Luke showed how the religious leaders' antagonism was intensifying against Jesus. This was another attempt to discredit Him (cf. vv. 1-8). Luke may have included it also because it shows that Jesus did not teach hostility toward the state. The early Christians likewise suffered because of false accusations that they opposed their government, but this was generally untrue.
20:20 Luke revealed the motives of Israel's leaders on this occasion more clearly than the other evangelists did. They watched for and made opportunities to trap Jesus. The Greek word egkathetos, translated "spy,"means one hired to lie in wait. A private detective or secret agent might be closer to the ancient equivalent than a military spy. These spies feigned righteous behavior though their real purpose was to get Jesus to say something for which they might accuse Him before Pilate, the Roman governor. Later they resorted to telling Pilate that Jesus taught the people not to pay their taxes (23:2), but that was a lie.
20:21-22 The spies' preamble was both flattering and devious (cf. Acts 24:2-3). They claimed to accept Jesus' teaching and to desire a clarification of a point of law. Probably they hoped that their preamble would give Jesus a feeling of self-confidence that would lead to a foolish answer. They wanted to know if Jesus believed that the Mosaic Law required the Jews to pay taxes (Gr. phoros, a general word for tribute) to the occupying Romans. They thought that if Jesus said yes He would alienate the common people, especially the Zealots, who objected strongly to paying. If Jesus said no, He would incur the wrath of Rome, and the Sanhedrin could tell Pilate that He taught the people not to pay their taxes.
20:23-25 Jesus perceived the malicious intentions of His questioners rather than falling before their flattery. He proceeded to lead them into a trap of His own. He used an object lesson to reinforce and clarify His answer rather than side-stepping the controversial question. He answered by appealing to principle.
The Roman denarius bore the image of Caesar, probably that of Tiberius (14-37 A.D.) at this time. The image indicated that the money ultimately belonged to him and the government that he headed and represented. He had issued it, though, of course, in another sense it belonged to the person who currently possessed it. The fact that the Jews used Roman money indicated that Rome ruled over them. This rule involved providing services for them as well as extracting payment for those services from them. Therefore the demand for taxes was legitimate.
Jesus added that His questioners and all people who bear the image of God should also give Him what is His due, namely their worship and service (cf. Rom. 13:1-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-17). Roman coins also bore inscriptions claiming that the emperor was divine.448Jesus repudiated that idea by referring to God as the person to whom people owed their primary allegiance.
Jesus was not setting up two parallel and separate realms in which He wanted people to live, namely the political and the spiritual. Rather He was showing that paying earthly rulers what is their due is only a logical extension of paying the heavenly Ruler what is His due. The earthly political sphere lies within the larger spiritual sphere. When political and spiritual responsibilities conflict, we must give precedence to our larger spiritual responsibility (cf. Acts 5:29).
"Jesus is not a political revolutionary who rails against Rome, nor is he an ardent nationalist. . . .
"This text is the closest to a political statement Jesus makes. . . . In many ways Jesus' handling of this question shows that he is not interested in the political agenda of changing Rome. He is not a zealot. He is more interested that Israel be a people who honor the God they claim to know than being concerned with their relationship to Rome."449
20:26 Jesus' answer in verse 25 has become so commonplace to us that we fail to appreciate the impact it must have had on those who heard it for the first time. Jesus' critics could not criticize either His logic or His statement. Wisely they kept quiet (cf. 14:6; 20:40), a fact that only Luke noted. Luke also drew attention to their failure to "catch"(NIV "trap,"Gr. epilambanomai) Jesus, which he earlier identified as their purpose (v. 20).
This teaching would have been helpful to Luke's original readers who, as all Christians do, had responsibilities to pagan political authorities as well as to God.
