Fr Marco Lazzaron
he Pharisees asked Jesus: ‘Tell us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius, and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they replied. He then said to them, ‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God’ (Mt 22:17-21).
In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees keep trying to set traps in front of Jesus, to see how he would reply and to find a legal reason to deal with him. They put a very clever question in front of Jesus. They ask him: “Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Now, if Jesus would reply: “Yes, you need to pay taxes to Caesar”, they would take the opportunity and condemn him for recognizing the Roman authority on their land. However, if on the other hand, Jesus would reply: “It is not permissible”, then they would have handed him over to the Romans for spreading civil disobedience and had him arrested. So, it’s a no-win situation.
But Jesus outsmarted them all. He asked one of the Pharisees to produce a denarius, which would be the very coins they used to pay the tax with. Possessing that Roman coin was in itself an admission that they were compromised as loyal Jews. They had fallen into their own trap.
In the Gospel of today, we find then, two questions: one from the Pharisees to Christ and the other from Christ to the Pharisees. The first one is merely worldly, while the second is pure heavenly, the former from ignorance, and the second one from wisdom and goodness. And Christ shows his love for us reminding us that we are created in the image and likeness of God.
And so, do we bear his image? In the coin that we carry every day, our life, what image do we find imprinted? The image of Caesar, of the world, or the image of God himself?