God's Due

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

GOD’S DUE

Mark 12:13-17

Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it."  16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.

NIV

First, we were told that the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders tried to trap him, and now they have sent the Pharisees and the Herodians to try to catch him in his words, next we are going to see the Sadducees try, but for now, let us consider this question and the response of Jesus and how, or if that applies in our lives. There is a point of interest here in that there are two types of currency in Israel at this time. There were the Roman coins such as this Denarius, and the Jewish Shekel, the fact they had a Roman coin available to give to Jesus was a problem. The annual tribute to the temple was to be in the shekel, but the tax to the Roman tribute was to be in the Denarius. This could have been what Jesus was referring to in that he meant for them to go ahead and pay Caesar his due with the coin that had his image on it, the Denarius, but that did not relieve them from paying tribute to the temple of God in their own currency, the Shekel. However, there is also this idea that God is due far more than an annual tribute of money. Jesus was most likely telling them to give God what is God’s as a way of telling them they should give God their hearts, lives, property, and influence all to God, as his due. We know they were not as concerned about God as they were about their own influence over the people,  their positions, and their wealth. They dressed in the finished of clothes and pretended to be religious on the street corner, so to speak. Here again, we could take this as a lesson in that it has been true in some cases, in some churches, of course, not all churches, but some, that the people with the most money have the greatest influence in the church. They get picked to be the elders, or church board, or whatever churches call the highest group of influencers who gather to direct the affairs of the church. The average parishioner, or congregate has little influence over the direction of the church. Jesus is not interested in this form of worship, or church, but that the church, the members of His body give their heart, their lives, and their wealth to God. This does not mean we give our homes and the whole of our bank account, but that we give God ourselves, our lives, all that we are, to God. Of course, we need money to live in this life, Jesus was not telling them to give it all, but to give God was is His, and we are His, so we give him ourselves, our heart and soul. We do not split our loyalty between God and money, which goes back to what Jesus said about serving two masters. We do not live for the pursuit of money, but for the pursuit of God. We are told to seek first His kingdom and He will add the stuff to our lives, he will provide the way for us to live in this life, we follow Him, not the ways of the world, not the pursuit of wealth. We give to the world what is the worlds, so we pay our taxes in money, but we give to God that which he is due, ourselves. We belong to God, not the world.