Apodidomi

WE AGREE WITH PSALM 47:7, THAT “THE LORD IS KING OVER ALL THE EARTH.” WE MAY SHOW RESPECT TO EARTHLY TITLES SUCH AS PRESIDENT, KING, SULTAN, EMIR, SHAH, OR CHANCELLOR, BUT OUR TRUE ALLEGIANCE IS TO GOD AND HIS HEAVENLY KINGDOM.

JESUS PROCLAIMED IN JOHN 18:36, “MY KINGDOM IS NOT AN EARTHLY KINGDOM. IF IT WERE, MY FOLLOWERS WOULD FIGHT TO KEEP ME FROM BEING HANDED OVER TO THE JEWISH LEADERS. BUT MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD.”

THE EARTHLY KINGDOMS AND THEIR RULERS HAVE ALL BEEN ESTABLISHED BY GOD’S AUTHORITY. ROMANS 13:1 “LET EVERYONE BE SUBJECT TO THE GOVERNING AUTHORITIES, FOR THERE IS NO AUTHORITY EXCEPT THAT WHICH GOD HAS ESTABLISHED. THE AUTHORITIES THAT EXIST HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED BY GOD.”

THE LORD ALONE IS OUR KING. HIS KINGDOM MAY NOT BE OF THIS WORLD, BUT HIS CHURCH IS ENTRUSTED WITH ITS MESSAGE ON THIS EARTH. PHILIPPIANS 3:20, “BUT OUR CITIZENSHIP IS IN HEAVEN. AND WE EAGERLY AWAIT A SAVIOR FROM THERE, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST….” AS CITIZENS OF HEAVEN, WE ARE CALLED TO BE A LIGHT TO THE WORLD! WE LEARN THIS FROM 1 THESSALONIANS 1:1-5 THAT WE ARE ALWAYS “WORKING IN FAITH, LABORING IN LOVE, AND ENDURING IN HOPE.”

UP TO THIS POINT, JESUS HAD TAUGHT THREE PARABLES WHERE THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WERE HIGHLIGHTED AS THE WICKED AND EVIL SUBJECTS OF THE STORIES. HOWEVER, ON THIS OCCASION, THE TABLES TURN AND THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS COME AFTER JESUS.

JESUS ALREADY KNEW THEIR INTENTIONS WERE EVIL AND THAT THEIR MOTIVES WERE MALICIOUS. JESUS ASKS, “WHY PUT ME TO THE TEST” WHICH REALLY MEANT “I KNOW YOU ARE JUST LAYING A TRAP FOR ME.” HE WOULD LOSE REGARDLESS IF HE SAID “YES” OR “NO.”

THE TRAP WAS TO EITHER EXPOSE JESUS AS A TRAITOR TO ROME AND BE CHARGED WITH TREASON FOR SAYING THE TAX WAS UNLAWFUL, OR TO DISCREDIT HIMSELF BY SAYING THE TAX WAS LAWFUL AND LOSE REPUTATION AND MANY OF HIS FOLLOWERS.

THE “TAX” IN QUESTION WAS THE POLL TAX. THIS TAX WAS LEVIED UPON THE JEWS AND WAS PAID DIRECTLYTO ROME AS A SIGN OF THEIR POLITICAL SUBJECTION TO A FOREIGN POWER. BY ASKING “IS IT LAWFUL,” THEY WERE NOT REFERRING TO ROMAN LAW, BUT TO THE LAW OF GOD. THEY ARE BAITING JESUS WITH THE QUESTION OF “IS IT PERMISSIBLE FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD TO EXPRESS ALLEGIANCE TO A PAGAN EMPEROR?”

THE UNIQUE THING IN THIS SITUATION IS THE COIN, ITSELF. IT WAS NO ORDINARY COIN. IT WAS THE SILVER (NOT COPPER) DENARIUS WHICH WAS “THE COIN” REQUIRED FOR PAYING THE TAX. THE COIN HAD NOT ONLY INSCRIBED THE FACE OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR, BUT THE RELIGIOUS CLAIMS OF BEING THE “SON OF A GOD” AS WELL AS BEING A “HIGH PRIEST.”

THIS COIN PRESENTS EVEN MORE TROUBLE FOR JESUS AS THE STRICT JEWS HAD ISSUES WITH THE COIN SINCE THE INSCRIPTION VIOLATES EXODUS 20:3-4, “YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME.YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF A CARVED IMAGE, OR ANY LIKENESS OF ANYTHING THAT IS IN HEAVEN ABOVE, OR [ON] EARTH… OR THAT IS IN THE WATER….”

THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON OR A JEW TO BE CARRYING THIS COIN OTHER THAN TO PAY THE TAX. THE FACT THAT THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS COULD EASILY PRODUCE A COIN FROM THEIR POCKETS WAS VERY TELLING WHICH COULD BE WHY JESUS ASKED TO SEE A COIN! HE EXPOSED THEM AND “TRAPS THEM IN THEIR OWN TRAP.” JESUS WAS SHOWING THEM THAT IF THEY ARE USING CAESAR’S MONEY, THEN THEY SHOULD PAY HIS TAXES.

INSTEAD OF ANSWERING “YES” OR “NO,” JESUS GOES ON TO ASK HIS MOST PROFOUND QUESTION “WHOSE LIKENESS AND INSCRIPTION IS THIS?” THEY SAID, “CAESAR'S.” THEN HE SAID TO THEM, “THEREFORE RENDER TO CAESAR THE THINGS THAT ARE CAESAR'S, AND TO GOD THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD'S.”

JESUS BROADENS THE MEANING OF PAYING TAXES BY USING THE VERB “APODIDOMI” (AH-POD-DID-UH-ME) FOR “RENDER” THAT MEANS “TO GIVE BACK OR TO RETURN TO.” THIS IS A WORD THAT IS USED FOR PAYING A BILL OR SETTLING A DEBT OWED.

JESUS IS SAYING THAT WHATEVER BELONGS TO THE EMPEROR, WE SHOULD GIVE IT BACK TO THE EMPEROR, AND WHATEVER BELONGS TO GOD, WE SHOULD GIVE THAT BACK TO GOD.

THE RELIGIOUS LEADERS WERE TRYING TO MAKE IT APPEAR THAT IT WAS INCOMPATIBLE TO BE A JEW AND PAY TAXES TO A PAGAN EMPEROR WHO CLAIMED TO BE DIVINE. BUT JESUS SHOWED THEM THAT NO SUCH INCOMPATIBILITY EXISTED BECAUSE GOD WAS ULTIMATELY IN CONTROL AND THEIR TRUE ALLEGIANCE WAS TO GOD.

JESUS IS TEACHING THAT CAESAR HAD THE RIGHT TO CLAIM THEIR TAX MONEY, BUT HE HAD NO CLAIM ON THEIR SOULS. ONLY GOD HELD THE RIGHTS ON ETERNITY AND ON THEIR LIVES.

JESUS BOILS IT DOWN TO THE WORD “APODIDOMI” (AH-POD-DID-UH-ME) FOR “RENDER” THAT MEANS “TO GIVE BACK OR TO RETURN TO.” WERE THEY GIVING THEIR LIVE BACK TO GOD? WERE THEY “RENDERING” BACK WHAT TRULY BELONGED TO HIM – THEMSELVES?