The Coin and the claim...

By reading Mark’s gospel, we see a very detailed account of Jesus’ final week before His death, burial and resurrection. It is also a very emotional week for both Jesus Himself and His followers. On Sunday, Jesus arrived in Jerusalem and was welcomed by huge crowds that sang His praises and called Him the Son of David – a deliberate Messianic title (Mark 11:1-10). What a day of elation this must have been! However, on Monday, things became intense and confrontational as Jesus both cursed a fig tree and cleansed the temple of money changers and other religious leaders (Mark 11:12-19). On Tuesday, as we will see in today's passage (Mark 11:13-17), He firmly and publicly cemented His stance of opposition towards the religious elite as He rebuked the pharisees and Herodians. Let us look together at this specific passage:

"And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.  And they came and said to him,'Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?'  But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, 'Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.'  And they brought one. And he said to them, 'Whose likeness and inscription is this?' They said to him, 'Caesar's.'  Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they marveled at him" (Mark 12:13-17).

To fully understand this short passage, it is helpful to understand the differences between the pharisees (religious leaders with a large following) and the Herodians. The pharisees were primarily a lay movement whose goal was to apply the law of God to every area of ordinary life. They upheld the Scriptures, but also accepted and embraced an additional body of interpretations known in the Gospels as “the tradition of the elders.” While well intentioned and born from a desire to remain holy, these additional “traditions” eventually functioned as though they carried the same authority as Scripture and became an overbearing burden to the Jewish people. It is also important to note that the pharisees, although not outright revolutionaries, opposed Roman rule and viewed the coming Messiah as someone who would liberate them from it. In contrast, the Herodians were a group of people not associated with a specific school of thought; instead, they were a group who simply aligned themselves with and benefited from the Herodian Order. In short, they did the legwork for the Roman government in exchange for favors from them. As a result, the Jewish people at large and the pharisees hated them.  

Obviously, the pharisees and Herodians were rival groups who had very different views regarding Roman rule over the Jewish people. However, they had one commonality; both groups viewed Jesus as a threat that could destabilize their respective political and societal positions. So, as a result of this shared perceived threat, they conspired together and plotted to entrap Him by asking the following question in verse 13: "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?".  The thinking was as follows: If Jesus says “yes”, the Pharisees could discredit Him before the people who resent Roman occupation and He would lose His following. If He says “no”, the Herodians could report Jesus as a revolutionary to the Roman authorities and have Him removed. Either way, they would rid themselves of Jesus and the perceived problems he posed to them. So, what did Jesus do? He, knowing their hearts, shrewdly asked them to produce a denarius, a coin that specifically functioned as Roman money. And, after they brought it to Him,  He, in verse 16 asks them the following question about the coin: “Whose image and inscription is this?” After the Herodians and pharisees stated that it was Caesar's, Jesus responsed with the following statement: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mark 12:17). What an awesome response to this trap question! In this one single sentence, Jesus very clearly stated that citizens must both pay what is owed to their respective government and, more importantly, devote their lives fully to God. 

By reading this passage, it is obvious that Caesar’s image and inscription was, indeed, stamped on the coin; hence, Caesar could legitimately demand what was properly due to him and the Roman government. However, and more importantly, God’s image was stamped upon those living at that time. This meant that God was owed far more than money. He was owed their entire lives – their complete love, perfect obedience, undivided worship, and total allegiance. And, just like those living in Jesus’ day owed Him their entire lives, so do we today. Every breath we take is a precious gift from Him. Every ability, opportunity, relationship, and possession that we have comes from His hand alone. Our lives belong to him because He created us in His image. But that is not all that He has given us. As Romans 6:23 tell us, He, through His death, burial and resurrection, has spared us from the eternal damnation that we deserve because of our sin against Him and, instead, has provided us eternal life! And, because of this payment, born again believers are now a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven and in right standing with our ruler and king. Do you see the irony here? Caesar demanded payments from His subjects; in stark contrast, Jesus, as Mark 10:45 states, is the King who served His subjects by paying the ultimate debt for those under His rule. And, because of this selfless act that Christ gave us, we are now called to live a life of obedience to Him. Of course, as Jesus clearly commanded in verse 17, we must honor and obey our governmental authorities by paying our taxes. But, obedience to our government and allegiance to anything on this Earth must be secondary to the allegiance that we give our Lord, the ultimate giver of all good gifts. Believer, are you living as if you owe Christ everything? If not, will you begin doing so immediately? And, if you have not yet accepted the salvation that Christ offers, will you do so and become a citizen of God's Kingdom today?.....

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