Some questions have an underlying hidden agenda, whether by design or not. As a result, the answer necessarily reveals more than one intends. When the underlying agenda is purposely concealed, the question also manifests the dishonest motive of the one who asks. This is the strategy often used by the Pharisees. They loved to ask Jesus questions that with the hidden agenda of creating a threat for him no matter how he answered. Their ultimate aim was to get rid of Jesus, because his teachings and steadfast faith continuously exposed their hypocrisy and greedy way of life. Despite their deceitful approach, however, Jesus outfoxed them at every turn.
Their question to Jesus about paying the census tax is a good example in this regard. To accomplish their end of getting Jesus out of their way, the Pharisees focus on a point of law that will create what they hope is an inescapable dilemma for him no matter how he answers. The dilemma stems from a coin that bares the image of Caesar, who had been declared a god by formal decree of the Roman Senate. As a result, this coin was the only legal tender available in the Empire for paying the tax. For the ancient Hebrew, however, making Caesar a god was in direct conflict with the Law of Moses that acknowledged the God of Abraham as the one and only true God (see foot note).
The reading from Isaiah illustrates this point when Isaiah says on behalf of the Lord, “I am the Lord, there is no other, there is no God besides me” (Is 45:5). For that reason, the ancient Jews avoided even touching Cesar’s coin, let alone using it. From the Pharisees’ perspective, therefore, no matter how Jesus answers their question, he is going to run afoul of the law—either the Mosaic Law or the Roman Law.
If Jesus acknowledges the obligation of paying the tax, doing so would require using the coin bearing Ceasar’s image. Given the symbolism of the coin, its use amounted to idolatry in defiance of the Mosaic Law, which bound its followers to the God of Abraham alone. Jesus then might have been stoned to death on the spot, rather than crucified later.
On the other hand, if Jesus rejects the obligation of paying the tax because the coin bears the image of a man declared to be God, his refusal then runs afoul of Roman law. In that case, his answer would pit him against Roman authorities, and he might have met his cruel fate even sooner. Given these two possibilities, the Pharisees surely thought that they had created the perfect, inescapable trap for Jesus, and he would soon be out of their way.
Not to be done in by their cunning, however, Jesus follows the Pharisees’ lead by relying on the same coin for his answer. In a clever move, Jesus asks them to show him the coin. Had they been following the Law of Moses, they would not have even had the coin in their possession, let alone touch it with their hands. Yet, they produce the coin, revealing their hypocrisy. Jesus then invites them to describe the image and the inscription on the coin. Their description becomes the basis for his response that one should give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. The logic of his response is clear.
If Caesar’s image marks out what belongs to him, it follows that the image of God marks out what belongs to God. The crowds were amazed at this response because they knew very well that the whole human race bears the image of God. The Book of Genesis records the claim that each of us is made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). Thus, we all belong to God, including of all ironies, Caesar himself. With this clever move, Jesus thus springs their trap and renders the Pharisees speechless.
His response leaves an open question, however. If our entire selves already belong to God because we bear his image and likeness, what remains for us to give to God? One answer begins with the idea that God is love. Therefore, our true identity, our true selves, our true happiness lies in our willingness to mirror the love of God in our daily lives. Since God is love and God is holy, we are thus called to imitate the love and holiness of God in our daily lives.
We can only deliberately imitate what we understand, however. When it comes to the love and holiness of God, we might think that God is so different from us that we cannot truly understand either his love or his holiness. We, therefore, cannot imitate either one.
Jesus, on the other hand, speaks of God in very human terms, even calling him “daddy” and suggests that we do the same (Mt 6:9; Mk 14:36). This term of endearment, respect, and familial trust implies that the best way to understand God is in human terms. This is how to make sense of the instruction that God gives his people recorded in Leviticus: “Be holy because I am holy” (Lv 20:26; 1 Pt 1:16; Mt 5:48). In putting it this way, God makes it plain that being holy is a choice within our ability and control. Jesus reaffirms this fundamental choice with an important emphasis when he says to his followers, “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
Jesus spoke to his disciples about the perfection of God in the context of universal and unconditional love (Mt 5:43-48. From this perspective, to say that God is perfect is to say that God is always true to himself, always a person of integrity. God lives in a way perfectly consistent with his values. Thus, God is always and never anything but God, and all that God does is always and completely consistent with who God is. I AM who I AM, God tells Moses (Ex 3:14). God always loves, always tells the truth, always does good, is always merciful, forgiving, joyful and faithful because God is truth, God is good, God is Holy, God is love. Being holy like God is therefore none other than a choice to follow the principle of love.
Because God is holy and God is love, and since we share in the image and likeness of his nature, God invites us to be who we are called to be—holy and loving as well. This is our true nature. According to the Apostle John, we can do this—we can love—because God loved us first (1 Jn 4:19). The opportunities to love both others and God’s creation happen every day in the ordinary circumstances of our lives. We just have to look for those opportunities. If we live in the Spirit, as St. Paul reminds the Galatians, then let us follow the Spirit’s lead and live a holy life of love (5:25). With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can indeed mirror the image and likeness of God in our daily lives.
Note: For a more detailed discussion of this dilemma and how it plays out in the ancient world, see The New Testament in its World, "Roman Religion and the Imperial Cult" Chp 6, N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird.
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