Religion and politics are responsible for more violence and evil intent in the world, than any other means, in my opinion, and when they join forces, the outcome is never good. Originally, the Lord gave mankind the responsibility to govern himself for the common good, to be a bastion against evil and violence (Genesis 9:5-6). Nevertheless, it has proven to be a great, almost insurmountable, temptation for man to abuse the authority, which has been given him in trust. Moreover, this kind of thing is true also of religious institutions, whose very existence is to instruct men about God. Instead, they have used their authority to school men in their own traditions, which take men further and further away from God and his desire that men should live in peace with one another. Yet, history is full of the abuse of power, whereby both political and religious figures have led mankind away from peace and toward violence, which is the sole reason for God’s judgment upon mankind. Whenever men become too violent, that is when the Lord steps in to judge them.[1]
We need to keep Jesus’ meeting with the Pharisees and the Herodians in context. As I mentioned above, politics and religion, which are meant to be aids for the people to live in harmony, historically, have had the opposite effect upon mankind, and have, instead, instructed the people, whom the Lord had placed in their care, toward violent behavior. Jesus, God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14), had entered the affairs of men in the first century AD, to judge the world by replacing the old, failed, covenant he had made with mankind through Moses. His plan was to replace it with the new, and better, covenant, which he promised just prior to destroying Jerusalem and the Temple, and sending the ruling class among the Jews to Babylon (Jeremiah 31:31).
After casting out the businessmen in the Temple three times, with subsequent clashes with the Jewish authorities over what he did, and his judgment against them of being disobedient to God and treating his servants with violence, the Pharisees took counsel how they might entangle Jesus in a discussion (Matthew 22:15). Apparently, they conspired with the Herodians, how they might get rid of a common enemy (Matthew 22:16).
According to Josephus, the Pharisees were a sect, who “were in a capacity of greatly opposing kings. A cunning sect they were, and soon elevated to a pitch of open fighting and doing mischief.[2] They were opposed to foreign rule, but they were not opposed to working with their enemies in an effort to destroy a common enemy. So, they conspired with the Herodians, who were supporters of Herod’s rule, in an effort to get rid of Jesus. Together, they sought to get him in trouble by with the Romans, by discussing foreign rule and taxes. Seemingly, this was a win/win for Jesus’ enemies. If Jesus agreed that Caesar had a right to tax the Jews, he would not only be in opposition to the Law (Deuteronomy 17:15), but he would oppose popular opinion, and he’d lose face with the people. On the other hand, if he opposed foreign rule and taxation, he could be seen as an enemy of the state, and Pilate would arrest him, probably to have him executed. What should Jesus do (Matthew 22:17)?
It wasn’t difficult for Jesus to see the evil intent behind their question, so he asked the authorities why they were putting him to the text (Matthew 22:18), which was unlawful for them to do (Deuteronomy 27:18; Leviticus 19:14)[3] Jesus then asked the Pharisees and Herodians to show him a piece of tribute money, and they brought him a denarius (Matthew 22:19). A denarius was the principal coin of the Roman Empire, and was considered the standard daily wage of a laborer in Judea (Matthew 20:2). On the face, the coin had an image of Caesar. Its inscription read: “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of Divine Augustus” (in Latin), and on the reverse side of the coin, it read “Supreme Pontiff” (high priest).[4] This coin, with all its idolatrous content, was brought into the Temple of God, and was exchanged for Temple currency by the money changers, whom Jesus had cast out of the Temple earlier. Jesus asked the conspirators whose image and inscription were on the coin, and the authorities replied, it was Caesar’s (image), but, curiously, they didn’t comment on the inscription (Matthew 22:20-21). Therefore, Jesus told them to return to “Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21), and hearing this, they marveled that Jesus was able to defeat their purpose, so they left him (Matthew 22:22).
[1] Whenever the Lord chose to judge the world, historically, it had **always** been for violence. Scripture doesn’t reveal any other reason for the Lord stepping into men’s affairs. All other wrongdoing has its own built-in judgment that helps keep men from carrying things too far. Only violence brings the Lord, himself, into the affairs of man, to the degree, that he judges the whole world to correct that behavior.
[2] See JOSEPHUS, Antiquity of the Jews, 17.2.4.
[3] This isn’t speaking of literal blind men, but of leading folks who are unaware of your intentions and bringing them to harm.
[4] See Wikipedia; Tribute Penny and Pontifex Maximus.
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