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

 

 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent. 

 

- Luke 20:19-26 

 

Yesterday we read that, after He was confronted regarding His authority (in the temple in Jerusalem), He began to tell the people this parable:  "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.  And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.  Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?  I will send my beloved son.  Probably they will respect him when they see him.'  But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours."  So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."  And when they heard it they said, 'Certainly not!"  Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone'? Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." 

So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "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."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.  My study Bible tells us that this question on taxation is really designed as a trap for Jesus.  If He answered "Yes" to this question about Roman taxation, it would turn the Jewish people against Him.  If He answered "No" it would bring a charge of treason by the Romans.  But Christ's answer defeats their cunning, and moreover, my study Bible says, it shows that a believer can render the state its due while serving God (Romans 13:1-7).  As the coin bears the image of the emperor and is therefore properly paid to him, so each one of us bears the image of God, and therefore we belong to God.  Conflict arises, my study Bible says, only when the state demands that which is contrary to God.  

 

What is the image of God in us?  What does this mean that we are created in God's "image and likeness"?  "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:26-27).  There are quite a few interesting things to note about that passage (such as the plural Us for God, for instance).  The first thing we might notice are words of authority; in this case "dominion."  There is also the creation of "male and female" indicating what it means to be man (ἄνθρωπον/anthropon in the Greek of the Septuagint) or humankind.  That Greek word for "image" is εἰκόνα/eikona, from which we get the word icon.  "Likeness" is from ὁμοίωσιν/homoiosin; it implies a similitude, a thing that is "like" something else.  While we may think of these words, icon (or image)  and likeness in visual terms as we commonly use them, they don't imply that here at all.   An icon is something that represents something; to look at an icon in this sense of the word means that we are given the presence of that person.  It is in this same sense that St. Paul writes that we are each temples of God:  "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).  More acutely reflecting Christ's teaching in today's reading, St. Paul also writes, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" (1 Corinthians 6:19).  This is what it means to bear the image of God, in the language of St. Paul, and in the meaning of Jesus, that we are not "our own."  To be "like God" again makes reference to some quality or qualities of sameness.  How are we similar to God?  The capacity for dominion or authority conveys a similitude, it also implies a capacity for independence or authority, for creativity and making decisions, choices.  But to bear this likeness, to be an icon, means that we belong to something.  It is as if we are imprinted with a seal or a flag that bears reference to the higher thing that is above us, just like the coin that Jesus references.  The coin that bears the image of Caesar means that it is part of Caesar's authority and power, and so are we with God, whether we know that or not.  In our "image and likeness" we have a stamp upon us, we belong to something or rather Someone; in this sense He is also our Father.  But what makes a good and true Father?  Simply put, God loves us and is the true image any human father should aspire to, the parent that gives us the fullness of what that can be.  God is gracious, giving, God loves us, God teaches us, and more than anything else, God longs for us to be in communion with God, in the circle of God's care and love, closer than we know closeness to be.  See the parable of the Lost Son or Prodigal Son at Luke 15:11-32.  God wants us to be true to that icon and likeness, and for us to grow in that icon and likeness.  And so, we have Christ, God who became one of us, who shows us what God is like.  "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. . . . He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (see John 14:7-9).   Christ gives us the fullest example of bearing the image of God into the world, and teaches us also that we are to "follow Him."   In this way there is the fullness of communion, for as He gave Himself for us, so we give (render) ourselves back to God, so that we may also grow more true to the image we bear, and grow in that likeness.