Caesar and God

Good morning sisters and brothers,
First, I want to remind everyone of the dinner and talent show at the church tonight. We'll be serving a fabulous spaghetti dinner at 5:30 for our neighbors. Everyone is welcome and the dinner is free. After dinner we'll enjoy a talent show featuring several different musical acts as well as our very own Adam Ozuna on the devil sticks. It should be a fun evening and a great chance to get to know our neighbors a little better.

This is one of the Jesus conflict stories most people know. The religious leaders are watching his every more to see if they can get him to slip up and give them an excuse to arrest him. They have tried many of the religious hot-button topics without success. Now they try to catch him in his political opinions. As a proudly and religiously independent people, paying taxes to Rome was a touchy subject for most Jewish people at the time. If Jesus says Jews shouldn't pay taxes the religious leaders can trap him with the Roman authorities. If he sounds favorable to Roman rule they can try to paint him as a sellout. Beyond his deft response, Jesus' answer keeps asking us a question: are we giving to God what is God's; are we giving to Caesar what is Caesar's?

God bless,
Sam

Luke 20:20-26

20So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. 21So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. 22Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 23But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, 24“Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.” 25He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent.