Editor's note: this week, a very different set of Connect Devotionals because this week is unlike all others. Each writer this week will invite you to explore a different passage:  the “cleansing of the Temple” (Monday), the argument about paying taxes to Caesar (Tuesday), the “great commandment” (Wednesday), the Last Supper and Gethsemane (Thursday), and the culmination of this week on Good Friday.  We hope that what we write will invite you to a deeper engagement with these Scriptures, as well as with the entire narrative of this week that began on a joy-filled Sunday and ended on a terrible Friday we now call “Good.” We hope you’ll read what we write. Even more, we hope you will dive into what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote!

And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this? They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Mt.22:20 NKJ, 21b, NIV).

Let me begin by making some introductions:

Meet the Pharisees. They are the religious bigwigs in Israel who believe they have God’s perspective all figured out. They have received stiff rebukes from Jesus for, among other things, their hypocrisy.

Meet the Herodians. (Note: “Herod” showing up in your title is a sure sign of trouble.) They already have their messiah-figure—Herod—whom they believe will surely have enough clout with Rome on their behalf to get them some “good life.”  

The Pharisees and the Herodians agree on nothing. Until Jesus shows up. Now they agree Jesus has to go. Primarily they think He needs to be discredited in the eyes of the people to make that happen. They plot to “trap Him in His words” (Mt.22:15).

Meet Jesus. Jesus, who is not for a nanosecond fooled regarding what this band of deceivers is up to.

“What,” we ask, “are they up to?”

We can begin to know by the question they ask Jesus: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” This is a political and a religious question. They know the listening crowd will get riled up by either a thumbs-up: pay taxes, or a thumbs-down: don’t pay taxes. 

What were they up to? Riling up the crowd. Turning them against Jesus.

Imagine we are the crowd, holding our collective breath to see what Jesus will say.

He asks to see a coin used to pay said tax.

He asks them to identify the image on it, and is told, “Caesar’s.”

Then He says to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

The image of Caesar on that coin indicated that it belonged to Caesar.

And, on what—or, precisely, whom—is God’s image that indicates who belongs to Him? You. Me. Every human being, according to Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Even more precisely, God the Father’s image is on God the Son--Jesus. Yes, this very Jesus the Pharisees and Herodians inadvertently asked to reveal the truth about image to the crowd.

The Pharisees and Herodians thereby--also inadvertently—set the stage for Jesus’ crucifixion a few days later. On that Friday—ever after known as “Good”—He showed us ultimate “giving to God what is God’s.” 

Factions akin to the Pharisees and Herodians still exist—and insist there are alternatives to Jesus’ way of giving Himself to God on our behalf. Let’s pray for ourselves and for all people that we do not fall for those deceptions.