20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.
21 Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: 22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, [a]“Why do you test Me? 24 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?”
They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”
25 And He said to them, “Render[b] therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.
Luke 20:20-26
The Pharisees: is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? The Sanhedrin sent spies to test and attempt to outwit God. How blinding worldly power is! When Jesus asks “Why do you test me?” In these verses, I wonder if it was rhetorical or if He was genuinely curious as to how blind they truly were. He knew the answer, of course.
They asked Jesus if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. If He answered “no” they would have a case against Him with Rome. Instead, He asked for a Denarius, asked them to admit whose likeness was upon it, and stated “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and render unto God that which is God’s.”
The spies marveled at His response, yet still they did not truly believe.
