NOTES for Mar 12:13-17

Today's passage is very popular with tax inspectors: it is usually cited as proof that taxes must be paid, that the Savior Himself requires this of us. Meanwhile, the text of the passage says nothing about the necessity of paying taxes. The question is not whether they must be paid, but whether it is permissible to do so.

Such a way of putting the question may seem strange, but in Judea in the Gospel era there were people who considered anyone an apostate who cooperated in any way with the Roman authorities, whom they regarded as occupying forces. And paying taxes, from their point of view, was naturally a form of such cooperation. Of course, we are speaking of representatives of marginal, essentially extremist movements, supporters of holy war, of whom there were nevertheless not so few in Judea at that time.

And the question was unquestionably provocative: to answer it positively meant appearing in the eyes of the radicals as a collaborator; to answer it negatively was the same as a call to revolt, with all the consequences that followed. With "one's own" people the principle was, "you do not ask, and we do not answer," but Jesus, plainly, was not "one of their own" for those who were questioning Him.

And He answers the question in a completely unexpected way, throwing off those who wanted to throw Him off and entangle Him. The meaning of the parable of the denarius, and it is indeed a parable, is quite clear: the Kingdom is not defined by social realities and is not acquired on the paths of political struggle. If the imperial authorities receive their taxes, that fact changes nothing for the Kingdom. Paying taxes is irrelevant to the Kingdom, because the Kingdom cannot be bought with money, or by submission to earthly authorities and human laws. Nor, for that matter, by refusing to submit to those authorities and those laws.