As part of a training session for ministry apprentices I facilitated this year, I asked the following questions:
How could a genuine Bible-believing follower of Jesus vote for them?!
When I become a Christian, do I have to vote a certain way?
How would Jesus vote?
We’ve probably all asked one of those questions or all of those questions at some point in our lives. Jesus, himself was cornered by political activists and asked to choose a side.
Mark 12:13-17
Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax[a] to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.
Jesus had been teaching on the Kingdom of God followed by cleaning out the temple of all the money changers and people selling animals. The religious leaders were left shaken. Who is this man and how do we deal with him?
To determine how to best attack him they had to know if he was truly a spiritual person or not and if he was a political revolutionary. On those two fronts they then proceeded to undermine him. Two factions from opposite sides of the political spectrum, both threatened by Jesus.
AND HE SAW RIGHT THROUGH IT.
Who’s image is on the coin? Caesar's
WHAT bears the image of God? PEOPLE
Soo … give yourself to God.
mic drop
Tim Keller preached a sermon on this very passage. I highly recommend it. You can listen to it here. Or read his New York Times article here.