As you may recall, Jesus previously put the chief priests and elders in a rather precarious position by asking them a question in front of a mixed crowd (Matthew 21:23-27). The religious leaders knew that one answer would upset one group while a different answer would upset a different group—so they said, “We don’t know.”

Now Jesus is the one being asked a question with no right answer. Presumably the Pharisees wanted Jesus to say they should not pay taxes, while the Herodians would insist that Jewish people should pay taxes in support of Rome. (See this article by Susan Pendleton Jones. ) I think it is interesting that the Pharisees brought the Herodians along to ask Jesus about taxes. They’ve done a pretty good job of putting Jesus in an impossible situation.

Except, of course, Jesus gets out of the question with his clever response: “Whose head is on the coin?” After this, both the Pharisees and Herodians go away and leave Jesus alone. Until 12 verses later when a Pharisee who thinks he’s clever comes back to ask Jesus: “Which commandment is the greatest.” Most of chapter 22 is Jesus fielding disingenuous questions from religious and political leaders. Then chapter 23 relates Jesus’ tirade against these leaders: “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites!” Three chapters after that, Jesus will be arrested.

So it seems that Jesus did not so much appease the Pharisees and Herodians with his answer as he irritated—maybe even infuriated—them. Earlier, the chief priests and elders tried to give an answer that wouldn’t upset anyone. Here, even though Jesus gets around giving a direct answer to the Pharisees’ question, he still manages to upset everyone—or at least to upset the two powerful groups who have posed the question.

“Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”

If you’re a Pharisee wanting to argue that Jewish people shouldn’t pay taxes, this is not the answer you want. Because Caesar’s likeness is on the coin, so that means that maybe—probably—they are supposed to pay taxes? If you’re a Pharisee, you also may be a little uncomfortable with the whole “show me the coin” situation, because in addition to Caesar’s face, the coin also would have had his title: Son of God. Many Jews considered even having such coins a form of idolatry. It’s interesting that the text doesn’t specify whether it was one of the Herodians or one of the Pharisees who produced the coin. But Jesus asking to see the coin could have embarrassed any Pharisee who happened to have a denarius in his pocket.

Of course, if you’re a Herodian, Jesus does not give the straight-forward, pro-tax answer you might have been hoping for. Because, really, everything is God’s, so what is Jesus really saying about paying taxes to Rome? Also, in contrasting Caesar and God in this way, Jesus makes a very clear statement that, despite what the coin says, Caesar is not God.

In the past, I’ve read this passage as an example of Jesus keeping himself out of trouble by giving a clever response. But the reality is that Jesus manages to be both blasphemous and traitorous in one fell swoop. He does get the Pharisees and Herodians to leave him alone for a little while. But they will come back—with a vengeance.

Jesus’ response to this question about taxes is not coy and clever; it is honest in recognizing the complexities of living a faithful Jewish life in occupied Roman territory.

It is still complicated to live faithfully within empire. Caesar has power in this world, and it is not power we can simply ignore. But the ultimate power belongs to God—as does our allegiance. So what does that mean about participating in government systems at various levels and in various ways? About paying taxes? About serving in the military? About running for office? About saying the pledge of allegiance?

It is not, as the Pharisees and Herodians thought, an impossible question. But it is, as Jesus acknowledges, a complicated one. May the Spirit guide us as we seek, each day, to give to God the things that are God’s.