You Belong to Jesus

Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

He 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 20:22-25

This Sunday, we're in Luke 20.

In this passage, Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders who are trying to trap him. After flattering him with kind words, they ask, "Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

It's a clever question.

If Jesus says paying taxes to Caesar is right, he'll alienate many of the Jews who resent Roman rule. If he says it's wrong, he'll give the Romans a reason to arrest him.

But Jesus asks them to show him a coin.

Whose image is on it?

Caesar's.

Then Jesus replies, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

In one simple statement, Jesus says something profound, not only about money but about you and me.

The coin bore Caesar's image, so it belonged to Caesar.

But whose image do you bear?

If you look at a dollar bill, you'll find the image of George Washington, our nation's first president. Totally epic.

But if you look into a mirror, what do you see?

A good answer would be… well… you!

But in light of Jesus' words, another answer is—the image of God.

The money in your wallet doesn't really belong to you. Eventually, it will be spent, passed along, or left behind. Like the kingdoms that minted it, it will fade away.

It can be received and given away because, ultimately, it isn't ours.

But you are different.

You carry God's image. You bear his name. You belong to him.

So give him yourself. All of yourself.

Unlike money, which is exchanged for something of equal value, when we give ourselves to Jesus we receive something infinitely more precious. We receive freedom: freedom from ourselves, freedom from striving, freedom from guilt, freedom from sin, and even freedom from death.

Paul writes in Galatians 2, "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."

To Paul, every part of life belonged to Jesus. Even death was an entry to being with and like Jesus.

Then in Romans 8 he declares that "neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Friends, as we gather this Sunday, I want to remind us of this simple truth:

We belong to Jesus.

And if we belong to him, then let us give ourselves to him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Who knows what God might do with a room full of people fully surrendered to his loving power?

Grace and peace,
Benjamin Finley