Lent Reading: Week 5, Day 3 (April 10)
Reading: Luke 20:20-26
20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
25 He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
26 They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.
Reflection
Jesus is brilliant. He sees the duplicty of others (verse 23). He knows that this is a "trick question." He knows that there is not genuine intent in this question but rather a desire to trip Jesus up, to make Him say something that will get him into trouble with the Roman authorities.
And yet even though the questioners are not sincere, even though they are out to trap him, Jesus still answers the question.
Because the question is a very good question. The question gets at the heart of what it means to be human.
Human beings are fundamentally always in relationship in two directions: the first is "vertical," up towards God and the second is "horizontal," towards those around us. So how should we live in relationship to the government, those on the "horizontal" axis? Jesus says: "Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s" (verse 25). Caesar should get the taxes he aske for and he should get respect and honour (1 Peter 2:17).
And Jesus adds to his response by saying: "and [give back] to God what is God’s" (verse 25). And what is God's? What does God "get"? Well, God gets everything because everything comes from God. God certainly should get respect, just like the Caesar, but He should get so much more: worship, adoration and our very lives and hearts!
May that happen during this season of Lent: that the Son of God would get his "due" from us!