Tribute to Caesar 3 - Matt 22:20-22; Mark 12:16-17; Luke 20:24-26

Sorry it’s been a while, my regular writing routine has been shaken up. The chief priests wanted Jesus to justify his answer in scripture, so he does with use of the word “image” was a citation to the second commandment, basically saying that this Roman coinage was a graven image which violated the Torah. The second scriptural citation that Jesus uses has to do with the “Shema,” which is a Jewish prayer based on Deuteronomy 6:4-8, 11:13-21 and Numbers 15:37-41. The article says that this “is the most important prayer a pious Jew can say… The Shema then commands a person to love God with his whole heart, whole soul, and whole strength.” It also points out that this prayer was the one that some Jews wrote down and then wore in boxes or little bags tied to their forehead. The article continues, “St. Matthew and St. Mark both recount Jesus quoting the Shema in the same chapter just a few verses after the Tribute Episode. This proximity further reinforces the reference to the Shema in the Tribute Episode. Finally, it is noteworthy that when Satan tempts Jesus by offering Him all the kingdoms of the (Roman) world in exchange for His worship, Jesus rebukes Satan by quoting the Shema, In short, Jesus means to call attention to the Shema by using the word ‘inscription’ in the counter-question as His appeal to scriptural authority for His response.”

What does the inscription say that is so offensive to a devote Jew? The article says, “Circumscribed around Tiberius is an abbreviation, ‘TI CAESAR DIVIAUG F AUGUSTUS,” which… translates ‘Tiberius Caesar, Worshipful Son of the God, Augustus.’ On the obverse sits the roman goddess of peace, Pax, and circumscribed around her is the abbreviation, ‘Pontiff Maxim,’ which stands for ‘Pontifex Maximus,’ which, in turn, means, ‘High Priest.’” So basically, Jesus, the actual Son of God, is holding a small metal picture of a man who claims to be a son of another god, and the high priests are asking Him if they should keep this small picture or give it back to Caesar when he asks for it. Let’s think about that for a minute. Going back to the large tiki head analogy, if Rome required some of the Jews to keep these large tiki heads that the Roman’s considered sacred, and then when they ask for the head back, the Jews have to give it back, there would be no discussion, the Jews would be so anxious to get that pagan thing out of their how, that they wouldn’t hesitate to give it back.

But instead of this tribute money being a large tiki head, it’s a small circular piece of metal, and instead of it being an eyesore, it’s actually worth something monetarily. So really, the only reason why the question even comes up as far as should the Jews pay taxes to the Romans is because the payment in taxes is worth money. And if we consider that God owns all and provides for us, then we can deduce that we don’t need to depend on some graven image of a blasphemous and wicked man to take care of us. There’s also the concept of “We believe in being subjects to kings, president, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”

This is the Article of Faith that I struggled with the most because I’m a fighter, and I use to think that if I lived under a tyrannical ruler that I would join the underground resistance and fight for freedom. Of course, then I realized what that really entailed, especially once I had kids, and thought more about it. But what really changed my mind was learning more about what it meant to be “subject to kings,” etc. I remember reading about Alma becoming subject to Amulon and everything that came with that. I remember hearing one of the prophets say, not recently, that any system of government is better than the anarchy that comes with nothing. I didn’t always agree with that, and I know that it’s easy for me to sit here in America and have opinions on oppressive rule, but watching the government downfalls that have been happening all over the world, I see how difficult and unlikely it is to have a stable democratic government be able to form out of that. So Jesus might not agree with what the Roman are doing, but to keep the peace and be obedient to the government, taxes must be paid, and he recognizes that.

Jesus’ question remains, “whose is this image and superscription?” They give the only answer that they can, “Caesar’s.” I saw Jesus’ response to this answer in a better light when reading it in a different translation of the Bible, a more New Age translation. The response Jesus gives is, “then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things which belong to God.” I like the concept of “give back,” I feel like it separates the mortal world from the eternal perspective. What is Caesar’s? the money personally belongs to him, and he feels entitled to it. What is God’s? Everything. Jesus might be saying, “don’t worry about the money stuff, it belongs to Caesar and is apparently important to him, so give it back to him, and give God your whole heart, whole soul, and whole strength.”