Flip the Coin

 There's more to the story of Jesus telling his enemies to render to Caeser what was his, and to God what is His.  Let's start at the beginning.

This incident was right after Jesus went berserk and through the money changers out of the temple.  He went right back in the temple.  Would you?  Wouldn't you think Jesus would stay away?  

Look at it this way.  Those who were following Him, and expecting Him, to do to the Roman soldiers, what He did to the money changers in the temple were crowding around Him, now, thinking, "now the Romans are going to get it!"  In fact, Matthew 21:46 says, the temple authorities were looking for a way to arrest Jesus, but they were afraid of the crowd.

Jesus' enemies couldn't arrest Him, unless He did something egregiously wrong, that the Jewish crowd would be appalled by what He said.  Something that would justify His arrest.  Something that was obviously against Jewish religious laws.

What did they come up with?

A baited question.

"...You teach the way of God in accordance to the truth.  Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar?"

Jesus asked for a coin, a specific coin, a denarius.  A denarius had a picture of Caesar stamped on one side.  The other side had the inscription "Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus with an image of a goddess." Religious Jews refused to use, or even carry this coin, because it effectively said that Caesar was god, the son of a goddess.  Jesus didn't have one (being an orthodox Jew), He had to ask for one.  And even then, He didn't touch it.

Those Jews who had a denarius just proved that they were hypocrites.  What are they doing with denarii?  And in the temple precincts!!

Jesus asks, "Whose image is on it?  Since the image was of Caesar, the son of the goddess of Peace, they answered, "Caesar."  Now the famous quote, "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

Remember this answer, when we Catholics are accused of worshipping images.  Ask for a quarter.  Ask if the questioner worships George Washington.  Why are they carrying IMAGES of presidents? 

From Ray Downing's Blog