Two great civil powers, who, though politically divided, come together in order to try to entrap Jesus. For, if He says to pay the tax, then the Jewish people, who felt they did not owe taxes, would reject Him, however, if He says don’t pay the tax then the Herodians, who are kept in power by the Roman Empire will simply have Jesus executed. This is why it finally appears as if they have caught Him, however, His response shows that this is not the case. Yet, in order to understand why this is, a little more biblical and ancient history is necessary, so bear with me.

Every year, Roman authorities would demand taxes from each man, woman, and slave, and the tax had to be paid in Roman currency. On the coin, one would see the image of the current emperor, in our Gospel today, this was the image of Tiberius, under that image was an inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, August son of the divine Augustus, high priest.”

The early Roman empire was a pagan theocracy, what this means is that there was no separation between religious practice and the government, in fact, they encouraged and, later on, in the Christian’s case, forced their citizens to worship many gods and goddesses for good fortune and the protection of the empire. And, in the case of the emperor himself, he was believed to be appointed by divine right, so, in the Roman mind, he too, should be worshipped as a god. Failure to adhere to these practices would result, in their minds, as the reason for bad things happening in the empire, and, therefore, they could be seen as guilty of treason.

The Pharisees and the Herodians knowing all of this were simply trying to use this against Jesus figuring they would either expose Him for collaborating with the Romans or be able to denounce Him before the Romans. This is why Jesus’ full response is actually a very smart response, because by Him saying “repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar” but also, to give God what belongs to God, He is both appeasing the Romans and the Jewish people, because the Romans hear his respect for the emperor and the Jewish people hear Jesus, very subtly, stripping the emperor of his divinity.

Incidentally, Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites because in their presenting a Roman coin in the first place they indict themselves by showing that they already pay the tax they don’t think they have to pay.

Jesus, then, puts all of this in perspective with that popular and simple phrase, a phrase, however, that is also still the same source of tension that has existed and continues to exist in this world.

In fact, immediately after Jesus’ death, until about the 300’s it doesn’t get much better, and while those who follow Him come to be known as followers of the The Way and, eventually Christians, simply by being identified by that name they suffered immensely.

It was a time when their government no longer protected them but sought to silence them, when their government passed laws that would take away their religious freedom and liberty when what belonged to God was no longer claimed as their own.  

It was a time when Christians were marched into an amphitheater, before a crowd of countless thousands, and then had animals unleashed upon them, if that didn’t do it, they were crucified, if they still survived, they were burned at the stake. This was known as the pagan theater, and this was their entertainment, to watch Christians die. And, while it ended for a time, it is even more intense today.

In fact, in January of this year, Pope Francis said: “Today there are more [martyrs] than in the first centuries”, even if “the media doesn’t say so because it isn’t news: many Christians in the world today are blessed because they are persecuted, insulted, imprisoned”. Today, Francis stressed, “there are so many in prison just for carrying a Cross or for confessing to Jesus Christ: this is the glory of the Church, it is our support, and also our humiliation, we who have so much, so much seems easy for us, and if we lack something we complain”. However, “we think about these brothers and sisters who today, in greater numbers than in the first centuries, suffer martyrdom”.

Sometimes, it is important to understand where we came from in order to understand what is at risk, to understand how we are here even today. That is why within this world, no matter what are called to be, we are called to be a Christian first, accepting that challenge, a challenge even more real and more dire today. Because while we have the freedom and the privilege of simply walking into this church, to worship freely, that doesn’t happen throughout the world, and it is even happening less and less.

When Jesus spoke those words in our Gospel today, He didn’t simply mean to appease the masses, He also wanted to show and remind us, over 2000 years later, that when we render to God what is His, we will realize, we are rendering everything, because everything, in the end, is indeed, His.