Luke 20:20-26

 

Confrontation – Allegiance to God Alone

Luke 20:20-26  -  Jesus is Questioned about Taxes

20 They sent spies to observe him carefully.
They would pretend to be sincere,
in order to catch him out in what he said.
They could then hand him over
to the jurisdiction and competence of the governor.

The priests’ strategy was clear. Whatever about their own standing with the people, the Roman governor had no qualms about such questions. He would not even require a watertight case to eliminate potential rebels against Roman authority. Pilate had a reputation for summary justice and brutality.

21 So they questioned him,
“Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly
and that you take no notice of relative honour issues,
but that you teach God’s way in all truth.
22 Is it lawful for us to pay the tribute to Caesar or not?”

Their approach was aimed at catching Jesus off guard. The issue of Roman taxation was acute. Galilean primary producers struggled under taxation from many sources: Roman, Herodian and Temple based. Roman taxation was particularly resented because it emphasised their status as a conquered people; it supported a pagan regime; its administration was harsh.

To be seen as publicly supporting Roman taxation would have meant for Jesus a total loss of honour in the estimation of the people. Yet to advise against payment would have immediately brought him to the notice of the governor and to prompt arrest. He would then be easy prey for the Roman (and Jewish) authorities.

23 Observing their trickery, he said to them, 
24 “Show me a denarius.
Whose image is this,
and about whom is the inscription?”
They answered, “Caesar’s.”
25 So he said to them,
“Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s –
and to God the things that are God’s.” 

Jesus prescinded from the political aspects of the question, and focussed on the deeper issue.

The denarius was Roman coinage. On one side it carried the image of the head of the emperor, with the inscription: Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus. Apart from being a Roman coin, the coin was detested by any Jew because of its blasphemous inscription. Rome had conferred deity on the founder of the imperial dynasty, who in his turn exemplified the whole regime of militarism, slavery, oppression and exploitation.

There was no way that Jesus could advise any Jew to collaborate in any such regime. His comment: give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s did not mean that Jesus was advising people to pay the taxes and to collaborate peaceably in the emperor’s administration. It meant rather to give back to the emperor all he represented and to dissociate themselves totally from the whole value system behind militarism, oppression, etc.. Along with that he reiterated what he had shared with the Galilean peasants before: give to God the things that are God’s, namely, a response of total love and unquestioned allegiance to God’s values of respect, mercy, peace, inclusion and justice: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).

Jesus’ comment could lend itself to misrepresentation as a call to violent revolt against Rome. Jesus was operating, however, at a totally other level than the political. He was focussed on the level of the heart and personal allegiance. Nevertheless, his comment did give tenuous substance to the allegations that led to his condemnation before Pilate later at his trial.

26 They were unable to trap him
in what he said within the people’s hearing,
and, stunned by his answer, they kept silence.

The unpredicted response of Jesus increased even further his honour among the people. The priests and scribes were temporarily silenced.

Next >> Luke 20:27-40