Learning the Jesus Way of LifeSample

Whose Image Is This?

Pray: Jesus, give me the faith to go where you go, do what you do, trust what you say, and love how you love. Today, I commit to following you. Amen.

Jesus is in Jerusalem. His final hours are quickly approaching. The powers that be are scheming and plotting to put an end to His ever-growing influence. But every one of their plans just becomes another demonstration of Jesus’ wisdom and authority.

The trap laid in today’s reading is no exception.

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. Matthew 22:15 NIV

While it is very true that the Pharisees are often playing a role that is in opposition to Jesus, we cannot forget that they aren’t totally evil people knowingly going against the will of God. They, like us, did what they did because they thought it was right. They believed that Jesus was bad for the people of Israel and the Jewish faith, because they thought Jesus was a false messiah who would lead people astray and bring on the wrath of Rome.

This is why it’s been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And, just like the Pharisees, we need to be reminded that thinking we’re right isn’t the same thing as being righteous. True righteousness always flows from our relationship with Jesus. While the Pharisees were very good at performing religious activities, they were missing what mattered most: relational intimacy with their Heavenly Father.

So, thinking they were working on God’s behalf, they put a plan in motion to stop Jesus.

They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.” Matthew 22:16 NIV

The Pharisees are so threatened by Jesus that they begin working with the Herodians. Who were the Herodians? They were a segment of the Jewish people who supported Herod, the false king appointed by Rome who was in power over the nation of Israel at this time. So much of what the Herodians stood for was directly in conflict with what the Pharisees believed, but Jesus had become such a threat that they were willing to do whatever it took to stop Him.

So these two groups come to Jesus. They begin by buttering Him up with sweet words that are completely empty. If they really believed He was a man of integrity and taught the way of God rightly, then they wouldn’t be trying to trap Him.

But, the resolve of Jesus came from a lifetime of choosing to do what’s right even when it would have been so much easier to do what’s wrong—which makes the words of the Pharisees and the Herodians so ironic. They, without even realizing it, are speaking truth about the character of Jesus. Because He is a man of integrity. He always taught the way of God according to the truth and He wasn’t swayed by the opinion of people, because He was entirely focused on being faithful to His Father.

As followers of Jesus, we must always remember that we cannot accomplish God’s mission using sinful methods. The method and the mission both matter to God. This makes things a lot harder in the short term. But it makes us so much stronger in the long term.

After the false flattery pours from their mouths, they spring the trap.

“Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” Matthew 22:17 NIV

If Jesus says it is right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar, then many of the Jewish people listening in will interpret that as Jesus affirming Caesar’s authority over the Jewish people. This would be a betrayal to the Jewish heritage, a people whose true king is God alone.

But, if Jesus says it is not right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar, then He would be openly committing treason against Rome and could be arrested, punished, and possibly even killed.

So, how does Jesus answer the question? Before He answers the question, He speaks to the questioner. He sees through their deceptive compliments and calls out their wicked desires.

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?” Matthew 22:18 NIV

When we follow Jesus, He will call us to do things that will upset those who profit off of the oppression of others. He will ask us to say things that will offend those who have rejected the will of God in pursuit of their own plans. This is why, like Jesus demonstrates here and He taught earlier, we must be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16 NIV).

Being as shrewd as snakes means recognizing that we will face resistance from our spiritual enemy and people who are opposed to the things of God. Being as innocent as doves means responding to their opposition by staying faithful to Jesus and working for the good of the very people who are working against us.

Jesus sees through the trap and responds with an answer that stuns all who are listening.

“Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. Matthew 22:19–22 NIV

Why was this answer so effective? Because Jesus sidesteps the trap and answers His critics by cutting straight to the heart of the issue—with a call for them to commit themselves wholly to God. How so?

“So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar—in this instance, the coins that bear his image. And give to God what belongs to God. What belongs to God? In short, everything. Because He’s the Creator of it all. Getting more specific, though, what bears God’s image?

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26–27 NIV

We do. As human beings, we bear the image of our Creator. At the very beginning, God hand-crafted us to be walking, talking, living, breathing pictures of Himself.

So, pay your taxes to Caesar. But devote your life to God.

Application: Jesus taught His disciples to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. He wants us to develop the wisdom to see through the schemes of our enemies, and to remain faithful to His way of doing things even when it’s difficult. For you, which of those two things, shrewdness or innocence, comes most naturally? Which one is most lacking? Ask God to help you identify where you can improve and to help you grow in that area so you can be more effective as a disciple of Jesus.