A Question About Taxes

by Zeke Flores

The spies who came to Jesus in Luke 20:19-26 must have thought they had him. Their question was ingenious! Either he’d have to side with paying Roman taxes and face the ire of the occupied Jews, or side with not paying Roman taxes, in which case he’d be in trouble with the world’s superpower. Either way, they had Him!

But Jesus asked whose likeness was on the Roman coin. Of course, it was Caesar’s. So He said, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's" (Luke 20:25). It was a brilliant answer that satisfied both Roman and Jewish concerns, and it probably took them a minute or two to realize He had slipped from their grasp. Again.

It reminds us that we have responsibilities to “God and country,” but more than that, we bear the image of the One who formed us and to whom we belong. So, let’s give Him what’s His.