This week’s Gospel reading presented one of my favorite moments in the New Testament because this is one of my favorite scenes reenacted in the famous musical “Godspell.” It’s the story where Jesus replies to the Herodians and the Pharisees as they try to trick Jesus and make him stumble over his words asking “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” They awaited Jesus's response in anticipation for what he would say. Jesus couldn’t say “No.” because he would be accused of being treacherous to Rome. Meanwhile, if he simply said “Yes” then he would cease to be popular among the massive Jewish community, meaning he would lose many followers. Jesus knew their ill intentions from the get-go and simply replied “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?” and demanded that they give him one of their coins. He then asked for the name of the man whose face was on the coin they gave him. These men were bewildered because this was a rather obvious question. So they answered, “It’s Caesar’s.” It was then where Jesus flips the question on its head answering them plainly “Give Caesar what you owe to Caesar, but give God what you owe God.”
The final response Jesus gave to those men was brilliant because it gave them an answer that was somehow both unsatisfying and satisfying without ever answering the initial question they asked. It actually poses a brand new one: What do we owe God?