Matthew 22:15-22
Please allow me to jump ahead for a day to a passage involving paying Roman taxes, since the message has the same principle as the passage regarding the “temple tax.” In my previous piece regarding Matthew 17:24-27, a drachma was the coin used for the temple tax since it was a Greek coin, and gave no homage to the Emperor. Yet here a Roman coin, a denarius, is the fitting visual for this subject of paying taxes to Rome.
Quite tragic you had religious leaders of Israel, the Pharisees, working to get Jesus in trouble. And they were exerting much effort to do so by inviting some Herodians to accompany them as they went to ask Jesus a question. I speculate Pharisees and Herodians rarely cooperated before the time of Christ’s ministry. A perceived threat to their power brought them together.
I own Nelson’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts, an excellent resource, which has an informative piece on “The Herods,” a family who ruled for about one hundred years. The title I personally give King Herod is Herod the Horrible, though most western historians for many generations have called him Herod the Great. A deranged murderer, for starters, he killed a number of family members. Matthew Chapter 2 reveals much about that evil monarch.
Key context for this passage involves two points stated in that “Encyclopedia” piece.
First: “In his will, Herod the Great divided his kingdom among three of his sons.” (1)
One of those sons, Herod Antipas II, ruled the region of Galilee and Perea during the time of Christ. The Bible refers to him by his title, Herod the tetrarch. He is the man who executed John the Baptist as we learned earlier here in the book of Matthew.
Second: “Herod’s death in 4 B.C. brought a new era to Judea. Just before his death, Herod formally gave the Roman emperor power to supervise his kingdom. (Rome had been the real ruler of Palestine since the overthrow of Aristobulus in 63 B.C., but it now exerted its control more directly.)” (2)
(Please note Jesus was born around 6 or 5 B.C., since the early Christian calendar was off due to not taking into account leap years.)
Thus, we can understand Rome had an increasing role in that region of the near east.
Back to the entrenched though unstable monarchy, Herod the tetrarch and his family had their supporters. And the Pharisees invited those Herodians along for what must have seemed to them like a no lose confrontation.
Wicked win scenario number one: Jewish people, under the Mosaic covenant, were supposed to be serving the one and only true living God. However, if Jesus said paying taxes to Rome was not necessary, He was going to get in big trouble with the Herodians, who relied on Rome for power.
Wicked win scenario number two: Many Israelites tolerated Rome, yet many Israelites despised Roman rule which blocked Judah’s self-rule. Thus if Jesus favored Rome, He was going to get in big trouble with the Pharisees.
Being confronted by this power house conglomeration of religious leaders and monarchy cronies, Jesus was asked to share His conviction. Jesus did, giving a preface to this answer which involved calling them all “hypocrites.”
Then Jesus, using a visual all of those leaders knew well, a coin, made the statement: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Wow.
We know what the Emperor required: tax money.
Yet what does God require? Israelites knew the “Shema.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 states: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
From you and me, God is asking for love.
Money can be given for doing good for God, yet the core issue in devotion to God is not money. At issue here is what flows from your heart.
If you want the fruit of your heart to be love, you first need to receive what Jesus offers to give you!
I John 4:16 states: “…God is love…”
Jesus offers true love, which involves Jesus offering Himself.
Jesus physically died for you on the cross, and He spiritually died for you on the cross. And now He desires to spiritually dwell in your heart.
In order to receive Jesus into your heart, you need to believe in Jesus.
Then living by His love, you will bear much fruit for Jesus Christ!
Jesus loves you!
Hunter Irvine
(1) J.I. Packer, Merrill Tenney, William White, Jr., eds., Nelson’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 635-636.
(2) J.I. Packer, Merrill Tenney, William White, Jr., eds., Nelson’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Facts (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 635.
