Give Caesar and God What's Theirs

March 5, 2026

Matthew 22:15-22

15 Then the Pharisees met together to find a way to trap Jesus in his words. 16 They sent their disciples, along with the supporters of Herod, to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are genuine and that you teach God’s way as it really is. We know that you are not swayed by people’s opinions, because you don’t show favoritism. 17 So tell us what you think: Does the Law allow people to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
18 Knowing their evil motives, Jesus replied, “Why do you test me, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used to pay the tax.” And they brought him a denarion. 20 “Whose image and inscription is this?” he asked.
21 “Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” 22 When they heard this they were astonished, and they departed.

Daily Reflection & Prayer

Jesus’ enemies kept posing “no-win” questions, hoping either answer would cause him trouble. Taxes were a hot button then as now. Jesus’ response—”Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God”—was a master stroke. One scholar noted that whatever bore Caesar’s image belonged to Caesar. By the same token, anything bearing God’s image belonged to God. * The coins belonged to Caesar, but humans (made in God’s image—Genesis 1:27) ultimately belonged to God.

Jesus recognized obligations to both earthly authorities and to God. He believed fulfilling earthly responsibilities was good as long as they didn’t conflict with spiritual values. Do you face situations that create tension between these two levels of commitment? How can you respond to earthly authorities in ways consistent with your loyalty to the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) as a citizen of Jesus’ kingdom?
Jesus didn’t denounce those trying to trap him. Instead, he showed the weakness of their approach by avoiding simple black-and-white thinking. Others may sometimes test or challenge your beliefs and values as they did with Jesus. Is there someone you know who challenges your faith? How might Jesus’ wise, graceful approach—refusing to accept a false either/or question rather than becoming defensive—change the way you handle that situation?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, guide me to a clear sense of what loyalty to you and your kingdom asks of me. Help me respect earthly authorities, but never more highly than I respect your authority. Amen.

GPS Insights

Janelle Gregory

Janelle Gregory, who serves as Resurrection's Human Resources Lead Director, wrote today's Insights. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.

Working in Human Resources, I have seen a TON of résumés, some better than others. I’m always amazed at how people make entry-level jobs sound like executive positions. Their fast-food restaurant job means that they “strategically facilitated high-volume food distribution in a fast-paced, customer-centric environment.” And listen, I get it, I appreciate people putting their best foot forward when applying for jobs. You know why? Résumés matter. Résumés open doors and demonstrate how we can use our skills and experience to add value to an organization. They tell people what we’ve done, what we’ve achieved, how productive we’ve been as an employee, supervisor, volunteer, etc. These things matter. They are a big part of who we are. But no résumé provides the full picture of who we are.

A resume can’t hold our entire identity. We’re not looking to measure our faithfulness by demonstrating that we have “aligned actions with deeply held values across both ordinary and high-pressure moments” or our compassion by showing that we have “maintained attentive presence through encouragement, hugs, and casseroles.” But we sometimes act like our resumes are our identity. We live in a world where the next question after, “What is your name?” is constantly, “And what do you do?” We begin to find our sense of worth in our titles and our pay rather than who we are as God’s children.

But what we do, what skills we have–those do have a place. We don’t suddenly become economically independent the moment we start following Jesus. Discipleship doesn’t eliminate the need for a paycheck or a place to live. We still have to participate in the systems of this world. We work, we pay our bills, and we contribute to society in meaningful ways. But we’re not defined by them. In his book, Abba’s Child, Brennan Manning penned one of my favorite quotes: “Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion.”

There is deep freedom in keeping what we do and who we are in the right order, because when our identity is rooted in God rather than in our performance, we are free to work with integrity instead of striving for approval. We can succeed without arrogance and allow ourselves to fail without losing who we are. Our jobs, our résumés, those belong to the world. Our identity belongs to God.

References

* John Killinger, A Sense of His Presence (The Devotional Commentary: Matthew). Waco Tx: Word Books, p. 90.

WORSHIP ALERT:

IMPORTANT:

Give Caesar and God What's Theirs

Daily Scripture

Matthew 22:15-22

Daily Reflection & Prayer

Prayer

GPS Insights

Janelle Gregory

© 2026 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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