Give To God What Is God's

 

 Mk 12:13-17

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar

¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him.

Jesus could not be tricked and gave us a principle on which to base our dealings with wealth and our own personal talents.  Yes, we must support our government, pay our bills, use our money wisely and fairly, but we must also use the gifts we have been given to serve others and build up our communities. We might say that our gifts and talents are on loan to us to be used not for our own aggrandizement but for the good of others. May we share our gifts with the same generosity with which God has blessed us.

Bro. Rene 

Dear God,help me to use my talents unselfishly for the good of others. Amen.