Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.(L) “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a](M) to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s,(N) and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away – Matthew 22
The witty Jesus truly shines with his ingenious response. This is probably my favorite passage of Jesus. In addition to His sly cleverness, His response contains some heavy theological truths.
We always have to keep in mind the purpose of the question. Here several disciples were instructed to trap Jesus. They ask him a seemingly innocent question, but Jesus knows better. He replies simply “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” So now we ask ourself the hard question, what is God’s and what is not?
Is your money God’s? Is your time God’s? What about your joy, sadness, or pain? Compartmentalization is a normal part of western society. Yet, God is a wholistic God who cares about our entire being. It feels easy to separate work and family life. It feels easy to separate our tithe from our grocery budget, but the truth is that God wants to heal our entire being.
God wishes for you to live a life of abundant freedom. Feeedom that we gain through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We will never feel this freedom if we live a double life. Jesus puts it this way (Luke 9:62) “Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Giving God your whole life provides freedom. Give back the things that belong to the world and focus on the things that belong to God. If you do, I believe you will see God’s faithfulness in an abundant new way.