Winning arguments, losing Friends

“Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?" Mt 22:17

The tax rate in the Palestine of Jesus’ day was high. Occupied by Rome, Jews had to pay a poll tax, equivalent to a day’s wage, an income tax of one percent and a ground tax that demanded they give 10% of all grain to their Roman rulers and 20% of all wine and fruit. Some scholars suggest that by the time the poor paid all their taxes it amounted to almost 40% of their income!

It was no surprise that the Pharisees and Herodians, enemies in most things, used the issue of taxes to try to entrap Jesus. If Jesus agreed that the taxes should be paid he would be accepting the legitimacy of the Roman occupation and offending the leaders of the Jews. If he suggested Jews should not pay taxes, he might please the poor who were so heavily taxed, but would expose the Jewish community to punishment by the  Romans who ruled Israel.

Jesus escapes the trap by asking for a coin. That the leaders of the Jews had a Roman coin was an offense in itself since it bore the image of Caesar and the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, Augustus, son of the divine Augustus, high priest.” The Romans demanded that taxes be paid in Roman currency and for a Jew to have any currency bearing the image of someone who claimed divinity made him or her unclean. Jesus has turned the tables on the Pharisees and Herodians. To both of his adversaries he suggests they are more concerned with winning silly arguments than pleasing God. Is this still true of us?

Today, ask for the grace to listen to others with reverence.

Have you fallen into the trap of trying to trip others up?