YES, you have read rightly, that is what Jesus told the Pharisees: “Give the coin back to Caesar, it’s his property.”
A great hush must have come over the crowd at that moment as they saw the coin laying in the hand of our Blessed Lord. Not many days later, He who was the King of the kings would have those very hands pierced by the nails under the orders of the man at whose portrait Jesus was looking.
Our Lord asked them:
“Whose is this likeness?” Whose name is inscribed on it?” They answered:
“Caesar’s.” Then came His answer: “Why then, give back to Caesar, that
which belongs to Caesar, and to God what is God’s.” Our Lord took no
sides because the basic question was not God or Caesar, but God and
Caesar.
That coin used in their daily marketings showed that they were no longer independent from a political point of view. In that lower sphere of life, the debt to the government should be discharged. He fostered no aspiration for independence; he promised no aid in liberation. It was even their duty to acknowledge the present dominion of Caesar, emperor Tiberius.
The Greek word in the Gospel for “give back” or “render” implied a moral duty, as St.Paul later on wrote: ‘Every soul should be submissive to his lawful authority...”. But in order to remove the objection that service to the government exempted from service to God , He added: “... and to God what is God’s”
Once again He was saying that His Kingdom was not of this world; that submission to Him is not inconsistent with submission to secular powers; that political freedom is not the only freedom. To the Pharisees who hated Caesar came the command: “Give unto Caesar.
The coin had the image of Caesar, BUT, whose image did the questioners ‘bear’? The image of God Himself. It was His image He was interested in restoring. The political could remain as it was for the time being, for He would not lift a finger to change their coinage. But He would give His life to have them render unto God the things that are God’s.
Adapted from Fulton Sheen.
That coin used in their daily marketings showed that they were no longer independent from a political point of view. In that lower sphere of life, the debt to the government should be discharged. He fostered no aspiration for independence; he promised no aid in liberation. It was even their duty to acknowledge the present dominion of Caesar, emperor Tiberius.
The Greek word in the Gospel for “give back” or “render” implied a moral duty, as St.Paul later on wrote: ‘Every soul should be submissive to his lawful authority...”. But in order to remove the objection that service to the government exempted from service to God , He added: “... and to God what is God’s”
Once again He was saying that His Kingdom was not of this world; that submission to Him is not inconsistent with submission to secular powers; that political freedom is not the only freedom. To the Pharisees who hated Caesar came the command: “Give unto Caesar.
The coin had the image of Caesar, BUT, whose image did the questioners ‘bear’? The image of God Himself. It was His image He was interested in restoring. The political could remain as it was for the time being, for He would not lift a finger to change their coinage. But He would give His life to have them render unto God the things that are God’s.
Adapted from Fulton Sheen.
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