Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.
They came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone's opinion. You do not regard a person's status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?"
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, "Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at."
They brought one to him and he said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They replied to him, "Caesar's."
So Jesus said to them, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." They were utterly amazed at him.
Source: https://dailygospel.org/M/AM/
Analysis
Today's passage is fairly simple, it simply shows one of the many times Jesus is tested by the pharisees and the priests. This time, it is about taxes, Jesus is asked by the priests whether it is lawful or not to pay the tax to Caesar, the title for the Roman emperor. We must observe the language used in this passage, if it is only asked whether it is lawful or not, it means the pharisees are asking whether the law of the State allows such payment. However, in some other versions, we discover what the pharisees are actually asking, that is whether it is morally allowed to pay taxes to the Caesar or not. Jesus knows that if He answers directly, He would be trapped, as such He said what He said. This verse is usually used to justify paying taxes, and while taxes are logically beneficial, that message is not delivered in this verse, let's see why.
When Jesus said that we must repay Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God, He doesn't actually mean that He condones paying such a barbaric State as the Roman Empire, I doubt Jesus would support any form of colonialism. Jesus is simply trying to escape the traps of the pharisee. But Jesus is also saying something else implicitly, that is a matter of pragmatism. While it is not ideal to contribute to a colonialist State by paying taxes, if it is the matter of life and death, what can you do? Will you rebel alone and die? When you could have live out your life, helping more people and so on? What Jesus is trying to say is, paying those taxes will not prevent you from giving what you must give to God. As such, this has nothing to do to condoning taxes for unjust leaders, more of choosing whether to fight or to accept. I believe that is all I can say, have a nice day and see you tomorrow.
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