Динарий кесарю

Among the modern earthly life of the Lord Savior of the Jews, the sect of the Pharisees stood out. These were special zealots of the ritual law of Moses and took care that it was fulfilled to the smallest detail, and they forgot about the most important thing in the law of God - mercy and truth. And in relation to the performance of rituals, they looked after others more, allowing themselves various benefits and deviations. “They bind,” says the Lord Savior about them, “burdens that are heavy and unbearable and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves do not want to move them with a finger” (Matthew 23:4). Since they especially persecuted the Lord Jesus Christ, this gave Him many opportunities to expose their pride, hypocrisy, contradictions between words and deeds, and the vices of their lives. The Lord denounced them both in parables (about the disobedient and repentant son, about the evil winegrowers, about the marriage of the King’s son) and directly indicating their evil intentions and actions (accusatory speech against the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 23:13..37). After denouncing the Pharisees in the parables (mentioned above), they drew up special advice as to whether it was possible to catch Jesus in any word in order to betray Him to their superiors and even to the authority of the ruler. In order to hide their evil intent, they did not go to Him personally and directly, but sent their disciples with some of the Herodians (adherents of the Roman government who could be witnesses and informers). These, approaching the Lord, began to flatteringly praise Him: “Teacher! We know that You speak truthfully and do not look at face, but teach truly the way of God. Tell us: what do you think, is it permissible for us to give taxes to Caesar or not?” If Jesus had said directly: one must pay, then this answer would not have pleased the people, who were burdened by the Roman power that was ALIEN to them. If He had said: there is no need to pay, then they would have presented Him as a rebel, an opponent of the authorities. Jesus, knowing their wickedness, said: “Why are you tempting Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the coin with which you pay the tax.” They brought Him a denarius. Then Jesus asked them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They told Him "Caesar's." “Therefore,” He said, “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” Thus, the Lord Savior divided and at the same time coordinated responsibilities to God and the king. When the enemies of the Lord Jesus heard, they were amazed at the wisdom of His answer and, leaving Him, went away. Denarius to Caesar. From a painting by Prof. Egorov Alexey Egorovich (1776 – 1851). SPb. Academy of Arts. You might be interested in: