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Keeping a close watch on him, [the teachers of the law and the chief priests] 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: \u201cTeacher, 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?\u201d \xa0He saw through their duplicity and said to them,\xa0\u201cShow me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?\u201d \u201cCaesar\u2019s,\u201d they replied. \xa0He said to them, \u201cThen give back to Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s, and to God what is God\u2019s.\u201d \xa0They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent. (Luke 20:20-26)

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The swords of the Romans were keeping watch over this scene from the Antonia fortress above the Temple walls.\xa0 The Jewish Zealots within the Temple Courts were looking for a fight too.\xa0 Caesar\u2019s occupation of Judea led to deep political tensions between Roman sympathizers and rebel patriots.\xa0 The tax paid to Rome was no small thing.\xa0 This question from the spies was a death trap.\xa0

But Jesus sees through to the motives of our hearts.\xa0 He\u2019s not duped by flattery, nor ignorant of the broader political setting, nor unaware of the ways in which this question rhymes with one the devil asked him back in the wilderness of his temptation.\xa0 \u201cJust bow the knee to me,\u201d the devil said, \u201cand all the kingdoms of the world will be yours.\u201d\xa0 But Jesus did not confuse his allegiance then, nor does he confuse it now.\xa0

Instead, Jesus responds briefly and profoundly, navigating a way out of this political trap that silences his opponents.\xa0 His brief words here\u2014which are his first and only political pronouncement\u2014gives us plenty to chew on too.\xa0\xa0 \u201cGive back to Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s, and to God what is God\u2019s.\u201d \xa0

It goes beyond just taxes, down to a matter of Christian political principle.\xa0 There is a proper \u201cdue,\u201d a proper rendering that we rightly give back to government for the work they do on behalf of the common good\u2014things like: governing, providing infrastructure, defense, standards in health, education, and much more.\xa0 This is a corrective and a Christian challenge for those who are disengaged, discouraged, or who simply dislike government and following rules.\xa0 Jesus commands us to give the proper respect due to government.\xa0

Yet at the very same time, Jesus also limits government. \xa0There are things that don\u2019t belong to Caesar\u2014our total allegiance among them.\xa0 We are not to be imprinted with Caesar\u2019s image (blue, red, orange, green, or a giant red maple leaf), because we have already been imprinted with God\u2019s image.\xa0 No national identity, political party, position, policy, leader, or solution can stand as an absolute, lest it become an idol.\xa0

But even more than that, there is an invitation to consider something deeper here.\xa0 Just because Caesar, our country, or a political party puts its picture or inscription on something doesn\u2019t necessarily mean it belongs to them.\xa0 Our world belongs to God.\xa0 So we serve, participate in, and give back to the State and the political process not for its own sake, but as an act of obedient submission to God who commands us to do this as part of honouring the authorities He\u2019s given us.\xa0 But our trust and allegiance are always firstly to God through Jesus Christ.

I hope this also starts to answer a question that came to me from youth group last night about political discipleship. :)

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