Context No. 4009 of 4322 · Luke

Luke 20:25-33: in context

25He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26They weren’t able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer and were silent. 27Some of the Sadducees came to him, those who deny that there is a resurrection. 28They asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies having a wife, and he is childless, his brother should take the wife and raise up children for his brother. 29There were therefore seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died childless. 30The second took her as wife, and he died childless. 31The third took her, and likewise the seven all left no children, and died. 32Afterward the woman also died. 33Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.”

Cornered with a trick question about whether to pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus asks whose image is on the coin, and gives an answer that has resounded ever since: render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. His questioners are silenced, unable to trap him.

There is profound wisdom packed into this reply. The coin bore Caesar's image, so it belonged, in a sense, to Caesar; give the government its legitimate due. But the deeper point lies in the second half: give to God the things that are God's. If the coin belongs to Caesar because it bears his image, then what belongs to God? We do, for we bear God's image. We were made in the image of God, and so we ourselves, our whole selves, belong to him. We owe the state its proper due, taxes, respect, order. But we owe God far more: we owe him ourselves. As the coin bears Caesar's likeness, so we bear God's, and the debt that implies is not a coin but our whole lives given back to the One whose image we carry.

Have I rendered to God the thing that is truly his, my whole self, made in his image and belonging to him, giving him not merely a portion but my life given back to the One whose likeness I bear?

Sources

Luke 20:25: "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
Luke 20:26: "They weren't able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer and were silent."
Genesis 1:27: "God created man in his own image. In God's image he created him; male and female he created them."