A number of Pharisees and men of Herod's party were sent to trap Jesus with a question. They came and said, 'Master, we know that you are an honest man, that you are not afraid of anyone, because human rank means nothing to you, and that you teach the way of God in all honesty. Are we or are we not permitted to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor? Shall we pay or not?' He saw how crafty their question was, and said, 'Why are you trying to catch me out? Fetch me a silver piece, and let me look at it.' They brought one, and he said to them, 'Whose portrait is this? Whose title?' 'Caesar's', they replied. Then Jesus said, 'Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and pay God what belongs to God.' And they were amazed at him. Mark 12: 13-17
The Bible is often used by people to defend their own likes and dislikes. Sometimes people ignore biblical scholarship because it might steal away from them some treasured belief. It might deny them their "right" to be angry or even hateful. This Gospel account is an example of that. There are Christians who think Jesus is teaching us to pay our taxes. Still others say that Jesus is teaching Christians about tithing to their church. It's not that at all.
"Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and pay God what belongs to God." The real question is: What belongs to God?" I do. I belong to God. I bear God's image. And Jesus is insisting here that God have what belongs to God.
And what might we look like if we understood this about ourselves AND about every other person on this planet? For starts:
- All the arguing would stop, because God doesn't argue.
- The planet destruction would stop, because God is a creator.
- The disrespect would stop, because God has breathed God's life into us.
- Justice and the common good would really matter to us because we are all God's dear children.
- We would be spiritually wide awake, because God doesn't sleep.
- And the child-killing wars, war-preparations and weapon-sales would stop, because even though in the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) God can be a buster, wiping out whole cities and armies, God changed that MO in Christ who heals, blesses, forgives, embraces, feeds, consoles, lifts up, restores...
The little coin belongs to Caesar because it bears his image. And I belong to God (and you, and you, and you, and you) because we bear God's image.
