Debates are wild-good. We like them because they delineate the issues, clarify positions, watch how they tangle and tackle each other. At the end, we get to decide the winner. Better yet, when Jesus enters the arena, the stakes get real high.

Honestly? You have to hand it to him. Jesus was king of prime-time. Media today would love how his statements could be pulled for prime time, clipped for just the right ad and purpose, think-pieces, soundbites that slapped.

🎭Background Drama

By this time, Jesus had been challenged on all sides. The priests of the Temple and their religious lawyers had not fared well that week. They were still salty about what Jesus had done a couple days ago. Singlehandedly, he had kicked to the curb the moneychangers  in the Temple courts. This was a lucrative system, a cash cow they had going because people couldn’t purchase clean, unblemished animals for their Temple sacrifices with Roman currency. So the priests ran a little exchange racket. Swap Roman money for Jewish shekels, pay a fee, Temple gets a cut. Smooth little empire. You’d think Jesus would at least work with the system here. Nope, Jesus flipped the whole operation like the table wasn’t heavy.

Having been creamed to their faces more than once, the priests sent their proxies to not only discredit Jesus this time, but to turn either the Roman rule or the common crowd against him. They sent their little squad, Temple fanboys mixed with Herod’s political hype men, to trap Jesus in public. They didn’t care who would do their dirty work for them as long as Jesus got wrecked.

🎯 Smart Set‑Up

First, you lower defenses and the best way to do that is suck up. They address him as Teacher/Rabbi, say he teaches about God without worry about where it lands, how he’s impartial and doesn’t play favorites. Make Jesus think his integrity is his greatest strength. Get him talking so he’d relax and slip.

Then they put it out there: “Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?” It was a question full of guile, crafted carefully, a setup with teeth. They figured either way they had him.

Specifically, this despised tax was a poll tax. The Romans used it to build the empire, not just famous roads leading to Rome, but also imperial palaces and governmental structures that made them look good. The worst thing though was how it was collected along routes of commerce, so it effectively took from their pockets hard-earned money right off the top. Everywhere you went, you were paying taxes. People hated it for how it subsidized their oppressors. If Jesus said pay it, he’d more than lose his base among the populace. They’d explode, tear him apart before lunch.

Then again, if Jesus said don’t pay it, while the crowd would love him, he'd be dead meat. Just watch the Roman guard move in, arrest him for treason. Case closed. Imagine how the whole place froze waiting for his response.

❄️ Slippery as Ice

Jesus likely went just as cold. He zeroed in on his inquisitors’ intentions, calling them out for the hypocrites they were, doing what they could to protect their own power and position, not honoring God. With all pretense removed on both sides, he requested they show him the Roman coin used to pay the tax. Some genius actually pulled out a denarius.

Not smart. Not smart at all. Among the ridiculous number of laws good Jews were required to keep every day, one was no Roman money was permitted in the Temple walls. That’s why the moneychangers were deemed necessary. The issue lay with the image of Caesar stamped on the coin and its inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, Pontificus Maximus.” In short, this very coin declared Caesar was a god and a high priest. Straight violation of Commandments One and Two, worship no other gods and don’t make graven images (idols) of any kind of god. And these “holy men” had one in their very own pockets? Once again, Jesus was turning tables on these phony holies.

With the offensive coin in hand, Caesar’s face staring back at them, Temple walls towering above them, Jesus gives them an answer. “Well, then,” he said, “give it to Caesar if it is his, and give God everything that belongs to God.” The posse sent to get him slinks off, caught in their own trap.

🏆 The Original Atta Boy

You have to give it to him. Jesus is supreme master at this sort of thing. Media today would love how his statements could be pulled for prime time, clipped for just the right ad and purpose. So he says, Caesar and God both get what’s theirs, and you’re good to go.

Just what is needed in this world today, good old-fashioned compromise. Translation: “Handle your civic stuff, handle your God stuff, and keep it moving.” Simple, clear, clean.

There’s a saying though about the mess in the message, and this one is knee deep. You’d like to think Jesus successfully waded through being enmeshed in political mire and religious swamp. Yes, he got out of this one. And he did it by laying it right in our laps.

Whew! Politics and religion. That’s a big one. Step carefully here, and this debate will last for centuries (ok, it has already.) But is Jesus really taking the middle road here, or do his words say something more?

Right. Jesus’ words don’t stay neat for long.

⚖️ The Apparent Upshot

First, pay the d**n tax. In society today, it’s a good idea. You can stand on the grounds that government supports law and order, infrastructure, and plays a big part in economic welfare, both for those who have jobs and those who don’t. Cool. Stay on this footing, and you’ll stay out of trouble.

Give to God what is God’s. It’s a spiritual principle that you can’t outgive God. People of faith see God’s provision in life itself and in grace available by love of Jesus. So return to God a portion of the blessings you’ve received, usually measured at ten per cent.

Nice. We like it when something dissipates the tension in the topic. Settle in there and move on.

Except Jesus’ words don’t relax so fast.

🧠 The Internal Debate

Jesus didn’t say “give God ten percent.”

He said, “give God everything that belongs to God.” Everything. Where does that begin? At the beginning, of course.

“So God created people in his own image.” (Genesis 1:27)  Stamped with something way deeper than Caesar’s face on a coin is God’s divine image is on the human soul. In the everything of life, all that is done, all allegiance given, comes from that core. And when the reach of Caesar steps into places of God’s righteousness (think issues of justice, equality, oppressive practices, sacred moments and places), that’s where the real debate starts. With Everything. Now, that’s a debate.

Though Jesus’ antagonists walked away from this one, in three or four days they would get what they wanted. It could be said at times Jesus was preaching as much to himself as to anyone else. His very life would be given for God’s purposes in love to be given to the world. Everything meant no less than a cross, and that became every thing for the world. The cross changed everything, even an empty grave as death became new life. No emperor or religious authority could fully eliminate him and what was to come. Everything follows that.

And now the question lands in our lap:

What are you still holding back like a coin stuffed deep in your pocket?

Debate within yourself what that could be.

Matthew 22:15-22 

Named 2024 Notable Book Award by Southern Christian Writers Conference

and

Kingdom Book Awards 2026 Finalist!

The Trouble with Jesus: Considerations Before You Walk Away by Constance Hastings

Ask for it wherever you buy your books, or just Click Here.

Subscribe to The Trouble with Jesus Blog Here.

Buy Me a Coffee