The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said, so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” He saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

I grew up in the Bay Area (San Jose, CA) and my parents would take us camping from time to time. One of our favorite places to go was Yosemite. This campground was beautiful and had all kinds of wildlife as well. One of my older brothers tells a story of encountering a bear while out hiking around. The bear went up on his hind feet and became very big. My brother calmly called for my dad, who told him to quietly and slowly walk backwards. The bear became disinterested and walked away. This brother of mine has since gone on many trips into the mountains, guided fishing trips in Alaska, etc. He did not let fear overpower him, but he faced his fears.

One of the interesting things I have noticed about people who use fear to try and oppress or manipulate others, is that they are really fearful people themselves. In order to use the power of fear to intimidate others, you must have given fear some power over you too. If one invites fear in, and learns from it, they are also scared and tortured by it as well.

The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were people who operated by using fear to keep others down or control them. The sad thing was, they were also very fearful people as they were afraid of Jesus. They were also afraid of the people they ruled over. So they sent spies to entrap Jesus.

This backfired on them, because Jesus had a faith that was real, and he had God’s Spirit in his heart as he was God. So when they asked him a challenging question, he simply responded with the truth.
By asking this question about taxes, they were trying to divide the popular base Jesus had. No doubt there were some who felt they only should have allegiance to God. Paying taxes to the Romans was tantamount to giving their allegiance to them, they probably thought.

Others were focused on paying their fair share, and obeying the laws of the land. They may have been more wealthy and the burden of paying taxes was not a big deal to them. But Jesus spoke truth to all and diffused the situation. “Pay unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

In saying this, he not only avoided their trap question, he pointed out something deeper: What are we to give to God, just money? What does God really want from us?

The truth is, he wants our souls, our hearts, our minds, and our motivation and effort. He wants all aspects of who we are committed to him!

Lord, thank you for this truth you have shared with us, in the midst of a stressful situation where you were being entrapped by evil men. I can trust you in all situations when I give you all that I am!