Project 119: Mark 12:1-27
| Project 119 | Dr. Kely Hatley
“Paying Taxes to Caesar”
Today’s passage includes the story of the Pharisees and the Herodians trying to trap Jesus by a single question. We know that the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders (Mark 12:27) were the ones who sent the Pharisees and the Herodians. They had been planning for a way to arrest Jesus but were afraid of the people. Their plan to trap Jesus using His own words was a resourceful one, but their plan did not succeed. They asked Jesus, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
The coins used in those times had the image of Tiberius Caesar Augustus with the inscription Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus on one side and the inscription Pontifex Maximus ("chief priest") on the other. The coin would have been offensive to some Jews because it insinuated that Caesar was divine and chief religious leader, as the high priest of the imperial Roman cult. Jesus knew the weight of the question asked of Him (for He knew that the people would be stirred up easily or He could be arrested on the spot if He didn’t answer carefully). He answered it swiftly and with wisdom, illustrating the lesson to give what is due from you to those in authority over you as well as to the Lord.
What I love most about this story are the words spoken to Jesus in preface to the posed question. In verse 14 we read, “Teacher, we know You are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because You pay no attention to who they are; but You teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.” Wow, even while reading it and knowing the background of those saying it, I can just imagine their words dripping with sarcasm. The Bible doesn’t tell us, but I imagine them making this statement quite loudly so as to attract the attention of those around Jesus. Can’t you hear it?
But I can also see something beautiful in what they said. Place the sarcasm aside and you are left with a beautiful description of how our Lord lived His life. He lived faithfully in accordance with His Father’s truth bending to no man’s ways or ideas because He was not concerned with their social standing. How many mistakes have we made in our lives just because we were trying to please others and not “rock the boat?” It’s great that Jesus was a wave maker! Even when posed such a tough question, He was not confused in the least.
During your Lenten walk to the cross, pray to the Lord for strength to live your life in a way that reflects the description found here in this reading of how Jesus lived His life. Resist the temptation to bend your Christian convictions to the ways of those around you based on what they might think of you because of who they are. Live your life with confidence in the Lord’s strength to be the best witness for Christ that you can be.
Mark 12:1-27 (ESV):
And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a pit for the winepress and built a tower, and leased it to tenants and went into another country.2 When the season came, he sent a servant to the tenants to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent to them another servant, and they struck him on the head and treated him shamefully.5 And he sent another, and him they killed. And so with many others: some they beat, and some they killed. 6 He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 And they took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not read this Scripture:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 11 this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12 And they were seeking to arrest him but feared the people, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.
18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. 21 And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. 22 And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. 23 In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? 25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 26 And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”