Girl Friday

Render to Caesar...Render to God

Mark 12:17

"And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they marveled at Him."

A familiar text. And one that I always smiled and thought: 'Way to go Jesus! You got them again.' - and went on to the next verse.
This past Sunday my pastor preached on this passage and opened it up in a way I had never considered. The coin that they brought to show Jesus as He asked, the denarius, was pressed on one side the picture of Caesar and the inscription under identified him as the "son of the divine". Jesus asks who's picture is on it, and given the response "Caesar's" Jesus tells them to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.

What does God have to do with Roman taxes paid to Caesar? Why did Jesus include that last phrase?

In Genesis, man was made in God's image. (Gen 1:26-27) His image is pressed into us.

We are like the coins - except we have God's image pressed into us not Caesar's.

Jesus is telling us to render ourselves to God...

Because we are His. Bought with the blood of Christ.

Labels: Faith

posted by Anna @ 3:54 PM