The Things That Are God’s (22:15–22)
Genesis begins with a statement that sets Israel apart from all surrounding cultures: human beings are created in the image of God (Gen 1:26–27). The Hebrew word is tselem (“image, likeness”), and the LXX translates it as εἰκών (eikōn). In the ancient Near East, images of gods and kings were not just decoration; they symbolized the presence and authority of deities and rulers. Egypt and Mesopotamia viewed the king as the image of the deity, carrying divine authority in the world. Israel’s scriptures democratize this idea: not just the king, but every human being bears that image.
That tradition stands behind one of the questions Jesus asks in the Temple.
The Pharisees and Herodians, enemies united by their goal of trapping him, pose what seems to be an unanswerable question: is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? If he answers yes, he risks alienating Jewish nationalists; if he answers no, he risks arrest. Jesus calls them hypocrites (ὑποκριταί) before giving any answer, which is Matthew’s unique touch. Then he asks them to produce the coin used for the tax. They bring a denarius, the Roman tribute coin bearing Caesar’s image.
Jesus asks a question of his own:
“Whose image and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (22:20–21).
The Greek word for “image” is εἰκών, the same term used in Genesis 1:26–27 in the LXX. The coin bears Caesar’s εἰκών and belongs to Caesar. Human beings bear God’s εἰκών. This logic goes beyond the coin: give Caesar what bears his image, and give God what bears his, which is the total human being.
Jesus completely reframes the question. The Pharisees asked about tribute, but he responds with a more probing question: to whom do you belong?
We often pay close attention to the first half of Jesus’s reply while giving the second half much less thought. We understand what to render to Caesar. The more important question is whether we are offering our full selves to God as his image bearers. It’s possible to structure your entire life around earthly responsibilities, ambitions, and approval, and call it responsible living. But the coin belongs to Caesar because it bears Caesar’s image. Everything that bears God’s image rightfully and completely belongs to God.
David’s Lord (22:41–46)
Matthew carefully arranges the final days of Jesus’s Jerusalem ministry as a series of confrontations. The religious authorities try to trap him with questions about taxes, resurrection, and the law. Jesus answers each challenge skillfully. Then he asks his own question, leaving them completely silent.
The question involves Psalm 110. This detail is more important than most people realize. Psalm 110 is the most quoted or alluded to Old Testament chapter in the entire New Testament. The early church repeatedly turned to this psalm to understand who Jesus is and what he is doing now.
Jesus quotes the opening verse:
The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” (Matt. 22:44).
Then he asks:
“If David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matt. 22:45).
The riddle compels its listeners to understand what the psalm reveals. Yahweh speaks to someone whom David addresses as “my Lord.” If this psalm is messianic, and Jesus and his contemporaries interpreted it as such, then David acknowledges the Messiah as his Lord. A king does not call his descendant Lord. The opposite happens: sons honor their fathers, and descendants honor their ancestors. Yet here is David, the greatest king in Israel’s history, calling the Messiah his Lord.
The riddle shows that the Messiah goes beyond human lineage. Yes, he is from David’s line. Matthew has carefully traced that genealogy in his opening chapter. But David’s son is also David’s Lord. He has an authority and status that surpasses royal inheritance.
The image from Psalm 110 depicts enthronement. Yahweh invites this Lord to sit at his right hand, the position of ultimate authority. He waits while God defeats his enemies. He rules from the heavenly throne.
Matthew returns to this image at the very end of his Gospel. The crucified and risen Jesus declares:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18).
The person who posed the riddle now says it has been fulfilled. He sits enthroned at God’s right hand.
The answer to the riddle changes how we interpret everything that follows in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus does not go to the cross as a defeated prophet. He goes as the enthroned Lord whose enemies will be put under his feet. The passion is not the end of his authority but the journey through which that authority is revealed and exercised.
No one could answer the riddle (Matt. 22:46). The answer stood before them. David’s Lord had come.
I find myself quite convicted this morning about the amount of time and energy I expend on the “things belonging to Caesar;” that is, politically and cultural news, trying to keep informed about the goings on of this current administration. Instead, I have felt for some time, I need to limit my intake and use my time and focus better on those bearing God’s image. I don’t think I would have quite framed it that way before today’s devotional. Thanks Father Michael for challenging us to love the cruciform life!
Psalm 110 must have been one of the key passages that Jesus depended upon as he “read scripture backward” to fully grasp his own mission and to give himself freely and fully to the rejection and suffering his crucifixion/enthronement would entail.
After successfully countering the “ snake debate questions” of the Pharisees and Sadducees, He silenced them by modeling his backward reading of scripture for the religious elite, before he ever did it for the two on the road to Emmaus.
Even though I think I would’ve been one of the “foolish disciples” who needed to ask another question because I didn’t understand what Jesus was saying, Matthew seems to imply in verse 46 that the “Scripture specialists” clearly understood because “no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”
It’s not hard to see the battle lines drawn, and feel the hardness of their heart.
Oh Lord, convict me of the hardness of my heart when Your Living Word confronts me with the lies I am believing.