Taxed Enough Already
Taxes.
Few words get folks more fired up than this one. Many want to pay less. Some want to pay more. And a few others don’t want to pay any.
The topic of taxes has reached a boiling point in 21st Century America. So much so that we now have bunch of folks so hot and bothered that they call themselves the TEA Party. TEA as in “Taxed Enough Already.”
THE Hot Button Issue
But outrage over taxes is nothing new. It’s one of THE hot button issues during the days of Jesus. And as a result, His opponents think it’s the perfect topic with which to trap this Troublemaker from Galilee (Mk 12:13-17).
There’s just one little problem. These power players get played themselves. The trappers become the trappees (is that a word?). But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
All cards on the table. We’re going to look at what Jesus says, not the Constitution. We’re NOT going to support anyone’s view of the tax code. This isn’t going to be some flag waving call using Scripture to justify a particular political position.
Setting the Scene
So let’s set the scene. It’s Tuesday of what we now call Passion Week. That’s the final days that lead to Christ’s betrayal, arrest, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection.
It’s been three-and-a-half years of amazing preaching, teaching, healing, feeding, leading, and jaw dropping miracles. But it’s all led to this final week in Jerusalem.
A Wild Week
And what a wild week it’s been so far! It kicks off with a crazy parade celebrating Jesus’ arrival to the big city on Sunday riding a borrowed burro (Mk 11:1-11). After thousands of years of waiting, God’s Hero has finally come to the rescue!
Following a night with friends in Bethany, He comes back to J Town on a rather manic Monday of Spring cleaning at the temple (Mk 11:15-19). It seems God’s business is a non-profit organization.
Mark sandwiches around that with a crazy story where Christ curses a fig-less fig tree one day (Mk 11:12-14) and then the next day uses it teach His team about the connection between prayer and forgiveness (Mk 11:20-26).
The Table of the Tenant Farmer Rebellion
Once Jesus shuts down their incredibly successful sacrifice-selling enterprise on Tuesday, the religious big wigs want to know just where He gets off (Mk 11:27-33).
Instead of telling them where He gets His authority, the Lord tells them a story about the Tenant Farmer Rebellion (Mk 12:1-12). The tale to them turns out to be a trap for them so they throw in the towel.
Persistent Enemies
But the enemies of Jesus aren’t done. We pick up the action a little later on Tuesday at the temple as they send another team to try again. I’ll say one thing about these guys, they’re persistent.
“Later the leaders sent some Pharisees and supporters of Herod to trap Jesus into saying something for which He could be arrested” (v13).
A New Team, A New Trap
The men of the Sanhedrin put their heads together and cook up a new plan. Maybe sending a different team will do the trick. So they put together a roster combo they’ve never tried before.
A bunch of Pharisees break the huddle along with fans of Herod’s family. Wow, nobody saw this collaboration coming! These dudes normally hate each other. And now they’re joining forces to fight the radical Rabbi/Carpenter.
The Infamous Pharisees
So who are the infamous Pharisees? The fact is the 21st century followers of Jesus see them completely differently than folks in that day. Let me try and explain.
The Pharisees certainly get plenty of ink. The human authors of the New Testament mention them specifically a grand total of 96 times. Ancient historians tell us there are only about 6,000 of them at the time.
The Heroes of the People
This exclusive club is small in number but highly influential. Their job is to follow God’s OT law to the max. And the Jews loved them for it.
We see them as the bad guys in the black hats a couple of thousand years later but during Jesus’ time they’re heroes of the people. They may have even have had fantasy Pharisee leagues. Just spit ballin’ here.
The Best and Brightest
One other reason that they play a huge role in Jewish culture. The hated Sadducees may control the temple in Jerusalem but your favorite Pharisees run the local synagogues in every town.
Think of them as religious fundamentalists of the day. The best and brightest of the Hebrew people. The apostle formerly known as Saul is an alum of Team Pharisee (Phil 3:5). Well he was until the resurrected Jesus jumped him one day outside of Damascus.
Getting on Herod’s Good Side
Meanwhile the Herodians aren’t nearly as organized. They’ve come together because they support the political agenda of the Herod family. That’s Herod the Great as well as all his descendants who remained in power.
Herod’s sons, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, in-laws, and outlaws are a ruthless and bloodthirsty bunch. They’ll do anything necessary to remain in power. It’s easy to see why you’d want to be on their good side.
A First Century PAC
That’s where the supporters of Herod come in. Think of them more like a PAC. What’s good for Herod’s dynasty is good for them. So they’re riding his coattails as far as it will take them.
Think of them as the “Make Israel Great Again” crowd. They may have even had hats.
We Don’t Elect Our Savior
The bottom line is that they see Herod as the Messiah. He’s the answer to all their problems. And by extension, they support his descendants as well.
Let me be clear. I’m NOT saying the followers of Jesus should avoid politics and candidates. But let’s be careful to not make any cause greater than the Gospel. There’s only one Savior. Don’t make the mistake of thinking we elect Him at the polls.
Teaming up to Take Him down
The crazy thing is that the Pharisees and Herod’s supporters can’t stand each other. But their hatred of Jesus has brought them together. They believe that by teaming up they can take Him down.
A Trick Question
Their plan is to bait the hook for Him with a trick question. “Trap” is the Greek verb agreuo/αγρευω here. It means to hunt your prey using a net or trap. It’s the one and only time we find anywhere it in the New Testament.
It’s certainly NOT the first time we see it happen in Mark’s bio of Jesus (Mk 3:1-6; 8:11-13; 10:2-9; 11:27-28). And to this point, they’ve failed every single time. Yet here they come again.
Who’s Trapping Whom?
What they don’t realize is that by trying to set the trap for the Son of God, they’re walking into His ambush of them. Yeah, this won’t end well for them.
Over in Dr. Luke’s take on this encounter, he describes that their end game is to eventually get Pilate to do their dirty work for them (Lk 20:20). In other words, they’re willing to play the crucifixion card if that’s what it takes.
Buttering up Jesus
But before they ask Him their question, the Pharisees and Herodians begin by buttering Him up. “Teacher…we know how honest You are. You are impartial and don’t play favorites. You teach the way of God truthfully” (v14).
Man, the stuff is getting deep quickly, don’t you think? Hope our Savior’s got on His holy hip waders over His sandals.
Sweet Talking the Savior
The whacky thing is…they’re absolutely right! In their bizarro world, they perfectly describe the sinless Son of God. Of course, they don’t believe a word of what they’re saying.
David Garland points out how they’ve made one mistake in their attempt to sweet talk our Savior. He simply doesn’t give a straight answer to anyone who’s not sincerely looking for the truth.
And to be sure, they’re NOT looking for the truth. That’s a shame since THE Truth is standing right in front of them (Jn 14:6)!
Bait in the Trap
This brings us to their question, which really is no question at all. Just bait in their trap. “Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (v14).
Ah yes, taxes. Ben Franklin dropped one of his most famous quotes when he said that nothing is certain except death and taxes.
Will Rogers went a step further saying the difference between the two is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.
The Roman Tax Burden
Let’s face facts. Taxes have been around long before Congress was a twinkle in the eye of our founding fathers. Just ask the people of Palestine and everywhere else under Roman rule during the days of Jesus.
The Roman tax burden is unbelievably oppressive. To make things worse, the empire would allow local tax collectors to keep whatever they squeeze out of folks above and beyond the basic rate.
A Special Place in Hell
In the First Century, tax collectors are the equivalent of local mob bosses and their toadies running a government approved protection racket.
That’s why the writers of the New Testament so often refer to “tax collectors and sinners” (Mt 9:10-11; 11:19; Mk 2:15-16; Lk 5:30; 7:34; 15:1). In other words, folks believed there is a special place in hell for these blood suckers.
That’s one of the reasons Jews absolutely hate tax collectors like Levi (AKA Matthew) and Zaccheus. But guess who Jesus hung out with and eventually became His followers. Yup, Matt and Zach.
A Tax on Being Alive
The specific tax in question the Pharisees and supporters of Herod are asking about is probably what’s called a poll or head tax. It’s not a usage or property tax. This is a tax on simply being alive.
Every single subject living under the boot of the empire must cough it up. There’s one loophole in the poll tax code. Roman citizens are exempt.
In other words, the people living in the lands conquered by the empire are paying are bearing the full brunt of the tax burden. And you thought your taxes were unfair. Please.
Failure to Pay
To make it even worse, failing to pay could result in losing your freedom (slavery), losing your property, and even losing your life. And because of that, people couldn’t stomach paying it. ESPECIALLY the Jews in Palestine.
Occasionally rebels would rise up to fight the Roman establishment. Or at least give it the good ol’ college try.
Rebels without a Chance
Just to be clear, Rome has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to rebellion. They’re quick to pull the trigger on the slightest hint of revolt with a little thing they like to call crucifixion.
That’s why in Acts, Gamaliel reminds his fellow members of the Sanhedrin about the someone named Judas from Galilee led a tax revolt. “He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered” (Acts 5:37).
Yeah, these rebellions don’t end well for the rebels. When it comes to fighting Rome for any reason, you’re a rebel without a chance.
A Slap in their Faith
Not only is the Roman Empire squeezing the people of Palestine for every penny it can get. Most Jews feel this taxation is a slap in their faith in God.
Why? Because the Romans government use this taxation to support the construction of pagan temples and finance various festivals for their gods. So much so that they store collected taxes in Rome at the Temple of Saturn.
Can you see why just the mention of taxes gets every Hebrew hopping mad in Jesus’ day?
A Loaded Question
Just in case, He didn’t hear them the first time, the Pharisees and Herodians ask him again. “Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?” (v15).
Pay taxes to Rome and you’re compromising your faith in God. Don’t pay taxes and that amounts to rebellion against the empire. No tax loopholes here! Or so they think.
These guys think they’ve pulled one over on Jesus. They believe they’ve got Him trapped and he’s got no way out. It may be a loaded question but it’s nothing but blanks.
Seeing through Their Smoke
Before He answers, our Savior makes it clear that He knows exactly what they’re up to. “Jesus saw through their hypocrisy” (v15). He knows they’re not looking for tax advice. He’s not fooled one little bit.
The Lord describes the smoke they’re blowing as “hypocrisy” (Gr.hupocrisis/‘υποκρισις). Let’s face it. We all know that means pretending to be something you’re not, phony, fake, putting up a front, and intentionally hiding your real motives.
No Oscar Nominations
But do you know where the word comes from? It’s actually a term borrowed from the theater in the Greco-Roman world. Actors would literally wear masks with obvious emotions so the audience would know how they felt. Huge smiles. Massive frowns.
Jesus pulls off their masks and exposes them for who they really are. These bad actors are, well, just bad actors. They shouldn’t expect any Oscar nominations for this performance.
Pulling a Fast One
Christ cuts to the chase. “Why are you trying to trap Me?” (v15). The verb here is “trap” (Gr. peirazo/πειραζω), which simply means to test something.
Positively, it means to test the quality of something, like the quality of gold. Negatively, it describes intentionally tempting someone to do something wrong.
What it means is all about how it’s used. And in this case, it’s bad. Very bad. These goobers think they can pull a fast one on the Son of God. Yeah, not so much.
Flipping the Script
Jesus knows exactly what they’re doing. Not unlike what just happened to the leading priests, scribes and religious experts. Our Savior just sucked them into His own ambush with a little story about the Tenant Farmer Rebellion (Mk 12:1-11).
He slyly flipped the script on these Hebrew head honchos, makes them the bad guys in the story, and embarrassed them in from of the big crowd in the temple courts. As you can probably guess, they are NOT happy campers (Mk 12:13).
Got a Denarius?
The Lord responds, “Show Me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you” (v15). You really wanna do this again, boys? Sure, I’ll play.
This “Roman coin” (Gr. denarion/δηναριον) is actually what’s known as a denarius, the principal silver coin of the Roman Empire.
The Cost of Ten Donkeys
It literally means “containing ten.” The coin equalled the cost of ten donkeys. Not sure how many jackasses are talking to Jesus at this point though (too much?).
Back in the day, a denarius was a day’s pay for day’s work. Think of it as the minimum wage for a blue collar worker.
A Little Change in their Pocket
Notice how Jesus asks THEM for a coin? Hmm, let’s see. I don’t have my wallet with Me. Got one I can borrow? I don’t know about you but this suddenly seems like these guys are like those unwitting participants in magic show.
John Mark tells that “they handed it to Him” (v16). One of the Pharisees and Herodians just happens to have a little change in their pocket going jingle-ingle-ling. They have no clue but they’re gonna pay big time for having that.
A Question about the Coin
Our Savior responds by asking them a question about the coin. “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” (v16). He can see who and what it is. He just wants them to say it.
“Caesar’s” (v16). Can’t you see them rolling their eyes. Come on, Jesus. You’ve got to be kidding. EVERYBODY knows what’s on these coins.
Name That Caesar
Okay, it gets a little complicated at this point. Allow me to introduce Jay Grande, a biblical coin expert. Who knew that was even a thing? Yeah, me neither.
Grande believes Tiberius is the Caesar who appears on the coin. Why? The two previous dictators are dead when this happens. Brutus assassinated Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Et tu, Brute?
And Caesar Augustus kicked the dictatorial bucket in 14 AD. That means Augustus’ son Tiberius is reigning as Caesar at this time.
In Tiberius We Trust
According to Hans Bayer, there’s a Latin inscription next to Caesar’s picture on the denarius which reads “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” Kinda like “In Tiberius We Trust.” Flip it over and it says he’s also the high priest to the Roman gods.
Hmm. Let me think. Son of the Divine? Great High Priest? Where have I heard that before? Oh, that’s right. Jesus! Getting the idea that this is more than a coin? Good.
Who’s the Boss
Brant Kirkegaard says the Romans carefully and strategically picked the images they put on their coins. In a time when very few could read, they want people to look at the coin and know who’s the boss.
For instance, the emperor Vespasian put coins into circulation with not just his picture but with the phrase “Judea Capta” on it. That simply translates as Captured Judea. Get the idea? Thought so.
A Pocket-Sized Idol
So there are a couple of things going on here with this piece of change. Tiberius’ likeness and inscription represent his complete iron-fisted grip on everything in the empire.
Even worse, the denarius basically is a pocket-sized idol promoting pagan ideology. It has value but, it the end, you can bet it’s gonna cost you something.
Bayer points out that by carrying the coin, Jesus’ opponents show that they already participate in the Roman social order. Busted.
Not the Answer They’re Looking for
Now that they’ve answered His question, the Lord gives them the answer to theirs. But there’s just one little problem. It’s NOT the answer they’re looking for.
“Well, then…give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God” (v17).
Does the Coin Have You?
More than one big time Bible expert believes that if it has the emperor’s name and picture on it, it must be his. Since these power players have no problem with carrying around Caesar’s coins then they should have no issue with paying Caesar’s taxes.
Christ seems to saying, “I’m just wondering why you boys just happened to have one of these handy dandy pocket idols declaring the emperor’s so-called deity here in the temple courts.” Do you have the coin or does the coin have you?
Pay Your Taxes
Just as important is what He DOESN’T say. The Lord doesn’t make a case that the Roman Empire is good or bad, right or wrong, just or unjust. But it is right to pay your taxes whether you like them or not.
That’s the principle of submission we see all through the pages of Scripture. In a letter to fellow Jesus followers living in the capital of the empire, Paul says we’re to be good citizens, pay our taxes, and obey the law…well, unless when it causes you to disobey God (Rom 13:1-7).
Bearing His Image and Name
But our Savior’s point is WAY bigger than that. The pictures and words on our cash tell us its country of origin. In other words, who it belongs to. It may be in our pocket, wallet, or bank account, but it came from somewhere and someone.
We need to remember that we also bear God’s image and His name. He handcrafted us in His image (Gen 1:26-27). He’s signed His name on us like an artist on a masterpiece (Eph 2:10). We’re His. We belong to Him.
So what’s this got to do with the trick question? The coin has Caesar’s image and name on it, so give it to him. If you bear God’s and He’s written His name on you, give yourself totally to Him.
Whose Are You?
Let’s put ourselves in the story. Jesus looks up the from the coin and looks us square in the eye. So who’s image is stamped on us? What’s been engraved onto our hearts?
Is it culture and the world’s survival-of-the-fittest-and-power-grab kingdom? Or Jesus and His counter-culture-service-above-self Kingdom of God?
Let me put it this way. The question isn’t “Who are you?” The question is WHOSE are you? If you’re a follower of Jesus, He’s purchased you at an outrageous cost (1Cor 6:20; 7:23).
Never Saw It Coming
We pick up the action as the Lord’s opponents are picking their jaws up off the floor. Mark writes, “His reply completely amazed them” (v17).
The word behind the NLT’s phrase “completely amazed” is ekthaumazo/εκθαυμαζω. It means to marvel, baffle, or blindside. When the Pharisees and Herodians cooked up this plot, they never saw this coming.
Dropping the Messianic Mic
Once again, the trappers have become the trappees (hmm, maybe that is a word). Jesus not only drops the messianic mic but leaves them speechless.
As much as these guys hate paying taxes, they hate being embarrassed publicly…especially by some Rabbi from some backwater village in the boondocks of Galilee.
Be a Good Citizen
If you’ve placed your trust in who Jesus is and what He has done, what do you do with all this?
First of all, be a good citizen and pay your taxes. Trust me, I hate paying them just as much if not more than you. Let’s give to Uncle Sam what belongs to Uncle Sam.
Maybe if the local church would get more involved serving those on the fringes of society the government wouldn’t have to do it. But that’s another topic for another day.
Give Ourselves to Him
Second, as the followers of Jesus, we belong to God. He has purchased us at the highest price ever paid. We bear His image. And He’s conforming us to look just like our Lord (Rom 8:29).
God is also inscribing His story in our lives. Paul says we’re actually the Lord’s love letter to the world (2Cor 3:2-3).
Let’s give ourselves to Him daily since He gave Himself for us.
©2020
Jay Jennings
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