seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Mark 12:13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.
Well, that's cool. No fish lost its life during the payment of this tax. A loan was extended, someone gifted Jesus a coin when the Pharisees and Herodians pressed the issue. Matthew the tax man told this story in chapter 22 of his Gospel. Matthew was a tax man so he would notice such ventures. Maybe Matthew was the accountant for the Mission. Tax man turned private accountant is not too farfetched. People do that all the time now.
Jesus had no income. He had to borrow a coin just to show a coin to the Pharisees and Herodians.
I find it interesting, the Pharisees and the Herodians probably paid no taxes either. It's the job of accountants to find every expense and deduction possible to bring the balance due to Ceasar [or the government] to zero due.
Feeding 5,000 men, was an expense. Of course, the accountant would have to show the coin taken out of the fish's mouth as income and the Temple Tax as an expense. Feeding another 4,000 was another expense. He didn't have a vehicle. That donkey He rode into Jerusalem on, was a loan. It was returned promptly so there was no payment due upon return. I guess some tax agent could talk about the provision of transportation as income to be taxed. But there was no income to offset it. He did have twelve disciples [employees] but there were no employment taxes to be paid at that time in history.
Turns out... Jesus was willing to let Ceasar have any taxes that were due. But, based on my observations, His expenses outweighed the income. Maybe the Pharisees and the Herodians left because they realized they owed Jesus more than He owed them! On top of that, maybe those Pharisees and Herodians were expecting Jesus to cower.
The Mission would have had income, expenses, and deductions. Perhaps that's the reason Jesus had Matthew the tax man on His crew! Mark was impressed! They both told the same story. Matthew must have made it real clear for them.
I have heard that a very famous man claims it's stupid to pay taxes.
Jesus wasn't stupid!
