1040: Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “Give 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 22:15-22

I just love this scene. Jesus, the GrandMaster Chess player. Here you have all these religious rights challenging Jesus, thinking they are soooo intelligent and in a few brief moves… checkmate, and there they are staring at the board,  their faces red with anger and complete embarrassment to wonder, ponder, fight, connive, plot, can you even imagine??? and my favorite line of all ‘So they left him and went away.’  How quickly they realized the weight of what they were up against.

Ya know what I say? Pay the taxes! You’ll get it back somehow. It may not be monetary but you can be at ease and free from trying to rip off the Government.

10-4(0), out!

~ by godscript on April 6, 2008.