Holy Week: Tuesday – Paying Taxes

Read: Mark 11:20-13:37

The longest part of the narrative during Holy Week takes place on Tuesday, spanning three chapters.

About two thirds of Tuesday consists of conflict with the temple authorities and their associates. The remaining third (chap. 13) warns of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and speaks of the coming of the Son of Man, all in the near future.

One of the conflicts with the authorities came when…

…two unlikely groups conspired to trap him – one at odds with the Roman occupation (Pharisees) and one that represented it (Herodians). It was quite a broad net to cast over Jesus. But he shot back a beautiful riddle. First, when they asked him whether it was right to pay the imperial tax. Jesus asked for one of their coins. (Funny that he didn’t happen to have one on him.) Then he asked, “Whose image is this?” And when they identified it as Caesar’s, he said, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Some folks use this verse to say Jesus bowed to Caesar. But we think it was just the opposite. First, it was quite radical to speak of God and Caesar as two separate entities. Jesus then left it to the hearers to decide what was God’s and what was Caesar’s, though Jesus seemed to subtly point it out. Caesar could brand with his image coins, crowns, and robes, which moths would eat and rust would destroy. But life and creation have God’s stamp on them. Caesar could have his coins, but life is God’s. Caesar had no right to take what is God’s. We are also reminded that just as Caesar stamped his image on coins. God’s image is stamped on human beings. Even Caesar had God’s stamp. God made Caesar, and Caesar was not God. But the hearer was left to ponder the riddle of what was God’s and what was Caesar’s. No wonder Jesus often had to say, “Do you have ears to hear?” (Claiborne and Haw, Jesus for President)

Do we have ears to hear to hear this message today?