Giving God and Ceasar Their Due

 

Matthew 22: 15-21

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar

¹⁵ Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷ Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[ to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸ But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹ “Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

While cleverly answering the Pharisees, Jesus also gives us the proper perspective for living in this world but not being a slave to it.  "Repay to Caesar what is Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." How often do we muddle our accounts, usually short-changing God, and succumb to the pressures of materialism, "political correctness", social rejection or our own self-inflicted fears? The restrictions imposed on us by the Covid Virus, the lies and manipulations of the US presidential election campaigns challenge us and even impede us from making sound decisions. Jesus gives us the proper formula to follow. Let us put our trust in its time-honored truth.

Bro.  Rene