In Matthew’s text, Jesus has just recently arrived in Jerusalem to the acclaim of the crowds. But he has already offended the religious authorities, and frankly, they would like to see him gone. So they set a trap for him with a “gotcha” question. They take with them some Herodians, people obliged to Rome for keeping Herod in power. Their voices dripping with flattery, they say to Jesus, “O teacher, we know how sincere you are, and how you teach the way of God in accordance with truth, so tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful or not to pay taxes to Caesar?”
The trap is this: If Jesus says that the taxes are lawful, then he alienates his Jewish followers who despise the Roman occupation, and who resent the taxes they must pay to the state. If he says that the taxes are not lawful, he risks arrest by the Roman authorities. Notice how cleverly Jesus responds: He asks for a coin—apparently he is not carrying one—and they produce a denarius, a Roman coin.
He has just trapped them. For the Roman coin carries the image of Tiberius Caesar and the inscription on the coin proclaims him divine. Such an image would be blasphemy from the perspective of Jewish monotheism. So, in the sacred space of the Temple, it is the Pharisees who have been caught possessing an idolatrous image. Thus, Jesus’ remark, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?”
When Jesus asks whose inscription and likeness is on the coin, and they respond, “Caesar’s,” he replies, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s.”
So what are the things that belong to Caesar, and what are the things that belong to God?
