Rome had minted special coins, silver coins with the emperor Tiberius’ figure and name. Only that special coin could be used to pay the tax levied on the population of Judea, a tax symbolizing submission to Rome.  In ancient times the authority of a ruler was equal to the circulation of his coinage, and coins bearing his image were regarded as the emperor’s private property. 

It was a poll tax the Pharisees were talking about, but not really.

The Pharisees and Herodians intent on entrapping Jesus, intent on finding cause to either arrest Jesus as rebel or discredit him among the Jewish people, chose this special silver coin for their purpose.

Religious and governmental authorities laid their bait. They asked Jesus whether it was in accordance with the law of God to pay to Caesar the tax which had been demanded of all provincial Jews for the past 25 years.

Because the tax represented the Jews status as subjects of Rome, this particular tax was exceptionally unpopular. The coin was a symbol of a people’s hated bondage.  If Jesus agreed that the coin must be paid to Caesar, it would discredit Jesus as Messiah among the people. If Jesus denied the legitimacy of the tax as the people would have hoped, he could conveniently be reported to Roman authorities and arrested.

It was a poll tax they were talking about, but not really.  

Imagine the Pharisees and Herodians suppressing their glee as they asked their question...waiting to see whether Jesus would incriminate himself or lose his credibility among the Jewish population...an elegant trap with no perfect answer...an elegant trap that called for an elegant response. Jesus did not disappoint....wise as a serpent, gentle as a dove.

Jesus skirted entrapment by saying that since the money carried the embossed image of Tiberius, the coin was Caesar’s property. If you got it from Caesar, give it back to Caesar he said with simple logic.

But then Jesus went on to say that should Caesar demand at any time something which properly belonged to God...God comes first.  A place for Caesura place for God..and so it has always been.  A place for God..a place for Caesar...But to whom do we owe our coin?  To temporal authority or to God?

We may not be subject to Rome as the Jewish people once were, but we must choose time and time again to whom we owe our loyalty...to temporal authority or to God. Sometimes the two loyalties don’t seem to clash..sometimes we prefer to ignore the clash. But Jesus is clear that temporal authority must never override our personal conscience.

The weary and oppressed people of Galilee and Judea had projected on Jesus the role of Israel’s Messiah. But Jesus knew he was to be a different kind of king...a king whose reign would be in the human heart, whose reign could not terminate with his death...whose reign really began with his death and resurrection.

Jesus was not called to be a political Messiah  as much as people projected that role on him.  He came to do battle, but battle against evil not Rome.  Like any government, Rome had its corruption, could be oppressive and arrogant.  It had its sin surely, but Rome was not sin itself. Jesus came to do battle with the evil that rules the human heart. He took up the sword of the spirit, the armor of righteousness, and his battle was a spiritual test, not a temporal one.  He has freed us and challenges us to do his temporal battles.

Jesus dismissed the ploy of the Pharisees and Herodians saying: “If it belongs to Caeser, give it back to him.”  And then he speaks to us: “If there is conflict between temporal authority, however you may experience it in your life...conflict between that authority in your life and God’s prior claim on your heart, remember the first commandment. Put God First.

Our response must be the best we can do...based not on fear of authority or self-interest.  Our response must be based on our submission to God’s will as best we understand it in an imperfect world.

Give temporal authority its due...but not your soul..