “tax” that they wouldn’t even accept the coins at the temple in offering. You had to exchange Roman coins for temple money. If Jesus said they should pay the tax, he would be seen as supporting idolatry. It was a no-win question: make the Romans angry or anger the Jews. Either way, it would damage His standing.
Jesus’ response was brilliant. First, He asked for someone to show him a coin used for paying the tax. One of the questioners produced a denarius, which was the coin used to pay the tax. It was equal to a single day’s wage. The trick here was that one of the guys asking if Jews should use Roman currency to pay Roman taxes was carrying one of the idolatrous coins. It was a bit of a trick. It was a tacit admission that the questioner had already taken a side. But Jesus wasn’t done with him. He then asked whose face was on the coin. The obvious answer was “Caesar’s.” To which He answered: “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” This was a brilliant answer, but the full cleverness of it is easy to miss. You see, rulers in the ancient world put their names and images onto coins to declare an area to be their kingdom. Ruling gives you the right to issue currency. So if the regular money had Caesar’s image on it, then it was the business of the world they lived in. Between having the coin in the first place and the image question, Jesus won the discussion outright. That, however, is not the end of it. You see, preachers and writers often miss the second half of what Jesus said. “Give unto God, what is God’s.” Every Jewish person in the 1st century would’ve known that people are made in God’s image. Therefore, the coin with Caesar’s image belongs to him, and the only thing we have that bear’s God’s image belongs to Him: Ourselves. Jesus is telling the guys trying to trick him, who were so worried about what was valuable in this world, that their money wasn’t all that valuable. Instead, they were. God sent Jesus to die for sinners. That’s a high price to pay for people who are image-bearers. The only thing we have to give to God is ourselves, but it is what He desires of us. We are called to belong to His kingdom and be devoted to it. Money has its uses for the here and now, but your soul is forever. When we work and earn money, it is important that we never neglect what is really valuable in this life.
