Luke 20:20-26 - Paying taxes

20:20-22

The religious leaders were unable to arrest Jesus in the temple, so they tried more subtle means. They wanted Jesus to say something inflammatory against the Roman rulers, then the Romans would take care of Him. They sent “spies”, presumably people who were not priests or teachers of the Law, but were acting on behalf of them. They tried to use flattery, telling Jesus that He always taught the truth, without fear or favour, and, moreover, taught God’s truth. They were hoping to trap Jesus into saying something against Rome. So they asked Him about paying taxes to Rome. No one is particularly keen on paying taxes at the best of times, but paying taxes to Rome was particularly hateful. So if Jesus said something against Rome the authorities would be after Him, if He said something in favour of paying taxes the people would be against Him, so it seemed like a win-win situation.

20:23-26

Jesus knew exactly what they were up to. So He called for a Roman coin, a denarius, to be brought to Him. On one side was the image of the emperor. Then He asked them whose image was on the coin, it was of course Caesar. Then He uttered His famous word “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s”. We all have the image of God on our lives, we were created in His image, so we have a duty to God. Every man, woman and child has a duty to God. One day even the most hardened atheist will be brought face to face with this truth. So we are to give proper respect to human authorities. And remember that Jesus is speaking about the Roman authorities, not exactly a democratically elected government. We also have a duty to God. What the religious leaders wanted to do, and what humanity tends to want to do, is to take care only of himself.

The religious leaders were astonished at Jesus’ answer, knowing they were actually living for themselves, not God. So they became silent.