Mark 12:13-17--Paying Taxes to Caesar

Mark 12:13-17
English Standard Version
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Paying Taxes to Caesar
13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.

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The Pharisees decided to get some help from the Herodians for this trap they wanted to set (normally the Pharisees and the Herodians didn't get along).  The Herodians were Jews that were loyal to Herod and Rome (Rome had put Herods in power).  The Pharisees hated the Roman taxes, but they thought it would be the perfect trap to set for Jesus.  If the people heard Jesus tell them that they must pay taxes to Rome and Caesar, then the people would hate Jesus, for Rome was known for allowing its tax collectors to gouge people as long as they sent the right amount of tax back to Rome.  If the Herodians heard Jesus say that people shouldn't pay their taxes to Rome, then that would quickly get to Herod and Pilate and Jesus would be arrested by the Roman authorities.  The Pharisees saw this as a win-win--either the people would stop listening to Jesus or the Romans would arrest Jesus.  Either way, the Pharisees figured that Jesus would no longer be a problem for them.

That isn't how this all worked out thought, as Jesus didn't get caught in their trap, and instead asked them a question that seemed innocent, but entrapped them.  Jesus asked someone for one of the Roman coins that was used to pay the Roman tax (a Roman denarius that would usually be a day's wage).  He then asked the crowd to tell Him whose image was stamped on the coin.  It seemed a silly question as everyone knew that every Roman coin was imprinted with the image of the Caesar who issued the coin (which showed that the money belonged to Roman and ultimately to Caesar).

Then Jesus drew a spiritual application from this principle.  "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's."  The people understood that Jesus was taking them back to Genesis 1 and 2, "In the image of God He created them.  Male and female, He created them."  If men and woman are stamped with the image of God, just like that coin was stamped with the image of Caesar, then shouldn't we give ourselves to God since we belong to Him anyways, just like that coin really belonged to Rome so there was no question that Rome had a right to collect it in taxes?

They marveled at His teaching because He not only avoided their trap but ended up reaching the heart of the matter that the Pharisees and Herodians (and the people in general) did not live in a way that showed that God owned them and that they gave themselves freely to Him.  Do we?  We should, especially if we are going to call ourselves by His Name and be called "Christians" which means "little Christs."