One beautiful thing about the teachings of Jesus was that they are timeless and never outdated. The trap set up for him in the gospel of today created an opportunity for him to give a teaching that will always be binding to all. The Pharisees and the Herodians were two opposing factions. The former believed that only God deserves tax payment, but the latter who belonged to the party of King Herod owed tribute to Caesar, the Roman Emperor. So, both parties asked Jesus “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” If Jesus answered either way, he would be faulted. Jesus replied: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” This is an ultimate standard. Every Christian has dual responsibility. As a citizen of a country, we have our civic duties like voting and tax payment which we should carry out. But we are also potential citizens of heaven, and as such should take our religious lives seriously as well. So, failure in good citizenship is failure in Christian duty. However, every Christian should willingly do God’s will whenever these two responsibilities clash.   

Prayer: Lord Jesus, give us the wisdom to realise that the good of our society is also as important as our religious responsibilities. Amen.