Matthew 17:24-27
The Temple Tax
24After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"
25"Yes, he does," he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?"
26"From others," Peter answered.
"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27"But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
Matthew 22:15-22
Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”
18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
22 When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.
Jesus never spoke much of politics, but when asked about paying taxes He had His views...Jesus knows the Kingdom of God is greater than any kingdom or country...He did not directly get involved in the politics during His time on earth...But when ask about taxes He did have a view...
Jews were to pay taxes both locally to the Jewish temple and to the government in Rome...Matthew wrote about Jesus thoughts and views on paying these taxes...So when Jesus asks Peter about kings do not collect taxes from their sons, He is claiming to be the Son of God...Jesus knew that he wasn’t obligated to pay God to be His Father...Jesus accepted as being His Son it was a gift...We do not have to pay a tax to be children of God...God LOVE is a free gift, a gift of His Grace, we can trust Him to also provide our basic needs and daily bread...And when the Pharisees came to Him with a similar question of paying taxes to Caesar He asked to see the coin to pay the imperial tax...The Pharisees brought him a denarius, and He asked them, “Whose image is this?...And whose inscription?”...“Caesar’s,” they replied...Then He said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”...When they heard this, they were amazed...So they left him and went away...
C. S. Lewis said in his letter to Don Giovanni Calabria on August 10, 1953 said the he thought al the crimes which Christians have perpetrated against each other arise from this, that religion is confused with politics...
Author Philip Yancey wrote, "I see the confusion of politics and religion as one of the greatest barriers to grace...C. S. Lewis once said that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics...Politics, which always runs by the rules of ungrace, allures us to trade away grace for power, a temptation the church has often been unable to resist."...