MARK 12: 13-17
Jesus is in Jerusalem and it is the last week before the crucifixion. The chief priests and teachers of the law are looking for ways to arrest him. Jesus has upset Temple protocol by creating a scene in the Temple outer court. “My father’s house is to be a house of prayer!” Next he gives a parable indicating that the leaders have been poor farmers taking care of God’s vineyard. They are irate and now they try to trap Jesus in a trick question. Some Pharisees and Herodians, that is a mixed group of leaders supporting the Herods, the political power, and those representing Temple law, come with a question. “Should we pay the imperial taxes?”
Sometimes we get ourselves all tangled up in either/or questions. I had twins and invariably they argued about a toy. One claimed he had it first. The other claimed their big brother had given it to him. They were both right. Last month I had to plan to pay IRS, pay the dentist for a crown, and my daughter wanted money. Social Security had still not paid survivors benefits. My stomach knotted.
Jesus knew his followers were going to have to face the tension of being caught between the demands of this world and the demands of the kingdom of God. Jesus does not choose a “right answer” for this specific situation, but gives a principle to live by. Taxes were paid with coins. On one side was the face of Caesar and on the other was written perhaps something like, “In God we trust.” Jesus, seeing their duplicity, responded, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
Perhaps you are not caught in any situation right now. It is always good to think about solutions in terms of what is required by the problem and what is required by our God. Let us pray for our legal system, for the many caught in situations needing mercy and for the legal people who have to make decisions. May they see beyond the immediate to the eternal!
On the Way to Wonder 