Luke 20:20–26 (ESV)
20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. 21 So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” 23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.
Today’s passage is just incredible and one of my favorites. But if we’re going to understand it fully, we need to have some knowledge of the cultural context of this passage.
First, we need to understand taxes in that cultural context. For the average Jewish person taxes were serious business. They had to pay local taxes, Temple taxes and for those who lived in Galilee they had to pay a tax to Herod as well, and on top of everything else, there were the taxes that had to be paid to Rome.
Roman taxes were a bitter pill for the Jewish people to swallow. They were God’s chosen free people but going back about 500 years or so, the Jewish people haven’t been free, they’ve been ruled by others to one degree or another beginning with the Babylonians and now presently by the Romans and the Romans loved to tax those they ruled, and the Jewish people loathed Rome for its rule and for the tax that reminded them of the Roman occupation.
And then we need to understand something of the coin as it relates to Jewish beliefs. N.T. Wright notes that if the Romans were going out of their way to be offensive to Jews with their coins, they couldn’t have done a better job because of what was on the coin.
Jews were forbidden to make or carry carved images, especially of another human being. On the coin was the image of the Roman Emperor Tiberius and there was some writing on the coin as well that said of Tiberius, “Son of god, high priest.”
So you can imagine how offensive the coin is to the Jewish people; it reminds them of the Roman occupation and it is a carved image promoting Tiberius as god, not to mention the taxes themselves, did I mention the taxes?
Now take all that into consideration and read the passage again. We understand what’s happening here. The Pharisees and the Herodians are working together and trying to trap Jesus with their question, “Should we pay the taxes or should we not?”
If Jesus says “yes, pay them” then the religious leaders will denounce Jesus to the crowd as supporting Rome.
If Jesus says, “no, don’t pay them” then the religious leaders will tell the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate that Jesus us seditious, supporting treason against Rome, which was a capital offense.
It seems to be a perfect trap they’ve laid.
The request of Jesus for the religious leaders to produce a coin is an embarrassing moment for them because they will have to produce a coin, they will have to look at it and touch it, which is something that they are hated to do, but it goes to show how desperate they are to stop Jesus.
Then, after Jesus has them confirm whose image is on the coin, Jesus says the most stunning, unexpected thing, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.”
The religious leaders never saw that reply coming. We could get a little lost in the weeds here if we were trying to unpack this fully so let’s focus on one particular thing. In Genesis 1.26-27, we know that we, humanity, are created in the image of God. We belong to the Lord and if we bear His image, then all of us owe our lives to the Lord and should respond by giving our lives back to Him; it’s really the only gift that we can give the Lord.
Whenever I read this, I’m always reminded of the Toy Story movies. There are great scenes in those movies where the main characters, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, who are toys, look at the bottom of their shoes and notice something that’s written there. On the bottom of their shoes is a name Andy, the name of the little boy to whom they belong. And in a moment of absolute clarity, the toys realize that they are wanted and loved and that they have a purpose to fulfill.
You—YOU bear the image of God. It’s stamped on you and on every human being. Only human beings have that image of our Creator stamped upon them. We belong to Him! And Jesus calls us to give to God what belongs to Him.
That’s amazing stuff. It’s difficult to grasp how wide and deep that is but when you think of the cross and Jesus’ arms spread wide, you get some idea of how deeply you matter to the Lord and to what length He went to open the way for us to come back to Him because we belong to Him.
As we grasp the meaning and reality that we are stamped with the image of God, there is a great question for us to consider; is there any part of your life that you haven’t entrusted to the Lord? Is there anything that you’re grasping tightly and haven’t entrusted to Jesus? If so, take the time to talk with Jesus about that today and give it to Him! I guarantee you that you will receive the best in return, more than you could ask for or imagine. He may even take that part of your life that you were withholding and give it back to you better than it was before. Trust Him!
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers!
Scott