Question to trap Jesus

Fearing the crowd may riot, the chief priests, scribes, and elders devised a plan to eliminate Jesus using the power of the Roman governor. They believed that if they bring up the tax issue, they would be able to trap Jesus in a statement. So, they sent some Pharisees and Herodians to question Jesus about taxes. This was an unusual alliance, as the two were political adversaries – Pharisees being anti-Roman and Herodians being pro-Roman. Despite their enmity, they collaborated against Jesus as a common foe. They posed the question, “Is it permissible to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?” If Jesus said it was unlawful, they could report Him to the Roman governor. If He said it was lawful, Jesus would lose favor with the people. Either answer would result in trouble for Jesus.

Jesus’ wisdom

Jesus navigated through this dilemma with wisdom. In Palestine at that time, various coins were in circulation, including Roman, Greek, Tyrian, and Jewish coins. Roman taxes were required to be paid using Roman coins. Religious Jews tried to avoid possessing Roman coins as much as possible. If necessary, they would mint their own denarius coins to pay taxes to Rome. Jesus, first made them confirm that the denarius bore the image of Caesar (Emperor Tiberius), and then responded, “Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Christians possess dual citizenship, both on earth and in heaven. Our primary mission is to be obedient to God, yet we also must not neglect our responsibilities to the earthly rulers. Obedience to God and obedience to earthly authorities does not necessarily contradict each other. Are you facing difficult problems today? If so, let’s seek wisdom from above (ref. James 1:5). God surely will show us the way of escape.