What Did Jesus Ask? by Elizabeth Dias

Author:Elizabeth Dias
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RELIGION / Christian Life / Inspirational
Publisher: Liberty Street
Published: 2015-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Eugene Peterson is a professor emeritus of spiritual theology at Regent College in British Columbia, Canada, and the author of The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language.

KWOK PUI-LAN

“Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

(MARK 12:16)

I grew up in the former British colony of Hong Kong. Our coins used to bear the image of the head of the British monarch wearing her crown, with the inscription queen elizabeth the second in English. The coins conveyed imperial authority and the British Empire’s wealth and power. The return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 necessitated the issuing of new coins, with the purple bauhinia, the city’s flower, replacing the image of the Queen.

In Jesus’ time, Roman coins were tangible representations of imperial power and instruments of political propaganda, glorifying the deeds of the emperor. The Roman Emperor Tiberius ruled over a vast territory, including Palestine. The Tiberius denarius was minted in silver, bearing the Caesar’s image, crowned with the laurels of victory and divinity. Circumscribed around the image was an abbreviation in Latin, which can be translated as “Tiberius Caesar, Worshipful Son of the God, Augustus.”

After Jesus entered Jerusalem, he cleansed the temple by chasing away those selling and buying there and turning over the tables of the money changers. His actions and parables provoked the priests, scribes and elders who questioned where his authority came from. Some Pharisees and Herodians wanted to get rid of him and so came to entrap him. They asked, “Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” This tax the Pharisees asked about was the poll tax levied by the Romans on every adult listed in the census, and it could be paid in silver denarius. The colonized Jewish people hated the Roman taxes and rose up in decades-long tax revolts and other forms of resistance, culminating in the eruption of warfare in 66 C.E.

So Jesus was caught in a catch-22 situation. If he were to reply that they should pay the Roman tax, he risked angering the crowd, who would rise up against him. If he were to reply they should not pay the tax, the Pharisees could find an excuse to bring accusations against him.

Jesus correctly recognized the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and did not reply directly. Instead, he asked them to bring him a denarius and posed a counter question, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” To which they replied, “Caesar’s.” Jesus then said, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Jesus’ interlocutors were not able to trap him, and they marveled at his reply.

Over the centuries, theologians and church leaders have referred to this episode when they talk about the relation of Christians to political and civic authority. For example, during the persecution in the 2nd century, Justin Martyr wrote that Christians worship God alone but should pay taxes and obey the civic authorities. Martin Luther, in the 16th century, distinguished between spiritual and earthly authorities. On the one hand, Christians should obey God, submit to God’s authority and trust in God alone.

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