NOTES for Mar 12:13-17
Of course, the way this question is put to the Teacher is a provocation. And we see how brilliantly He gets out of the difficult situation (indeed, for Jews the image of a human being is forbidden, and therefore they cannot even touch coins bearing the emperor's profile), but in His answer Jesus goes much further. The question of the relationship between a person's social obligations and his conscience is relevant in every age. Jesus' famous answer (Mark 12:17) leads a person toward an adult, responsible discernment of what in this world corresponds to God's will and what contradicts it. This, perhaps, is the calling to holiness.