Read Matthew 22:1-22 

“…Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”..”

Similar to Jesus’ day, our modern, Western culture has strong opinions on the power battles between religious and state institutions – what we often discuss today as the “separation of church and state”. Rather than taking sides in this hot topic of “religion and politics”, Jesus injects a nuanced perspective that elevates neither religious institutions nor the state, but God himself.

After a parable about not letting earthly responsibilities diminish our responsibility to God, the religious leaders sought to trap Jesus by forcing him to accept or reject the authority of their ruling, Roman oppressors. Critical to the context of this encounter is that the Roman emperor, Caesar, considered himself divine and had imprinted his likeness on the currency (i.e. a denarius coin) in which the Jewish people were required to pay taxes. In effect, this required Jewish people to hold and spend Roman currency that depicted Caesar as the divine authority over them. Therefore, if Jesus replied, “Yes, you should pay taxes to Caesar”, he could be shown to be a heretic for accepting Caesar’s authority over God’s. If he said “No, don’t pay taxes”, he would be seen as a dangerous revolutionary seeking to overthrow the ruling authorities of the day.

However, Jesus begins to turn the tables upon his accusers and reveals their hypocrisy by asking them, “Whose likeness” is on the coins required to pay tax? The answer is obvious; Caesar’s image is on the denarius because it’s Caesar’s own, self-created fiat currency. Therefore, why wouldn’t Jesus permit the paying of a tax to the person who created the currency themselves?

In teaching that the “likeness”, or image, of someone identifies ownership, the leaders would have their sacred creation story roaring in their minds. God said at creation that he made every man and woman in the imago dei – the image of God. If the same logic of currency applies, then wouldn’t our very lives belong to God himself? If he created us all and placed his divine image on us, then no matter what currency any earthly ruler demanded of us, the entirety of our being should be given over to his holy authority.

Jesus thus affirms that Christian submission to God’s authority should foster submission to the earthly authorities that he permits (civil, church and family). Any citizen of heaven should thus aim to be a faithful citizen on earth. However, Jesus also has a plan for transforming everyone and everything in the world. He seems to indicate that the greatest challenge to world peace is not simply a corrupt, unjust system, but ourselves. His command to respect the authorities around us is as much an invitation to overthrow the government we most often resist, our own unruly self-government. After all, as Jesus has illustrated, we are made in God’s image and designed to be subject to his authority, more so than any currency or political power.