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Christ Confounds His Enemies
This chapter is based on Matthew 22:15-46; Mark 12:13-40; Luke
20:20-47.
The priests and rulers could not refute Christ’s charges. But this
made them only the more determined to entrap Him. They sent
spies, “who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what
he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of
the governor.” NRSV. These young men, eager and zealous, were
accompanied by Herodians who were to hear Christ’s words so that
they could testify against Him at His trial.
The Pharisees had always chafed under Roman taxes, holding
that paying them was contrary to the law of God. Now the spies
came to Jesus as though they were wanting to know their duty:
“Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not
show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it
lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
Those who put the question to Jesus thought they had disguised
their intentions, but Jesus read their hearts like an open book. “Why
do you test Me?” He said, showing that He read their hidden pur-
pose. They were still more confused when He added, “Show me
a denarius.” They brought it, and He asked them, “‘Whose image
and inscription does it have?’ They answered and said, ‘Caesar’s.’”
Pointing to the coin, Jesus said, “Render therefore to Caesar the
things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
The spies felt baffled and defeated. The brief, decisive way
in which Jesus had settled their question left them nothing further
to say. Christ’s reply was no evasion, but a candid answer to the
question. Holding in His hand the Roman coin, He declared that
since they were living under the protection of the Roman power,
they should give that power the support it claimed. But while they
were peaceably subject to the laws of the land, they should at all
times give their first allegiance to God.
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