Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s – Give to God what is God’s 

In this weekend’s Gospel the Jewish leaders are out to trap Jesus with a question about the “poll tax”. According to Roman law, every year all people had to pay the equivalent of a day’s wage to Rome (one denarii). If Jesus would say that they should not pay the tax, then His enemies could report Him to the Roman governor for defiance of Roman law. If Jesus would say that the tax should be paid to Rome, then His enemies (the religious leaders) would condemn Him for not giving all to GOD. Jesus reversed the trap and catches His opponents in a trap.

Notice how Jesus answers their question when they asked: Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? He said: “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Jesus was not putting God and Caesar on equal footing here, as if part of the world belonged to Caesar and part to God. Caesar stands under God and is judged by Him.

Every elected official, and every one of us, stands under God and will be judged by Him. Notice too, what Jesus said after they handed him a coin: “Whose face is on this coin”?  Notice how Jesus moves the focus to the human person, the starting point for every moral issue: the face of a human being represents the inviolable dignity and worth from the moment of conception until natural death. In our busy lives we are challenged today not to forget God and His claims on our lives. We belong to God, because we are all fashioned in His image. We belong to God in all our being, with all our talents, interests, time, and wealth. Each one of us is a ‘coin of God’ who has stamped his divine image onto each of us. 

So, we render our tax to Caesar but our whole lives to God.