Our responsibility, Our confidence and Our response

There's a profound question that has echoed through the centuries, one that Jesus himself addressed when religious leaders tried to trap him with their clever words: What do we owe to the powers of this world, and what do we owe to God?

This question isn't merely academic. It touches the very core of how we live each day—how we navigate our responsibilities, where we place our confidence, and ultimately, how we love.

The Coin and the Image

Picture the scene: Religious leaders approach Jesus with flattery dripping from their lips. They butter him up with compliments about his honesty and impartiality, all while setting a trap. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

They think they have him cornered. If he says yes, the people will turn against him for supporting Roman oppression. If he says no, the authorities will arrest him for sedition. Either way, they believe, Jesus loses.

But Jesus, seeing through their malice, asks for a coin. "Whose image is on it?" he inquires. "Caesar's," they respond. His answer cuts through their scheming with elegant simplicity: "Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God."

The brilliance of this response extends far beyond the immediate political question. Yes, we have earthly responsibilities—to governments, to authorities, to the structures that organize our society. Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 both affirm that we are called to honor those in governing authority over us, not because they are perfect, but because their authority ultimately comes from God.

This means respectful speech, submission to lawful commands, prayer for leaders, and faithful citizenship. Unless human law directly contradicts God's law, we are called to obey.

But the deeper question remains: What bears God's image?

Created in His Likeness

Unlike Caesar's face stamped on metal, God's image is imprinted on something far more precious—humanity itself. From the very beginning, Scripture tells us, "Let us make man in our image." We were created with moral, spiritual, and relational capacity that nothing else in creation possesses.

Sin marred that image, distorting the reflection we were meant to be. But through Christ, we are being transformed back into that image. Second Corinthians 3:18 promises that we "are being transformed into the same image"—the image of Christ himself.

If we belong to God because we bear his image, and especially if we are followers of Christ, then what do we give back to him?

The answer is beautifully, terrifyingly simple: everything.

Our time, our resources, our money, our very selves—it all belongs to him. We may think we own 99% for God and keep 1% for ourselves, but even that math fails. Everything we have, everything we are, belongs to the One who created us and redeemed us.

The God of the Living

The religious leaders weren't finished. The Sadducees—who didn't believe in resurrection—came next with an elaborate scenario designed to make the concept of resurrection look ridiculous. They posed a question about a woman married to seven brothers in succession, asking whose wife she would be in the resurrection.

Jesus's response cuts to the heart of their unbelief: "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God."

This is stunning. These were religious experts, people who studied Scripture constantly. Yet Jesus tells them they don't truly know it. More significantly, they don't know God's power.

Then Jesus quotes from Exodus, from the very books the Sadducees accepted as authoritative: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Not "I was," but "I am."

God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had physically died many years prior, yet God speaks of them in the present tense. They are alive because God has the power to give life beyond physical death.

This truth should shake us awake. The same God who has the power to raise the dead is the God we serve. If he can conquer death itself—the ultimate human enemy—is there anything in your life he cannot handle?

Your financial crisis? Your broken relationship? Your health struggle? Your fear about the future? The God who raises the dead has the power to address every single one of these.

Now, having the power to change our circumstances doesn't mean he always will in the way we expect. But it does mean we can trust him completely, knowing that nothing is beyond his ability.

The Greatest Commandment

Finally, an expert in the law posed what he thought was an unanswerable question: "Which is the great commandment in the law?"

With over 600 commandments in Jewish tradition, debates must have raged endlessly about which was most important. Surely Jesus would alienate someone with his answer.

Instead, Jesus distilled everything into two commands: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Notice the common thread: love.

The first four of the Ten Commandments deal with our relationship with God. The last six deal with our relationships with each other. Jesus simply summarized them all: love God completely, love others genuinely.

But here's the crucial insight: you cannot get the second right without getting the first right. If you try to love others without first loving God with everything you are, you'll fail. But when you truly love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, love for others naturally flows from that relationship.

Our Response

So where does this leave us? We've explored our responsibility before God and humanity. We've considered the power of the God we serve. Now we must ask: What is our response?

In light of God's love demonstrated through Christ's death and resurrection, how can we respond with anything less than wholehearted devotion? The cross reminds us that no greater love exists than laying down one's life for another. That's exactly what Jesus did for us.

The question becomes intensely personal: Am I honoring both God and humanity as I'm called to do? Do I truly believe in God's power, or do I live as though some areas of my life are beyond his reach? Am I loving God with everything I have, or am I holding something back?

These aren't comfortable questions, but they're essential ones. The God of the living calls us to live fully—not halfway, not holding back, but with complete abandon to his love and purposes.

Because when we get that first commandment right—when we love God with all our heart, mind, and soul—everything else begins to fall into place. Our responsibilities become privileges. His power becomes our confidence. And our response becomes worship that flows naturally from grateful hearts.

The image stamped upon us isn't Caesar's. It's God's. And that changes everything.