People who opposed Jesus tried to entrap him in a question they were sure would reveal him to be a radical insurrectionist: is it okay to pay taxes? We all know that it’s one thing to incite revolution in both the temple and the city, but to speak against taxation — now that’s too far.
Jesus didn’t fall for the trick, saying it’s fine to give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, namely, coins with his name and image carved into them. But, he continued, we should give to God the things that are God’s. His detractors didn’t ask what belongs to God, and so perhaps missed the point. All things reveal the imagine of God, including humanity, “made in God’s image.” We are to offer God our hearts and ourselves, a truly radical idea.
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