Can you imagine that? Would it work? Well, as far as I understand it, that’s what’s happening in Germany. You have the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats in bed with each other. The last I heard, and I may be out of date, Angela Merkel was set to become the Chancellor supported by Gerhart Schroeder. We have the leader of the Tory Party, whoever that turns out to be, in No.10, with Tony Blair or Gordon Brown, the Leader of the Labour Party, in No 11.

It just doesn’t seem that these two institutions would make good bedfellows.

This is what we have in our Gospel reading today. The Pharisees and the Herodians, generally at war with each other, generally on opposite sides of the camp, hurling insults, trying to undermine the other, trying to get one up on the other.

The Herodians, as the name suggests, were in favour of Herod and the whole Roman Empire. They would have been quite happy with the idea of taxation being paid to the Romans. After all, it gave sewage, it gave roads, plus a few other things that we could get from a certain film about the life of a man called Brian! But we won’t go into that.

On the other hand we have the Pharisees, who would have said ‘It is totally wrong to have a tax and pay money to those who are occupying us. The only money we should be giving is to the Temple. What is worse let’s look at the coin used to pay the tax, the denarius, and what is on that coin but the image of Caesar’.
 

You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.

So here we have the Pharisees backing up the Herodians who are doing things that the Pharisees would say are totally unjust and even idolatrous.

Why? – Just to get at Jesus. Just to do something that might undermine what it is that He has, what it is that He is saying, the message of love and forgiveness and openness and inclusivity that He is preaching.

And they start so nicely – it’s like a nice sycophantic Radio Four interview. One minute it’s ‘It’s just lovely to have you here today. Thank you so much for giving up your time. We know you’re a very busy person. It’s really delightful that you’ve given us time’ – and then, bang in with the question that’s supposed to catch them off guard.

Well it doesn’t work. Jesus wasn’t foolish. He must have seen this group in their red rosettes and their blue rosettes coming together and thinking: ‘Hang on. Something’s afoot here’. He must have realised that he was being set up for a fall. So he says ‘Show me. Show me the coin. Whose image is on it?’

Caesar’s image is on the coin. Well that’s fine, that belongs to Caesar, give it back to Caesar.

Where else do we come across this idea of something bearing the image of something else?

Way, way back, right at the beginning of the Bible in the first chapter or two: humanity. Human beings, men, women and children, young and old, rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight, all bear the image of God.

The potter casts the pot, and puts the thumbprint into the soul of his creation.

So Jesus says ‘That’s fine. If the coins in your pocket bear the imprint of Caesar, give them back to Caesar. If they bear the imprint of the Queen, give them back to the Queen. But don’t forget, you bear the image of God, so give yourselves to God’.