S44 || Should Christians Pay Taxes? || Mark 12:12-17 || Session 44 || Verse by Verse Bible Study

The religious leaders continue to confront Jesus revealing themselves as failed shepherds, more concerned with public opinion and preserving power than genuinely seeking truth. When they send an unlikely alliance of Pharisees and Herodians to trap Jesus with a seemingly impossible dilemma about paying Roman taxes, they expose their desperation. Their flattering approach – "Teacher, we know you are truthful" – thinly veils their attempt to force Jesus into a political no-win situation.

What happens next has shaped Christian understanding of political engagement for two millennia. Jesus asks for a coin, revealing both his own lack of wealth and creating a powerful teaching moment. "Whose image is on this?" he asks, before delivering his revolutionary answer: "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God." With elegant simplicity, Jesus transcends their false dichotomy, leaving his would-be trappers "amazed."

This passage challenges prosperity gospel teachings (Jesus had no money) and those who equate holiness with poverty (Jesus had no problem with money itself). Instead, it offers a balanced, profound understanding of how believers navigate dual citizenship in earthly kingdoms while maintaining primary allegiance to God's kingdom.

Dive deeper into Mark's gospel with us as we examine how Jesus masterfully teaches eternal truths while deliberately moving toward the cross that will change everything. Subscribe now to continue this journey verse by verse through Scripture.

Chapters

• 0:00 Jesus Forces the Hand of Jewish Leaders
• 3:40 The Problem with False Shepherds
• 6:13 Pharisees and Herodians Join Forces
• 10:00 The Dangerous Trap of Flattery
• 12:30 The Tax Question and Jesus's Response
• 18:15 Giving to Caesar and to God
• 21:04 Episode Closing and Preview

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. My name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We are Reasoning Through the Bible. My name's Glenn, I'm here with Steve. We are Reasoning Through the Bible. We have a ministry where we go chapter by chapter, verse by verse, through the Word of God. Today we're in Mark, chapter 12.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Our Lord Jesus has been in the temple. It's the last week of his life. He is forcing the hand of the Jewish leaders, is forcing the hand of the Jewish leaders and he is making them realize who he is. Prior to this, last week of his life, he was out in the countryside and he would speak in parables and he would intentionally not say things that would give the Jewish leadership ammunition to use against him in a court. But here, as we saw last time, he had the parable of the wicked vine growers, which was very specifically directed against these Jewish leaders. So Jesus is forcing the hand of these Jewish leaders, so he will be arrested and crucified. Jesus is in complete control and these last chapters are very deep, very profound. They're very rich. On the surface they seem very simple, but the more we read them and the more we meditate on them, the more meaning we find. Let's go through this chapter 12. Steve, if you could start at chapter 12, verse 12, and read through verse 17.

Speaker 2: 1:43

And they were seeking to seize him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that he spoke the parable against them, and so they left him and went away. Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to him in order to trap him in a statement. 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? Shall we pay or shall we not pay? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at. They brought one. And he said to them why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at. They brought one, and he said to them Whose likeness and inscription is this? And they said to him Caesar's? And Jesus said to them Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. They were amazed at him.

Speaker 1: 2:41

And, if we remember, in previous sessions they had asked him by what authority are you doing this? He responded by asking them a question about John the Baptist and then sort of made them realize that they were asking him a paradoxical question. Here they come and try to pin him down with a yes or no. Don't dodge the question Jesus, yes or no? Should we pay or should we not? Let's go through this and see exactly what these priests are trying to do and the real, rich answer that he gives.

Speaker 1: 3:16

They had spoken this parable that they understood, which was the wicked vinedressers. He's again forcing the hand of these people. Nothing happens outside of Jesus' control. He is in charge of every situation, including his own death, and that's really what's happening here is Jesus is directly confronting these leaders to make sure that they crucify him. In verse 12, the priest and the scribes and the elders wanted to seize Jesus immediately because they understood this parable that he had just told. However, they didn't act, it says, because they feared the people. True shepherds should not change their message because of concern for what the sheep think. A shepherd should always do what's best for the sheep and not do what the sheep want to hear. That's the first lesson I hear, steve, is that these people were supposed to be the spiritual leaders of the country, but yet they're blowing in the wind of doctrine because of what the sheep want to feel like. I would think that a true shepherd would do what's good for the sheep, and not necessarily what the sheep want to hear.

Speaker 2: 4:30

Well, this is a situation that they're in. They're misleading the people. Jesus has been clear about this. Through his years of ministry he has gone against them because of their Pharisaical Judaism, which has been addition to the Torah, the law of Moses, and all of the conflicts that we've seen have been that. So it doesn't surprise me that they're also in fear of the people because they're in it for their own.

Speaker 2: 5:00

It's pretty obvious that their leadership is one that enriches themselves and one that they take pleasure in. We see more that it's a leadership of oppressing the people. Jesus actually has said that that you've added all these extra rules to the people. It's oppressing them, trying to keep all of these extra pharisaical rules that you've come up with. It doesn't surprise me that they're fearful of the people, because they're not really, in my opinion, true leaders, as you were talking about that are trying to faithfully lead the sheep. They are just trying to enrich themselves. They're trying to make it to a point where they are held above everybody else and live a comfortable life, and that's not the type of leadership that we should have, and I don't think that's the type of leadership that God wants.

Speaker 1: 5:57

That's exactly right. These men were there because of the power and the money that you could make in these positions. They enjoyed the power, enjoyed the wealth. That's what they were doing, and they were not really true spiritual leaders. Let's look at what happens here. In verse 13, it says they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians. Well, who's the they.

Speaker 2: 6:18

This is the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 men, of both Sadducees and Pharisees, and scribes and others, and it was the body that was there to rule over and make judgments over people that was operated there in the temple area. That's the they. It's the Sanhedrin is sending out these different groups to try and trap Jesus.

Speaker 1: 6:44

This entire section of Scripture, this last week of Jesus' life, is a power struggle, a direct power struggle between Jesus and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish leadership, the chief priests, the elders and the people that were running the country. Jesus is in the Temple Mount. He's been teaching, he's been saying these things, so the they, the Sanhedrin, sends out another delegation. This delegation had Pharisees and Herodians. Well, what do we know about?

Speaker 2: 7:14

those two groups. We've mentioned this in some of our earlier sessions. The Pharisees and the Herodians really didn't see eye to eye on things. They were really against each other in their normal lives. The Pharisees were the ones that knew the law and had all of these again extra rules that they had made up. The Herodians were more of a political type of organization. They were the Jewish people that supported Herod and that family as far as rulers over Jerusalem or the area of Judea, the governorship. Well, of course, Herod served at the behest of Rome, so they were more of a political organization, whereas the Pharisees were more of a legalistic organization. They didn't see eye to eye on a normal basis. But here they have a common enemy in jesus christ, the messiah. So now they've joined forces once again to try and trap him and what they perceive to be a tricky question they were actually trying to trap him.

Speaker 1: 8:19

it says in in the verse. So the leadership had sent out another delegation, this time with people that would normally be enemies with each other the Pharisees and Herodians but yet now they're working together to try to trap Jesus. Be the spiritual leaders of the country. These are supposed to be the chief shepherds. Now, a shepherd is supposed to be just that a spiritual leader. They're supposed to be wiser. They're supposed to be more pastoral. They're supposed to be more calm and level-headed and not affected by emotion of any given situation. They're supposed to see through problem situations and counsel people on how to avoid problems and be the wiser. People with more doctrinal knowledge that would be able to sit down and evaluate things. At no point do these people ever come to Jesus and say you know, jesus, you've got some unusual teachings. Let's go into a conference room. We'll sit down and have a lengthy, nice conversation and take an afternoon, have some tea and let you explain at length what you're teaching. We can come to a determination because we just want to learn more about what you're saying so we can make a wise decision.

Speaker 1: 9:39

None of that. It's all public confrontation trying to trap him, trying to catch him in his words. Jesus, remember, had crowds following him, so they were jealous. So that's what they're doing. No pastoral sense here at all. It's more of a theological confrontation and wrestling match. Now, they were not truly seeking truth, they were just trying to trap him. That's the whole goal here. Now, at the beginning of 14, they're saying kind words to him. What are they actually doing when they come up and say these kind words?

Speaker 2: 10:14

They were flattering him. A colloquialism that we have is called to butter him up. They were trying to throw him off balance on the way that they approached to ask the question. You're right, they're trying to trap him and it says there in 13,. They're trying to trap him in a statement. So they're wanting to get him to make a statement that they can then use against him.

Speaker 1: 10:37

The old joke is flattery will get you everywhere, right? We should beware of flattery. We should beware of people that come to us and always telling us how good we are and how much they like our decisions. Flattery works because we are prideful people and we like it when people come to us and stroke our ego. All of us are capable of being tempted by flattery.

Speaker 1: 11:03

I would suggest, if you're a leader if you're a leader in a church position or even a company beware of people that come to you and always tell you things that you've done well and always agree with you. If you're in a leadership position and you never have people that come and disagree with you, or you get upset with people that challenge your decisions or say that well, I'm not sure that's the wisest decisions. I've worked in organizations where the leadership will not allow disagreement and you end up with failing organizations simply because all the people under the leader are just flattering them all the time, trying to get ahead and the organizations never quite do well. We need to beware of flattery and, of course, jesus sees right through this and does not fall for the flattery. So in verse 14, what is their?

Speaker 2: 11:57

question. They say is it lawful to pay a full tax to Caesar or not? Is it permissible, according to the law, to pay this tribute to Rome?

Speaker 1: 12:11

Notice again. Before, when they had asked him about your authority, he didn't give them a straight answer. He said you're not going to answer my question, so I'm not going to answer yours. Well, this time they come and say yes or no, should we pay it or not? They're trying to get him into a yes or no question. That would put him in to get into a paradox. Whichever way he answers, he's going to be in a problem. What is it about this poll tax? Why would they pick that one?

Speaker 2: 12:40

Well, this was a tax that was paid to Rome. They were under Roman occupation. All of their taxes for the Judaism was associated with the temple and it was the temple tax. The coinage for the Romans had images of the Caesars on them, which was considered to be idolatry because it had an image on it. These coins were not ones that were permissible to be used to pay the temple tax. There was the shekel and other Jewish coinage that was used to pay taxes in the temple.

Speaker 2: 13:16

All of this is again, it's to try and pit him and, like it says in 13, trap him in a statement while the people are around him where he makes a public decision Is he going to side with Rome or is he going to side with strictly the Jews, the Judaism? And of course, I think they're thinking, if he sides strictly with Judaism, now they have something to go to the Romans with to say that, hey, he is not submitting to the Roman authority. And I think this is all part of their game that they're playing here with him. They think that through this statement, no matter which way he answers, he's going to make either choose Judaism or he's going to choose Roman. They're just expecting him to make one of the group of the people mad. Either the Jewish people mad because he sided with Rome or the Roman people upset with him because he's not bowing or bending the knee to Rome.

Speaker 1: 14:13

If anything, these Jewish leaders were good politicians and they realized the importance of having a large following. Jesus had a large following. Part of this question is trying to separate Jesus from his followers. If Jesus says, yes, pay the tax, well, people hated that tax, the Jewish people hated it. So he's going to lose some of his followers. If he says, don't pay the tax, as you just said, steve, now they have ammo to go to the Romans and say here's a guy out there teaching that we shouldn't pay tax and the Romans could arrest him. They're trying to box him in, trying to put him in a situation where he can't win.

Speaker 1: 14:52

Jesus asked about whose image or likeness is on the coin. I find this interesting because it had Caesar's image on it. Still today, all the monetary units around the world put a leader's picture on the money, and so we can still make this claim today give to the government what belongs to the government and give to God what belongs to God. It's a very wise and profound answer. The question for us is not really whose image is on our money. The question for us is whose image is on me and whose image is on you? Do we have the image of Christ on us. Are we followers of Christ or are we followers of the government, or something like that? Where do we give our allegiance, Steve? Isn't that really? Where his answer is getting to is where is your allegiance? Are you giving your allegiance to the world, or are you giving your allegiance to the world, or are you giving your allegiance to God?

Speaker 2: 15:50

In verse 15, as he answers, he being Jesus, he says he knows clearly what they're trying to do and their hypocrisy is, I think, what you're talking about. The image of God isn't on them. They're not believers in Jesus as the Messiah. They have rejected him. They've tried to butter him up. That's the hypocrisy part. Butter him up and saying oh, you teach everything in truth, everything about God and truth. They don't respect him. They don't honor him. Their purpose there is to try and entrap him in a statement. So yes, Glenn, what you were just saying is that they are true hypocrites as far as their worship of God.

Speaker 1: 16:36

Jesus says why are you testing me? And he says bring me a coin. Well, I think it's interesting to ask the question why would he ask them to bring a coin? Well, one of the reasons he says bring me a coin is because he didn't have one, a coin. Well, one of the reasons he says bring me a coin is because he didn't have one.

Speaker 1: 16:52

There's people running around the countryside today that tell us that Jesus was very wealthy and he had a lot of lands and this and that. Well, I submit to you Mark, chapter 12, here. He did not have a day's wage in his pocket. He was not a wealthy person because he had to ask to see one. So Jesus, it says in the scriptures, he didn't have a pillow to lay his head. All he had were the clothes on his back and those he lost when he died. Jesus was not wealthy. He had to ask for a coin. Then he asked, of course, whose image or likeness and, of course, the famous line render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's.

Speaker 1: 17:35

This is a great and profound lesson. We, as Christians of all people, should follow the law of the land, all of the secular laws. We should be good citizens. We should never fail to follow our civic duty, even if the taxation is grievous. These people were forced to go way out of their way and do something very repulsive to them to pay this poll tax. Jesus is saying give to the government what belongs to the government. In many of our countries that means paying exorbitant taxes. We are to follow the law. It also means, in many countries, being a good citizen means to be aware of what's going on in the country. Oftentimes we get a chance to vote. We should be informed citizens and do our civic duty, which in many times involves voting for moral candidates that support Christian worldview.

Speaker 1: 18:29

Now we find here that Jesus again didn't have the denarius Vows of poverty. People think that, oh, if you really want to be righteous, then you're going to be poor. There's some priestly groups that say you have to take a vow of poverty. Vows of poverty just don't make anyone more holy or focused on God. Teachers today claim that if we have faith, we're going to be rich. So we have these two extremes. Some people think if you're really holy, you're going to be poor with no money, and other people say if you're really righteous, then you're going to be wealthy. Our example is Jesus. He had no money, but he didn't have any problem with money. He said pay the tax Now. With this answer, we should indeed obey government laws, even if they're burdensome. Steve, any feedback on that?

Speaker 2: 19:23

Back in 15, that mention there. Why are you trying to test me? He didn't mean there by testing his knowledge. The Greek word behind that means to test by soliciting to sin. He's really saying is why is it that you're trying to make me sin? Why are you trying to make me miss the mark with God? It's an answer really of kind of disgust, as he's talking to them as he tells them. Kind of disgust as he's talking to them as he tells them render to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God. It says in 17 that they were amazed, they marveled at his answer, because they couldn't believe that he gave an answer which didn't entrap him one way with either group, with either the Romans or with the people. It's just what you were saying is obey the government where you need to obey the government, but yet still obey God where you need to obey God.

Speaker 1: 20:16

That's really the lesson out of this whole section is our worship should go to God. Our worship should not go to the world or worldly things, and the worldly things belong to the world. Our money system belongs to the world and we should follow the laws and be good citizens, but we do not mix the things of the world and the things of God. We do not give our worship to the world and we don't bring the world into the church. The next section is going to be quite deep, so in order to catch all of that next time, we're going to stop here for today, but I hope you're enjoying these sessions because as we reason through the Gospel of Mark, we're getting increasingly valuable gold nuggets as we go along.

Speaker 2: 21:04

This is a section here, glenn, that again, jesus has gone in and entered into Jerusalem at the time of the Passover. So all of these depictions here of the leadership coming to him and testing him we're going to talk about that in our next session, what that means in relation to Passover. Join us again next time on Reasoning Through the Bible, as always. Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.