They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this?  Whose inscription?”  

“Caesar’s,” they replied.  Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”  When they heard this, they were amazed.  So they left him and went away. - Matthew 22:20-22

It is interesting that Jesus asks about the coin’s “image” (or “portrait” in some versions) and “inscription.”  It reminds us of the phrase God used when He created man, in His own “image and likeness.”  (Genesis 1:27).  Caesar’s image and likeness was on the coin; God’s image and likeness is on each of us.  We owe taxes to the government officials, who issue money with their images; but we should give God our very selves, surrendering our lives to him, because He made us in HIS image and likeness.  We belong to him.  Nevertheless, religious people like those in this passage tend to put things in the reverse.  They use religion as an excuse to withhold things that belong to the government.  At the same time, they give themselves – their hearts and minds and lives- to this world instead of to God.   continue

“All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.” - Philippians 4:22

Paul wrote Philippians from prison, apparently awaiting trial.  (See Philippians 1:13-14).  Roman prisons were very harsh, dangerous places – probably much worse than prisons today.  He must have been physically uncomfortable.  In addition, he faced false accusations from the religious leaders in Israel, which had caused his imprisonment – and false accusations are very frustrating.  While in prison, he had to worry about the churches he had planted falling under the control of self-centered preachers who would turn the new convert’s Christianity into a competition for keeping religious rules, elevating man, and abandoning revelation for dead traditions. He worried every day about these nascent churches, hoping they would continue in the correct doctrine and practices.  He was unable to visit them and remind them of God’s Word and their previous experiences. 

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John 4:46-54 - Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.  When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”  The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus replied, “You may go. Your son will live.”  The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living.  When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.”  Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.”  So he and all his household believed.  This was the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed, having come from Judea to Galilee.

This man was a person with a high social position and political power. He was surely more wealthy than most of the common people. But he had a need – his son was dying. No matter what benefits we have in this world, we all have needs and problems that bring us to the Lord – problems for which this world has no solution.

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