Who's In Charge of What?
It's a famous passage. It's been used in all kinds of ways to support or deny all kinds of things. Here it is again in the normal cycle of the lectionary:

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

So, this year, how do we read it? If we are liberal in these times we may read it one way. If we are conservative, another. But there is an old maxim that Scripture interprets Scripture. Sarah at Dylan's Lectionary Blog has utilized that quite well. She presents Psalm 24:1-

The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it.

Well, this is fairly obvious, where she is going- and I'm willing to go with her.

As far as it relates to the question Jesus was asked -- the question of whether Israelites should pay taxes to Caesar -- it boils down to essentially the same thing:

What belongs to God is everything.

And if we really take seriously the claim that God is rightful Lord of the earth and all that is in it, the world and all people in it, over what is Caesar a rightful lord?

Nothing. Squat. Nada.

Yep. That seems to be the radical and best understanding of what Jesus was trying to say. I have a hunch the Pharisees knew exactly what Jesus was trying to say. It was not a question of taxes or carrying the image of Caesar into the Temple or even who Jesus was. It was a question of who is in charge. And Jesus gave the answer. Not the liberal answer. Not the conservative answer. God's answer. Sarah concludes:

That is the radical edge and the liberating cry of the claim that "Jesus is Lord"; it's that when we make that the central fact of our lives, nobody and nothing else gets to make the same claim. So when it comes to all wordly powers who would be our lord, whether it's the flag of a nation, a cause that we hold dearer than the Spirit's guidance and the fruit of following it, those amorphous but ubiquitous would-be lords of respectability and achievement, or a person who wants to take God's place as Lord of our lives, get up off your knees. They have no rightful claim on you at all. And when somebody else wants to condemn you for the freedom Christ won for you, then remember how often people lash out at their own shadow sides, and ask them to produce a coin. You might be surprised -- and get a much-needed, life-affirming, and despot-disarming laugh in the process -- at what you discover.

Thanks be to God!

Powerful words, Sarah. The reminder that in the end to say "Jesus is Lord!" was what got the Christians into trouble in the first place. To say that they couldn't say, "Caesar is Lord!" The two cannot dwell together. Ever. No matter how true and honest and caring a nation or government or cause, the time will come, make no mistake about it, it will come when it asks you to follow a lord other than Jesus.

Jesus is Lord- and for that we are given mroe than we would have ever thought.