Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man
and that you are not concerned with anyone's opinion.
You do not regard a person's status
but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.
The Pharisees and the Herodians weren't concerned with truth. They did not really believe that Jesus was truthful but still said it in an attempt to provoke Jesus to say something he would regret so that they could ensnare him in his speech. By their false flattery they demonstrated their lack of concern for truth. We know too that they were eminently concerned with the opinions of others, and that it was Jesus lack of concern for their opinions about him that was a significant factor in their disliking him. They wanted him to regard their status and to subject anything he might say about the truth to their judgment. They were so opposed to Jesus that even rival groups like Pharisees and Herodians could find common ground in the desire to silence him.
Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?
Should we pay or should we not pay?
They thought that if Jesus was truly truthful he would insist that the tax not be paid. They thought he would at need to insist on this to keep his favor in the opinion of the crowds. They knew that if he denied that it should be paid he would be running afoul of Roman authority and putting himself at risk. They assumed their trap would work because they believed Jesus was primarily concerned with keeping favor with the crowds and that he would be afraid of arousing the ire of the authorities. Yet Jesus did not choose either horn of their dilemma, but rather cut through it with a truth invisible to them because of their hypocrisy.
They brought one to him and he said to them,
"Whose image and inscription is this?"
They replied to him, "Caesar's."
So Jesus said to them,
"Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."
Notably, they themselves had these coins of Rome ready to produce when Jesus asked, already demonstrating that they themselves were not above reproach in this regard. Jesus asked them about whose image was found on the coin, to which they correctly answer "Caesar's". But in asking about the image Jesus also brought to mind the one in whose image and likeness all every person was created (see Genesis 1:27). Even Caesar himself was not a deity as was claimed, but a creature created in this image. Understanding this, one could engage with Caesar and even play by his rules using his coins to the degree that such participation did not transgress the true origin of this image. The answer of Jesus did not create an isolated sphere of politics where God was not involved but rather demonstrated that at every level of human life everything needed to be referred back to its divine origin and destiny in order to be used rightly. Thus, to truly repay to Caesar what was his could only be done when it also at the same time was a repayment to God of what was properly his. This was because anything that Caesar had and was he had or was on loan from the God in whose image he was created. Therefore there was indeed some level of legitimacy to paying taxes, but not a space or arena apart from God were the merely political could unfold.
They were utterly amazed at him.
Jesus did in the end demonstrate that he taught the way of God in accordance with the truth. It was a truth that was so utterly independent of concern for the opinions of others and so entirely committed to God at every possible level that it amazed, perhaps terrified those who heard it. They were so concerned with pretense and opinion that such unvarnished truth was shocking to hear. We may hope that it shocked them enough to open themselves to something more than that to which they had heretofore been content. Jesus did not answer as he did to show off or to boast, but to cut through the prejudices and preconceptions. His reply was like a Zen koan that was an invitation for his listeners to wake up and be converted.
"Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God."
Brothers and sisters, the thing is, we do tend to segment our lives into the specifically religious as distinct from other categories such as entertainment and politics. But Jesus won't abide by such human distinctions. We live in a world that is nothing but interactions of creatures created in the image of God. And it will only function as intended when we respect that reality. So let us not try to trick Jesus into letting us have these spaces remain isolated from his influence, but instead surrender them to him, and to remember that everything finally belongs to God and must be repaid. Let us be amazed enough by these words of Jesus to be ourselves awakened and converted.
So she retorted: "Where are your charitable deeds now?
Where are your virtuous acts?
See! Your true character is finally showing itself!"
Where do our charitable deeds disappear? What causes us to close in on ourselves and to ignore the truth of the way of God? Is it pride, or perhaps self-pity? Whenever we find ourselves succumbing as Tobit did we should look closely at ourselves to try to determine what part of ourselves we have not yet fully given over to God. We may briefly feel blinded as we undergo such trials but it is only so that we might see more clearly when healing comes.
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