And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some
of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 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?” But,
knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a
denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them,
“Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 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.
Mark
12:13–17
This
is the standard passage cited about why we should pay taxes. And so we should. But that is not primarily what this passage
is about.
There
is another implication: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
Most
commentators just throw that line away, but it is the core of the passage. Render to God the things that are God’s.
You
see, just like the Pharisees and Herodians in the passage, each of us is filled
with treachery. We want to trap God in
his talk. We want the loophole. We want to be smarter than God. We want an excuse to reject him, just as
these religious leaders were looking for an excuse to reject Jesus.
Jesus' reply to the Pharisees nails them at the core of their being: in the
heart. Whose image and inscription is on
the coin? Caesar’s of course. Well, whose image and inscription is on
you?
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the
image of God he created him;
male and
female he created them.
Genesis
1:26-27
Implicit
in their theology is the creation account, and humanity having been created in
the image and likeness of God. We are in
fact – believe it or not – the pinnacle of creation, for exactly that reason. Each of us is, male and female. Before Adam and Eve, creation was good. Now with the man and the woman, it is very
good. Each of us is of immense worth, with the divine spark; our lives are sacred. Self worth need never be an issue. The Pharisees were busted. And that's why they marveled.
So,
my friend, in whose likeness and inscription are you?
