Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's

 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way. 

- Matthew 22:15-22

In our current readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem.  It is what we know as Holy Week; pilgrims from all over Israel and the Jewish diaspora are gathering in Jerusalem for Passover.  Jesus has made His Triumphal Entry, He has cleansed the temple, and has been disputing with the chief priests and Pharisees regarding His authority to do so.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus gave yet another parable to them:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding." ' But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.   But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'  For many are called, but few are chosen."

 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.  This question is designed to trap Jesus in an answer that will either make Him vulnerable to charges of treason by the Romans or rejection by the Jewish people.   But, as we so often observe about Jesus, He never answers hostile questioners on their own terms.  Rather than accepting the dilemma posed by the Pharisees and Herodians (who are those who support the court of Herod, who rules under Rome), Jesus offers His own basis of understanding.  My study bible says that the distinction between things that are Caesar's and things that are God's does not imply the division of a believer's life into the secular and the sacred.  Instead, the picture is more wholistic:  God is the Lord over all of life, including the secular.  But we do fulfill government requirements that do not conflict with our first responsibility to God (Romans 13:1-7; contrast Acts 4:19, 5:29).   The coin bears the image of Caesar, but each of us is created by God, and bear God's image within ourselves. 

This is an important question, and one that tells us about the place of faith and the Kingdom in our lives.  Rather than severing the tension between the Roman state power and the duty to God, Jesus' answer suspends us in that place where we understand the worldly will always be with us, and the Kingdom will always be "breaking through" in our lives and asking us for discernment.   Rather than battling the world in a political sense, Jesus' sense of the fullness of life gives us a responsibility to bear God's image within us while we negotiate with the world and within it.  Holiness is possible in and through circumstances and dilemmas one cannot imagine if we are simply thinking in terms of worldly political power and might.  Life, in this vision, is a constant place of negotiation, where it is our alertness and state of inner prayer that suspends us in the world but not of it.  Jesus calls for discernment, not rebellion on purely political terms.  We know our first loyalty, we know the Creator of the world and the Giver of our lives.  But we also live within the world as it is, and the story of Jesus' followers is one of prayerful discernment, day by day, as to how God asks of us to respond to the world.  Martyrdom will be a calling for many of His saints.  But martyrdom is not a question of political choice; it is rather a question of spiritual understanding of where and how we are called by God to choose within our own dilemmas presented by the world.  When it is God that comes first, then the field and ground of being no longer is ruled by the merely political.   (Later on in chapter 22, Jesus will give us the fullness of the Law and Prophets summed up in just this first command to love God, and the second to love neighbor as oneself; see 22:37-40.)   Where our depth of connection is to Creator, each moment as we live our lives in this world becomes a point for discernment, a time where a prayerful orientation teaches us how to lead our lives.  This isn't merely a simplistic material consideration of "which side we're on," it is not a choice between one political power or party or another.  That depth of orientation instead requires the alertness to seek where God is leading us and teaching us to grow and expand, and to find new ways to negotiate our lives in this world while our hearts remain firmly first God's.  It is possible to serve God through all things; but in doing so it is the Spirit that chooses the battle, and thereby we enter into mystery and the long learning curve of our faith -- not the certainties of political rules, slogans, and abstract maxims treated as if they were spiritual truth.  The Church fulfills her mission through all things, in all places, under all circumstances, just as Jesus will fill His.  What we find through a life of faith is not absolute certainty, but a life of invitation into mystery, wisdom, and growth.  Christ gives us tastes of this Kingdom not in abstract philosophy, but in joy, love, peace, illumination, and grace.  He teaches us forbearance, endurance, persistence, humility, and true service.  This is the reality of a life of prayer and where it takes us, into that deepening place where we are His first.  To love one's neighbor (in the Greek, this particular word for neighbor means literally the "one who is near") is not to ask first if they share all our opinions and affiliations.  This is where He takes us.