URC Daily Devotion for Monday, 10 August 2026

Mark 12:13–17
 
Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said.  And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.” 1And they brought one. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.”  Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.

Reflection

Since, at least, the beginning of recorded history, levying a duty on the movement of goods or people has been one of the more important ways of raising money for public or state spending. In Jesus’ time, it certainly wasn’t anything new or particularly contentious, at least in principle—though the Roman practice of tax farming (selling tax franchises) was deeply unpopular. In any case, then as now, most people would pay, however grudgingly, provided they got something in return. The list in the Life of Brian of what the Romans had done for the Palestinians is a good one: aqueducts; sanitation; irrigation; education; medicine and public health; law and order… and of course roads. These all benefitted everyone and were paid for roughly in proportion to people’s wealth.

But some taxes were charged on everyone, regardless of their ability to pay – just like the short-lived Community Charge in 1989/90 in this country: poll taxes. The Temple tax, which had to be paid with special, supposedly pure, coinage, was one such. The Roman tax that the Pharisees and Herodians ask Jesus about was another one, a standard charge payable by everyone, which went directly into the imperial exchequer and could therefore legitimately be seen as directly paying for the Roman occupation.

So the test question to Jesus is really: “Does God require us, the chosen people, to pay for our own oppression and the occupation of the promised land?”

If Jesus says ‘yes’, then he undermines his own teaching about forgiveness, redemption and the coming Kingdom, because the implication is that the Roman occupation is a punishment from God; if he says ‘no’, then he speaking sedition: advocating civil disobedience and provoking a Roman backlash. Either way, he loses.

The trick question is called out – and then gets a remarkable and yet remarkably common-sense answer: if you focus on giving God what is due to God, then you will see that paying the emperor’s tax is really an irrelevance.

Prayer

Lord, 
when I grumble about high taxation, 
remind me that our public services 
depend on everyone paying their fair share; 
and when I would like to be able to opt out 
of paying for some aspects of government spending, 
teach me again what truly matters 
is giving my life to God. Amen.