And watching carefully, they sent spies, pretending themselves to be righteous, in order that they might seize upon a word of His, so as to deliver Him to the power and to the authority of the governor. And they questioned Him, saying, Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and do not receive a face, but You teach the way of God with truth. Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” But perceiving their slyness, He said to them, [Why do you tempt Me?] Show Me a denarius. Whose image and superscription does it have?” ” And answering, they said, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Then give back the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God.” And they were not able to lay hold of His speech before the people. And marvelling at His answer, they were silent. [LITV]Luke 20:20–26
Before we begin focusing on the question, we need to look at who is behind all of this. In Luke’s gospel there is no subject mentioned. We are left to link the subject of this action to those mentioned by Luke in the verse before the action begins — the teachers of religious law and the leading priests. But compare Luke’s account with that of Matthew and Mark. Both Matthew (22:15-16) and Mark (12:13) refer to the Pharisees and the Herodians. Now that is an interesting mix of strange bedfellows. They are both on opposite sides of the fence.
The Pharisees don’t like the Romans at all because they limit the full practice of the Jewish religion and they put the poll tax on the inhabitants of Judea. The Herodians on the other hand, embraced the Roman occupation because their connections with Roman gentry and ruling class enabled Herod’s family to hold on to power. Isn’t it interesting that these two diametrically opposed groups, managed to set aside their differences in order to trap Jesus. Now how is that possible? All through history, disparate groups have managed to join forces to defeat a common enemy. I believe these two opposing factions joined together figuring they had Jesus whichever way He answered the question. Let’s now look at the question in detail.
Is it lawful . . . ? Are we permitted to give taxes to Caesar by Jewish Law? It was clearly lawful according to Roman law. That was not what was in focus. Different rabbis had different interpretations of the Law. That was referred to as a rabbi’s yoke. These experts are seeking a statement from Jesus, this religious teacher whom they have been commending. Probably seeking to lull Him into a false sense of security and to assure Him of their “support”. How do you interpret the Law, Rabbi, when it comes to paying tax to Caesar? Is it lawful according to Jewish law and according to Mose’s Law?
The word used for tax by Luke is the word [phoros] meaning “tribute” or “tax”. It normally refers to direct taxes on land or personal property. Matthew and Mark, in their accounts of this passage use the word [kensos] also tax, but a head tax which was offensive to the Jews because it symbolized them being the possession of Rome. It degraded them as it highlighted their personal bondage as an individual to the Roman empire. The word Luke uses is a tax paid by nation to nation. It was the poll tax set on every citizen’s head and payable to Rome for every person. But this tax was collected from the individual by the tax collectors, who then passed it on for payment to Rome. But the underlying issue was the question of tribute. The tribute was a homage paid to the Roman Emperor who was considered Divine. Thus, some felt paying tribute underlyingly meant they were paying homage to Caesar.
Jesus is very aware why they are asking this question. He perceived their slyness, their trickery. All was not what it seemed, despite the smooth talk at the beginning. He [katanoeo] — “knew deep down”. He was aware, He saw through them. Remember this is the One who doesn’t need testimony about man, He knows exactly what is inside them. Some translations have “realising” inferring that He just came to understand what they were doing. NO! Jesus knew on-goingly. He didn’t just realise. Any one of us would be suspicious if someone came with all the flowery words which they did. We would be on our guard. Jesus didn’t need to be on guard. He KNEW; He could see right through them. Literally, the word [panourgia] means “willing to try anything”, “ready to do what it takes”. He knew their sly tactics and their craftiness.
I need to tell you, there is a textual issue with this verse (Luke 20:23). Most versions omit the words, [“Why do you tempt me?”] meaning why do you put me to the test. Not temptation to sin, but testing with their trickery. The words are present in all KJV related translations and in the Textus Receptus but not present in the modern day eclectic Greek text. Don’t worry if you don’t know what all that means. It is gobble-de-gook, for these words should be bracketed and greyed out because they are not in the early manuscripts but they are in the Majority Text. [Now that you have read that statement you can promptly forget it. Unless it touches buttons for you.]
Let us now proceed to where the meat is. I have chosen the Literal Version for our passage today because of the translation:
“Show Me a denarius. Whose image and superscription does it have?” And answering, they said, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Then give back the things of Caesar to Caesar, and the things of God to God.”
Why do the next words say they marvelled at His answer and were silent? Because there is a lot going on behind these words.
When Jesus said, “Show me a denarius”, the word used is the word [denarion] meaning a denarius. But some versions translate “show me a Roman coin”. Really, any coin would have had Caesar’s picture engraved on it. They all did and around EACH coin would have been the words TI(BERIVS) CAESAR DIVI AVGVSTI F(ILIVS) AVGVSTVS. [Tiberius Caesar Augustus, son of the divine Augustus]. Do you see the problem now? The statement on the coin refers to Caesar’s divinity.
Denarius (clipped from E-Swords ISBE) (δηνάριον,dēnárion):
A Roman silver coin, 25 of which went to theaureus, the standard gold coin of the empire in the time of Augustus, which was equal in value to about one guinea or $5.25; more exactly £1.0.6 = $5.00, the £ = $4.866. Hence, the value of the denarius would be about 20 cents and this was the ordinary wage of a soldier and a day laborer. The word is uniformly rendered “penny” in the King James Version and “shilling” in the American Standard Revised Version, except inMat 22:19;Mar 12:15andLuk 20:24, where the Latin word is used, since in these passages it refers to the coin in which tribute was paid to the Roman government. (My emphasis via the bold letters)
The Denarius was the coin used to pay the tribute tax. It’s highly significant isn’t it, what they are asking and how Jesus answers?
I am going to do it to you again. I am going to stop at this point and give you time to ponder the Q & A recorded for us. It is highly significant. Remember again who has combined together to ask this question. How would you have answered if you were in Jesus position? I am sure you have been asked this kind of question before — the between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place question.
Take time to think about it.
I don’t have any one-liners on coins or images so I will give you some questions the Pharisees, Herodians and experts in the Law might have asked.
Why do you put in your two cents worth when it’s only a penny for your thoughts?
Anon
Whose cruel idea was it for the word ‘lisp’ to have an ‘s’ in it?
Anon
What do butterflies feel in their stomach when they’re in love?
Anon
Why did Sally sell seashells on the seashore when you can just pick them up for free anyway?
Anon
If a doctor suddenly died while doing surgery, would the other doctors work on the doctor or the patient?
Anon
If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?
Anon
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
Anon