The event that led to these words the Lord spoke is recorded in Matthew 22:15-22, Mark 12:13-17, and Luke 20:20-26.  Let’s read the account given in Mark 12:13-17, “And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar’s. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.”

The Lord Jesus was always capable of discerning the intent of the questions He received, and He was always capable of giving the perfect answer to suit the situation.  We are not left to guess the reason for the question the Lord received here, for we just read they wanted, “to catch him in his words.”  It is interesting to notice that it was some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians that approached the Lord here.  The Pharisees represented the religious population and the Herodians represented the political population.  Surely, coming to the Lord from these two perspectives, they would be able to trap the Lord in His words. Many times, in His life on the earth, the enemy sent different ones to try to confuse Him, catch Him in a lie, or try to find any weakness in this perfect Son of God.  Each time, they failed miserably.  Here, as in all the other times, the Lord “perceived their craftiness.”  He knew their hypocrisy.  The Pharisees and the Herodians were bitter enemies, but they found a common bond in their mutual hatred for the Lord.

By using flattery, they hoped to throw Him off His guard. They then questioned the Lord about the legitimacy of paying the civil poll tax paid by all enrolled in the census.  The Jews, being held under control of Rome hated this tax that was imposed upon them.  The Herodians were more tolerant in paying these taxes.  Here, if the Lord condoned these hated taxes, He would distance Himself from the Jews.  If we resisted the tax system, He could be arrested and put into prison.  What to do?  What could He do?

Our omniscient God knew exactly what to say to these tempters.  He asked for a penny, perhaps because He did not even have a penny to use.  The coin and its superscription were constant reminders of the Jew’s unfaithfulness to the Lord.  It was because of that they were under the Roman rule.  Looking at that coin should have humbled these people and caused them to bow their knees in repentance to the Lord. 

The coin bore the image of Rome and therefore they were to obey their Roman oppressors.  Man was created in the image of God and so, we should be faithful to Him who created us, saved us, and blesses us with continual blessings.  (CC)  (679.2)