Paying Taxes

In their ongoing attempts to get rid of Jesus the leaders tried to trap Jesus by asking him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Luke 20:23-25) Jesus’ response leads us to consider, “What is Caesar’s?” and “What is God’s?” The answers to those two questions will affect how we live, how we pay taxes, and how we give.