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First Portrait Denarius of Julius Caesar,
issued in January, 44 B.C,
Silver struck coin
© Image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group |
| The chief priests and the scribes and the elders sent to Jesus some Pharisees and some Herodians to catch him out in what he said. These came and said to him, ‘Master, we know you are an honest man, that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you, and that you teach the way of God in all honesty. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay, yes or no?’ Seeing through their hypocrisy he said to them, ‘Why do you set this trap for me? Hand me a denarius and let me see it.’ They handed him one and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they told him. Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’ This reply took them completely by surprise. |
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| Reflection on the Roman Silver Coin
Caesar was the first Roman politician to strike coins with his own portrait during his lifetime, a generally unacceptable act of political arrogance in Rome. By the time of his death in 44 B.C. silver denarii with Caesar’s image were being widely used in Rome and throughout the empire. It is such a coin that Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel reading: Hand me a denarius and let me see it’, continuing ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar’.
Although the approach of the Pharisees is flattering at the beginning of our reading, Jesus realised that He was being tested. Jesus was very clever though and set up His whole strategic argument by asking for a coin: Hand me a denarius and let me see it. At first glance, this may be because Jesus Himself didn’t have such a coin on him. That may have been the case. But by asking one of the chief priests to reach into his purse and produce a Roman coin, it proved that the chief priest was already working with and a beneficiary of the ‘earthly’ Roman government…
by Patrick van der Vorst |  | |
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