They have Jesus this time. They know it too, as they rub their hands together gleefully. Off and on for three years the religious leaders have been trying to get him, to trap him into saying something that will either make his people reject him or the authorities arrest him.
And now they have come up with the perfect question, a question that damns Jesus no matter how he answers it, a loaded question, one that will trap him either way. They approach him, albeit a bit apprehensively. They know Jesus is clever. But they are confident in their trap.
Beginning with a bit of flattery, they praise him for being honest and unbiased. He is a true teacher from God, they say. And then they spring it: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” They ask it again, in the first person: “Should we pay them or not?”
Jesus doesn’t answer “yes” or “no.” Instead, requesting they bring a coin, he asks whose image and name are on it.
“Caesar’s,” they mutter, the name spoken with contempt.
Looking directly at them, Jesus says, “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:13-17).
To me, and perhaps to you also, this doesn’t sound like a real answer. It doesn’t seem to address the issue of which things are Caesar’s and which are God’s. But the text says they “marveled” at him. His answer stuns and silences them. Why?
Two images
Christopher Watkin, in Biblical Critical Theory, suggests that the key word in this exchange is “image”; whose image is this? The word “image” in Greek is eikon, which means likeness. It is the same word used in 1 Corinthians 11:7 to describe humans being made in the likeness (“image”) of God.
What Jesus means, Watkin says, and what his listeners understand, is that Caesar has two images. First, he has his own image, which is on the coin. But Caesar himself is also in the image of God, as is every other human. So, Jesus’ answer means something like this: “Give the object to the one whose image it bears.” Giving to Caesar and to God is not like sorting the clean laundry into skirts and tops, putting each in the Caesar drawer or the God drawer. We can’t make that kind of a division.
I give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but both Caesar and I are ultimately God’s. A part of giving my whole self to God is to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
There is no neat separation of Caesar’s and God’s. There are no skirts and tops; there are only dresses; there is only one drawer. The coin Jesus is holding contains the image of an image: the image of Caesar who himself is the image of God. Because it bears the image of Caesar, the coin should be given to Caesar. But, both the coin and Caesar himself are in the image of God and should be devoted to God.
To put it another way, giving to Caesar is part of giving to God. Paying taxes is a gift to Caesar, but it is also a gift to God. I give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but both Caesar and I are ultimately God’s. A part of giving my whole self to God is to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Doing my civic duty then, in an election year or any other, means doing it in a way that honors God. When an unbeliever votes or pays taxes, they have done their duty. The Christian, on the other hand, pays taxes and votes knowing that this duty is part of a larger duty that transcends the simple act. Doing my civic duty is part of my God “duty.”
There is another truth here. My commitment to this world and to its authorities is never ultimate. I never sell out to any political ideology or personality. That was radical in Jesus’ day where Rome controlled most of life, and it is radical in our day because political parties and candidates want to own me, to obtain my complete loyalty, to close me off to any other ways of thinking or of relating to others than those espoused by my party or my candidate.
Or, they want to influence me to make some social issue the dominating factor in my life, whether abortion or guns, Israel, LGBTQ or inflation. I refuse to let others’ attempts to put me in a political box or to ostracize me for not staying in my box upset my deeper purpose.
In the image of God
According to Jesus, no political party or ideology ever owns me because I am in the image of God. C. S. Lewis writes, “A man may have to die for his country, but no man must ever live for his country. He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or a party, or a class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most emphatically belongs to God himself.”
You may vote for whom you wish, but the fact that I do not do as you do does not mean that you and I cannot have fellowship, cannot worship together and cannot have spirited discussions about our reasons for believing or voting as we do. This division in churches and in Christian families that has come about because of political ideologies is making Caesar more important than God, making Caesar trump God.
At the same time, giving to God does not cancel out giving to Caesar. Jesus paid his taxes even though his life was a gift to God. We don’t have a dividing line between God and Caesar. I vote the way I vote and support the causes I support as part of my offering to God.
Therefore, I consider candidates, parties, platforms and issues on a different basis. My main concern is not who is president for the next four years. My main concern is how I participate in God’s unfolding plan for the world, a plan described in Scripture. In short, I take a longer view.
As a result, I don’t baptize as good everything my party says, and I don’t reject everything or everyone who doesn’t share my priorities. I have to live with those whose views are not the same as mine, knowing that both they and I are in the image of God.
Those who tried to trap Jesus went away marveling. They thought they had him. But the truth is, God had them all. They were all in the image of God, and all accountable to God, even Caesar. That truth is worth remembering in an election year.
Jim Holm is a retired USMB pastor. He most recently served Faith Community, an English-speaking congregation of Butler Church, as USMB congregation in southeast Fresno, California, that is comprised of four distinct congregations.
