Psalm 104:1 Bless Adonai, my soul!
Adonai, my God, you are very great;
you are clothed with glory and majesty,
2 wrapped in light as with a robe.
You spread out the heavens like a curtain,
3 you laid the beams of your palace on the water.
You make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind.
4 You make winds your messengers,
fiery flames your servants.
5 You fixed the earth on its foundations,
never to be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep like a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
at the sound of your thunder they rushed away,
8 flowing over hills, pouring into valleys,
down to the place you had fixed for them.
9 You determined a boundary they could not cross;
they were never to cover the earth again.
24 What variety there is in your works, Adonai!
How many [of them there are]!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creations.
35 May sinners vanish from the earth
and the wicked be no more!
Bless Adonai, my soul!
Halleluyah!
Hebrews 5:1 For every cohen gadol taken from among men is appointed to act on people’s behalf with regard to things concerning God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and with those who go astray, since he too is subject to weakness. 3 Also, because of this weakness, he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor upon himself, rather, he is called by God, just as Aharon was.
5 So neither did the Messiah glorify himself to become cohen gadol; rather, it was the One who said to him,
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”[Hebrews 5:5 Psalm 2:7]
6 Also, as he says in another place,
“You are a cohen forever,
to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.”[Hebrews 5:6 Psalm 110:4]
7 During Yeshua’s life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions, crying aloud and shedding tears, to the One who had the power to deliver him from death; and he was heard because of his godliness. 8 Even though he was the Son, he learned obedience through his sufferings. 9 And after he had been brought to the goal, he became the source of eternal deliverance to all who obey him, 10 since he had been proclaimed by God as a cohen gadol to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.
Mark 12:12 They set about to arrest him, for they recognized that he had told the parable with reference to themselves. But they were afraid of the crowd, so they left him and went away.
13 Next they sent some P’rushim and some members of Herod’s party to him in order to trap him with a sh’eilah. 14 They came and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you tell the truth and are not concerned with what people think about you, since you pay no attention to a person’s status but really teach what God’s way is. Does Torah say that taxes are to be paid to the Roman Emperor, or not?” 15 But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why are you trying to trap me? Bring me a denarius so I can look at it.” 16 They brought one; and he asked them, “Whose name and picture are these?” “The Emperor’s,” they replied. 17 Yeshua said, “Give the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor. And give to God what belongs to God!” And they were amazed at him. (Complete Jewish Bible).
A story of the United Kingdom struggle to keep the kingdom fulfilled having trouble so they imposed taxes with American Colonies being troubled in 18th Century. This is an opening story with a relationship with today's Scripture Text.
Now, we go to the text about paying taxes by the oppressed nations to the ruling Roman Empire.
The comparison of Herodians and the Pharisees.
They asked Jesus a question about paying taxes to the ruling power.
A political question? as well as a practical question?
Do we go along with powers to be or to rebel against them.
Jesus speaks the truth of God.
Jesus asked them to bring him a denarius.
Jesus asked whose Image and whose Description.
Image of Caesar and the description is Caesar the emperor and son kf god.
Flash forward to the words on the cross of Jesus saying the King of the Jews and the Son of God.
Jesus response was to give to Caesar what belongs to him and give to God what belongs to him.
Because of God's Grace, we become the currency of God.
Jesus brings this tension giving to us an option that was not initially presented.
God never gives a yes or no answer, but we need to work out our relationship with our Creator. This is not only with our Horizonal relationship but in our vertical relationships.
God does not want to dictate to us, but be in relationship with us.
God invites us to invite His Spirit within us in full relationship with Him.
Our response is in singing the Hymn O Be Like Thee.
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