Giving Their Due

Mark 12:13-17 Then they sent to Him some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words. When they had come, they said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?” But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test Me? Bring Me a denarius that I may see it.” So they brought it. And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And Jesus answered and 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.

Continuing in this short Bible study of the twelfth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, we see that if the Jewish political and religious authorities had been doing their jobs properly, they would not have felt threatened by Jesus’ ministry or His popularity in Jerusalem. Given their failures to exercise godly leadership, as seen in Christ’s reference to them as the faithless tenant farmers in the parable of the tenants, the leaders did see Jesus as a threat to their power and position, and they sought to arrest Him. Today’s lesson describes one attempt they made to trap Him and give them cause to arrest Him.

Not a little bit of irony is evident in the interchange between Jesus and “some of the Pharisees” and “some of the Herodians”. These leaders approached Jesus with flattery, telling Him that He was true, did “not care about anyone’s opinion,” and taught “the way of God”. Such words were actually true, though the opposition of the Pharisees and Herodians show that they did not believe Christ taught the way of God. The irony is seen in that since the words were true, Jesus would be the least likely person to be swayed by the opinion of the authorities or to be caught in their trap. Yet, driven by hatred, they presented their trick question.

A second bit of irony is seen in the Pharisees’ and Herodians’ giving Jesus a denarius when He asked for one. First-century Jews, for the most part, did not embrace Roman rule enthusiastically. In fact, many considered the payment of Roman taxes to be a form of idolatry, particularly since the Roman coinage in which taxes were paid featured the image of the emperor and his title, which gave him the status of deity. The Pharisees and Herodians knew that if Jesus were to openly teach people to pay this tax, the Jewish citizens would be upset and would even stop listening to Him. But note that Jesus did not have the detested Roman coin on His person; His opponents, Jewish leaders who were supposed to be adamantly against idolatry, did. If paying Roman taxes was inherently idolatrous, the Jewish authorities were complicit, not Jesus.

Romans 13:1-2 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”

But, of course, our Savior said that paying taxes to the secular government is not inherently idolatrous. Knowing that advocating nonpayment of taxes would arouse Roman ire and that advocating payment of taxes would arouse Jewish opposition, Christ instead took the opportunity to teach that believers can both fulfill what God demands and do what the state rightly demands. Caesar—the government—has a designated place of authority, and Christians must submit to that authority and pay their taxes.

The United States of America Constitution First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

That Caesar has things that belong to him does not mean that he has a right to everything that he claims for himself. Believers give to God the things that are God’s, and what belongs to Him is supreme authority even over the state. Thus, the state is not permitted to overstep its bounds and intrude in matters—such as worship and church discipline—that God has not delegated to the state.