Jesus Sends the Pharisees to School on Traps
Credit to St. Pete's Toronto And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, [ a ] but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius [ b ] and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” Jesus 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. - Mark 12:13-17 - Odds are there has been a sermon or two preached about this very point in Mark's gospel story of the ministry of Jesus. I would guess it had to do with how to be a civil Christian under the ap...
