Render Unto Caesar

"The Pharisees went off and plotted how they might entrap Jesus in speech. . . saying [to Him], 'Teacher, we know that You are a truthful man and that You teach the way of God in accordance with the Truth. And You are not concerned with anyone's status. Tell us then, what is Your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?'  Knowing their malice, Jesus said, 'Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? Show me the coin that pays the census tax.'  Then they handed Him the Roman coin.  He said to them, 'Whose image is this and whose inscription?' They replied, 'Caesar's.'  And He said to them, ' Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.' " --[Matthew 22: 15-21].



Caesar came to power during a bloody time, when conspirators who desired a Republic, were plotting to murder Caesar. But Caesar won out, and imposed a dictatorship. A comet appearing in the night sky convinced the populace that Caesar was a god.

The Pharisees clearly were focused upon Jesus not being "concerned with anyone's status." This is a dangerous belief under a dictatorship, when followers of Jesus were behaving as if government rulers had absolutely no authority over them. Even in today's modern China, where Christians are treated as a threat to the State, government officials are baffled by Christians, saying, 'They don't even seem to care what consequences we give them.'

In South Africa during Apartheid, Bishop Desmond Tutu famously said, 'Their first mistake was that they [the ruling party] gave us Bibles and taught us how to read English.'

Jesus seems to be giving Caesar his due as a ruler. BUT, the trap in his reply is that, if we repay to God what belongs to God, then we repay ALL to God; because, everything we have, even Life itself, comes from God.

I figured this out when I turned thirteen years old. My mother and grandmother sat me down to tell me that my mother had come close to dying as she was in labor, giving birth to me. Then, they told me that I had almost died, too. . . .

My mother went on to praise the doctor who had saved me. My parents had just moved to the area where the doctor practiced, only a few months before I was due to be born. He was an expert in the kind of distressed pregnancy which my mother had undergone.

I felt immense gratitude for that doctor! No doubt, he had studied hard in medical school. He had worked and learned critical skills in his residency.

 My mother recounted how the doctor sprang into action. when he realized that my mother and I were in distress.  But by that point in the story, I was no longer focused on the doctor. I was realizing that I owed by Life to God, who had created that man, who had given that man the gift of medical aptitude, and who had put the exact doctor whom my mother and I needed, in the right place, at the right time.

My mother was not a believer, so I said nothing about my belief that God had guided the hand and the decision-making of that doctor.

About a year later, my parents stopped taking me to church, saying, "We don't believe in that stuff."

But, it was "too late", I already believed.  And, I still believe that I owe my Life and everything good in it, to God.

[Related Postings: "God vs. Caesar", 10/19/14; "Give to God what is God's", 10/15/11].


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