Jesus Questioned About Paying Taxes Series

In the year 2022, according to the CBO, the United States government raised 4.9 trillion dollars in tax income. About half came from individual income taxes. It’s a massive amount of money that we’re talking about, but despite that, the U.S. government is currently 33.1 trillion dollars in debt, due to excessive spending, which has led to inflation, which hurts the poorest income earners the worst.

So knowing that the U.S. government apparently is somewhat reckless in how it spends money, should we still pay our taxes faithfully? Or should we try to get around our taxes? Or maybe we should cheat just a little bit on our taxes? Let’s consider that topic today, as we look at the words of Jesus around this topic of paying taxes to the government authorities.

We’re also going to look at a question raised about marriage, and what life will be like in heaven. So we’re going to look today at human government, and the heavenly government.

Today we’re looking at Mark 12:13-27, and we’re seeing Jesus at the pinnacle of his ministry. He is in Jerusalem, capital of Israel, capital of planet Earth, if you really think about it, and he’s dealing directly with the most powerful groups in the nation, the Pharisees, the chief priests, the elders, the Herodians, the Sadducees, Jesus is dealing directly with the social elites, and at that the same time he’s teaching his disciples, and the crowds. He’s bringing the word of God to every segment of society, from the poorest blue collar workers, to the most powerful elites.

During this time in Jerusalem we keep seeing the elites attempting to ask Jesus questions to cause him to trip himself up. It reminds me of how the news media will often ask questions to politicians in Washington D.C. with the hope of getting them to say something that will harm them. They don’t really want an answer to their question, they are simply trying to trip up the speaker, and get them to say something that will get them cancelled by the public. It’s a nasty game in politics and power, and we see the same happening to Jesus.

In verses 13-14 we see a group of elites approach Jesus hoping to cause him harm. Here is what it says, “Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, 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 the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

Here is what they are hoping, they are thinking, if Jesus says “yes you should pay taxes” then the people will turn against him because the people hate the oppressive taxes of the Roman empire. And if Jesus says “no you shouldn’t” then they can tell the romans that Jesus is telling people not to pay taxes, so they can have Jesus arrested. They are trying to trap Jesus in his words.

It reminds me of Christian pastors who are interviewed by the news media. The first question the news media always asks is, “Do you support gay marriage?” Why do they ask that? Because, if the pastor says yes, they’ve gotten the pastor to go against the Bible. If they say no, then the pastor can easily be labeled as a bigoted hater, and someone no one should listen to. It’s all about cornering the person in their words.

But Jesus is too smart for this little game they are playing with him.

It says in verses 15-16: 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 image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him.”

Jesus knew they were trying to trap him in his words. Why are you trying to trap me? He asked them. So he takes a coin, and the coin has a picture of Caesar on it.

Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.

Many people even today I think don’t like the answer that Jesus gave. Because it commits us to paying taxes faithfully and being honest citizens of the nation where we live.

But what about the fact that the government often wastes money?

According to the Heritage Foundation, here are some ways tax payer funds are wasted in the U.S. Government: