Who Are You Loyal To?

Who are you loyal to?

Mark 12:13-17

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

13 Then they * sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. 14 They came and said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? 15 "Shall we pay or shall we not pay?" But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a 1denarius to look at." 16 They brought one. And He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" And they said to Him, "Caesar's." 17 And Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at Him.

Jesus' statements about paying taxes to the Roman government bring up some interesting questions about His attitude toward the Romans.

The first item to examine is why was using a Roman coin considered idolatry. The Roman government of Jesus's day believed in idolatry. The Emperor considered himself to be a god. The Roman coins had the image of the Emperor on the coin. The creation of a graven image of God is forbidden. This command can be found in the Ten Commandments. Therefore, using a coin with the image of a false god was unacceptable to the Jews of that day. Therefore, Jesus said that the coin with the Emperor's picture was a Roman coin that the Jews should give willingly because it represented idolatry. Judean coins did not have an image of a person on them.

Even though the Hebrew people would not give the Emperor that reverence, they still lived under his rule. The people of Judea and the Galilee were not happy to be under pagan control. They learned to accept the oppression of Rome. In 66 CE and 135 CE, the Hebrew people attempted a revolt against Roman rule and suffered. Jesus knew that a rebellion would fail. The Roman Empire was too mighty, and they had experience dealing with insurgencies. Therefore, by Jesus saying, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar," he said that the people needed to consent to their situation.

However, they also needed to remember giving the LORD what the LORD expected of them. Whether it be the tithe or service to the LORD, it also needed to be done. Today we serve Jesus, and we serve the country we live in. The government has fines and penalties that make us follow the laws of the land. The LORD's law must also be observed. There may be no penalty for not following the LORD's law while living on Earth, but there will be a penalty to pay or repent for when the day of judgment occurs.

Suppose you are not following the Laws of the LORD through Jesus's teaching. In that case, you must consider asking for forgiveness for your decisions and start following the ways of God.

The second item to examine is that there are obligations that we must follow because of the government in which we live, and there are obligations to God. The Jewish people were scattered by the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions. The Jewish people had to learn to live within the walls of foreign nations. For the people to survive, they had to learn to obey the laws of the land. Judea was their homeland during Jesus' day; however, it was a conquered land. Therefore, the people had to learn to live under that government. It was not easy since the Roman world was a pagan world. The LORD ensured that His people did survive that challenge and many other challenges throughout history.

Let's spend a moment looking at this situation from a different point of view. Some things belong to the Emperor, and some to God are a misnomer. Everything belongs to God. So, the Emperor did not understand that fact. Psalm 24 reminds us that the Earth was created by God and belongs to God. We are simply stewards of the planet and its resources. We owe everything to God. While on Earth, we must show allegiance to the human powers, but our ultimate and more profound dedication is to God.

It sometimes may be confusing throughout our lives as to which allegiance to follow. A way to determine this is to ask, does your dedication follow the Laws of God. An overused example is kids' sports on Sunday morning. When a parent decides that Sunday sports are more important than worshiping God, they signal to their children and God that their allegiance is to earthly manners first. Each of us must make the decision as to where our loyalties are. Which side of the coin are you on? Are you on God's side or an earthly side?