Whose Image?

Gospel: Mark 12: 13-17

Two rival political camps join forces in an attempt to trap Jesus with a clever dilemma.  Prefacing the dilemma with false praise of Jesus, they ask, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" The indifference of Jesus to the question is striking.  This question that sparks such emotion in every age hardly vexes Jesus at all.  The answer he provides satisfies no one except those who seek the wisdom Jesus provides.

In asking about the image on the coin, Jesus gets to the root of the issue.  It is a graven image for Jews given the emperor's claim to divinity.  It is a divinity for Herodians who follow the empire in all things.  For Jesus it is just a coin that belongs to someone else.  Since it is Caesar's image on the money, let him have it if that is what is important to him.

But you - you and every human being created by God - you have stamped upon you God's image and likeness.  That belongs to God.  Give God your entire life and being by loving others and preserving that dignity and image of God in the way you treat other people.  That economy is far more important than that of money and the concerns of politics that are but endless traps where the dignity of people is not respected - where money is a greater good than people.