What I thought was an interesting insight during a conversation with a friend:

I asked then, "If we know that our system is crooked, then why support it? Why pay the taxes and allow the authority to continue to be in authority? Can we stop it? Could we? Should we? If God is in charge, then why tow the line?"

"Hey, you gotta render unto Caesar, man. Like the Good Book says." And that line echoed through my head.

I remember reading about that scene when I was a kid, thumbing through the only book with anything halfway worth reading in it. (a "Thank you Guest for Joining Us in Fellowship" brochure and "Hymnal for Bountiful Worship" were the alternatives.)

I remember how the pharisees thought they had Jesus trapped. He was either going to be unpopular with the People, or with the State, depending upon how he answered. They wanted Jesus to make a stand on the Emperor's taxes. The people were against them, the Messiah would be there to liberate them from taxation. The Roman Empire was fairly clear in its stand on tax evasion: in ancient Rome, if you evaded taxes, it was permanently.

So there were those pharisees, thinking they had Jesus cornered, but he was all calm, cool and clear-headed. He asked them to hand him one of THEIR coins and held it up saying, "Whose image is this and whose inscription?"

The pharisees responded.."Well..Caesar's...duh!"

And I bet Jesus got a slight grin on his face at that point. Because well, what he was about to say was funny on so many different levels that I can't imagine anyone that was in on it..not finding the entire thing worth at least a smile.

Jesus said, "Then, give to Caesar those things that are Caesar's, and to God those things that are God's." And they were amazed at that and left him. And that's how the story goes.

But see, I'm not sure who exactly got it. Today that phrase is everyone's justification for separation of state and religion (fair enough) when I'm not sure if that's everything (or even anything at all) that Jesus wanted to get across.

In almost all of Jesus' parables and examples, money represents our potential..what we do with the days that we have. Why shouldn't that be the case here as well? Why couldn't he be talking about the potential of the person being addressed? If that's what he were talking about, then isn't the question about the coin: "Whose image is this and whose inscription?" really a call to reflect upon whose image one's potential is currently being molded into, and in whose service it's currently being used?

Jesus asked them to hand him THEIR coin. He asked them to tell him what THEY saw. With that perspective in mind, the coin becomes a mirror in a very real sense. What does each of US see? Coin of the State? Or of the Universal Spirit?

In that light, it's as if his response then, was "If you belong to the world of men and their empires..then by all means..spend your moments supporting man's reign over the days of your life. But if you belong to God, then support God's reign over those days."

daf

"Whose image is this and whose inscription?"
"...those things that are God's."

Stellar insight bringing new depth to a story I thought I knew.

Let there be light! And there it is.

Maria

Thanks Maria. It was a nice thing to see. Someone really opened a lot of doors to understanding texts (from all sorts of Paths) when we started discussing symbolism in the mystical tradition.

I can't imagine how we came to think that the Bible instructs us to "support the system" in so many different ways.
(wink wink nudge nudge)

But hey, that's the Tradition right?


daf

P.S. If you get the chance, I'll be posting a completely different view of authority in Thoughts on Exploration. It might be that some words are simply mirrors, and that I'm seeing my own authority issues reflected there. But first..the pizza recipe!