Image Bearing
Session 9.43
Podcast
Introduction
Our text this week is found in Matthew 22:15-22. It is the story of Jesus responding to those who tried to trap Him with a question about money.
Scripture: Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.
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Nikki's Notes
In today’s session video, I encourage you to see these two groups, who were not natural allies, working to trap Jesus in an impossible way to answer a question. In the video I point out how Jesus avoided the trap by offering a simple, yet profound answer. Jesus’ answer demands that we answer the question, “What belongs to God?”
As Christians, the only claim we can make about this is that all of the created world belongs to God and everything in it. If I were teaching this session I would challenge my group to have a focused conversation about what it looks like to give God what belongs to God. How does this affect our businesses, our friendships, our time, and our money? In what ways do we not return to God that which belongs to God? How can we be more faithful in returning to God that which belongs to God?
As your group engages this challenging text, I hope you are encouraged by the reminder that we all belong to God and that to return to God with all that we are is ultimately a return to joy, love, and peace.
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Nikki's Video Script
Our text this week is found in Matthew 22:15-22. It is the story of Jesus responding to those who tried to trap Him with a question about money.
By this point in the Gospel story Jesus was no stranger to being challenged on His teachings. Jesus had a knack for responding in a way that always caused His challengers to pause in near disbelief at His cleverness. Jesus understood that the questions His challengers were asking were almost always the wrong question. So in His responses, Jesus would answer the question they should have been asking instead.
In the text we find two groups joining forces to set a trap for Jesus. These two groups are the Pharisees, who are Jewish religious leaders and keepers of the Torah, and the Herodians, who worked for the Roman government. These two groups were usually on two different sides of the political issues of their day, but on this occasion they found a common enemy.
Jesus caused trouble with both groups with His teachings and they wanted to find a way to trap Him with an unanswerable question. They asked Him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” If Jesus said pay taxes to Rome He would be seen as cooperative with the oppressive Roman government. If He said no, then He would be seen as advocating for people to break the law. There was no good answer to this question.
And so Jesus, wise to their intent, chose to answer differently. He told them to bring a coin to Him. Then He asked whose face was on it. They answered that the emperor’s face was on it. Then Jesus said, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Tradition offers us several different interpretations of this text. Some have read this text and said that it is proof that we should keep God and politics separate. I agree these things should be separate, but this text is not the reason I think that. In this time, government was oppressive and there was little concept of trying to achieve the separation of church and state. A second way this text has been understood is that religion is a matter of the heart and God doesn’t care what we do with our money. However, if we pay attention to just Jesus’ teachings about money, we learn quickly that how we use our money is an incredibly important issue to God. And some say this text proves that we are to support the law no matter what. Jesus is not talking about the law in general in this text. I believe He is trying to challenge His detractors to think about what they are asking and why it is not the important issue.
Jesus points out the image that is on the coin. When I read that text I immediately think about the Genesis passage when God says, “Let us make humans in our image.” If the coin bears the image of the emperor, then whose image is it that we bear? As people of faith, we know that all we are and own belongs to God. And all things we do are to be offered to God.
The people were trying to trap Jesus, but He knew the game and He played it better than they did. He subtly showed them that they could not trap Him. But He also did not leave them without a lesson. Go ahead and pay your taxes, but never forget that you bear the image of the One who created you and all you do is an offering to God.