Slices
Prepare
‘Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering’ (Romans 12:1,2, The Message).
Bible passage
Paying the poll-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 poll-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.
Explore
Today’s encounter is not so much a tale about taxes as one that addresses the more fundamental issue of allegiance.
Under Roman rule, all subject peoples were liable to a poll tax. The Jews resented this tax, not just because it was burdensome but because it was a shameful reminder of their subjugation. The Pharisees and Herodians pose a tricky tax question, designed to trap Jesus into making a response that would brand him either a traitor in the eyes of nationalistic Jews or a rebel before the Roman authorities (vs 13–15).
Even many non-Christians are familiar with Jesus’ masterful reply that upholds duty to the state as citizens without undermining loyalty to God as Christians (v 17). Since we need only give Caesar what ‘belongs’ to him, there are clear limits and boundaries to state authority. But Jesus challenges us to dig deeper: What is involved in giving God what ‘belongs to God’? The coin imprinted with Caesar’s image (v 16) was to be returned to Caesar. As people who bear God’s image, we owe him not just taxes but our whole selves, which includes our adoration, allegiance, attention and accountability in every sphere of life.
Respond
Do you diligently pay taxes and fulfil other obligations to the state? Do you wholeheartedly give God the glory due to him? In what ways might you be giving to modern-day Caesars what rightly belongs to God?
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 42,43; 1 John 2
Pray for Scripture Union
Join Technical Services Manager Ian Gooding in giving thanks that we have finally been able to complete the move of all our IT services online, something we have been working towards for several years. We are no longer dependent on IT services provided from the national office, which had become increasingly costly.
