[The Glory Unveiled]
And he [Jesus] asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” ( Matthew 22:20-21 )
The Herodians and the disciples of the Pharisees had been sent to engage Jesus in a discourse. Though at face value they brought up the issue of payment of taxes, the ulterior motive that incited this conversation was to trap Jesus in his words. Now, the question was whether or not taxes should be paid to Caesar? Jesus requested that the coin used for the payment be brought to him and then he asked the questions above. Now the statement, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” gives us a platform to explore the subject matter in a spiritual context. Jesus asked them to give back to Caesar what he had imprinted his portrait [image] and inscription [signature] on. We would all agree that is a very logical thing to do. If he had his image on the money, then the money should return to him as the owner. But here is the central message in the text of scripture above, “….and to God what is God’s.” So the question then would be, what is God’s? To answer this we need to refer to the premise upon which the statement was made—Caesar’s portrait and inscription. So that if the taxes should be paid to Caesar because he had his image on the money for the payment, then we should also give to God anything that has his image on it. Genesis 1:27 says God created us in His image and likeness. That means He has put his signature and identity on us. So to give God what belongs to God means we must give ourselves to God (Romans 12:1). Giving back to God what is God’s means presenting ourselves to God as living sacrifices; that way, we would have paid our due taxes. Whose image is on us? Let us present ourselves to the one whose image we bear.
Prayer_Bead: My Father and my God, thank you for putting your image on me. I present myself to you as a living sacrifice, use me for your purpose and glory.
#GNews: Unveiling the glory of God.