In today’s Gospel scene Jesus faced a very angry group of his own people’s leadership. They had decided to put Jesus to death. The day before was the first Palm Sunday. Jesus came to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, the great Jewish feast of liberation and freedom. Jesus went to the Temple that had become commercialized. Upsetting the leadership, Jesus cleansed the Temple. The next day he returned to the Temple to teach—his favorite activity. The angry authorities came out to challenge Jesus’s right to teach. His follow-up teaching enraged the authorities even more. To be rid of Him, the leadership planned to entrap him with charged religious and political questions, what we call gotcha questions.

Today’s Gospel includes the first of four questions. According to the law of Moses, they asked, can one pay the Roman Tax. If Jesus says no, the Roman soldiers will arrest him and put him to death. If he says yes, the people will pick up stones to throw at him. Gotcha question number one. Jesus was masterful. He sidesteps their trap but creates a trap for them.

One needed a Roman coin to pay the tax. That coin had the image of Tiberius Caesar on it and an inscription that read that he was the son of the divine Augustus, that he was the son of God. Remember your Ten Commandments (Ex 20). The first says you cannot have any other divinity than God (Ex 20:3). The second says you may not make of image of anyone or anything (Ex 20:4-5). Jesus asked for the coin. One member of that leadership group, at least, reached into his pocket. Smugly proud of himself, he said, “Hey, Jesus, here’s the coin.” At first, the crowd went silent. Then, some gasped with horror. But then, laugher ran through the crowd. Those who had the coin were committing blasphemy and idolatry, both of which Israel punished with death. And they were committing the sins in the Temple, in God’s own house.

Jesus sprang his trap: Ask yourself: Who is God? The leadership group was carrying the coin of the supposedly divine emperor who was Israel’s oppressor. He governed by the sword; fear was his way of keeping social order; torture and death were his methods. Friends, if you have a violent, oppressive, angry god, anger, oppression, and violence will dominate your life. The leadership trying to hurt Jesus was full of anger and violence; they would silence Him. That was their idolatry, their blasphemy. That leadership claimed they represented god, but their god was not the God of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught the God of love. And he taught that God made each one of us in God’s own image. The worship of the true God requires our love for those made in His image. In fact, Jesus taught that our love must reach even our enemies. In this scene, Jesus faced off against anger and violence with the true God.

Here’s the lesson for us: If anyone proposes hatred or violence, domination or coercion in god’s name, they have a false god. The God of Jesus Christ is the God of love; Jesus always answered hatred with love, violence with peace. In God’s name, so should his disciples.

There is a second lesson about God and about us. Jesus came to Jerusalem for Passover, the festival of freedom. The leadership had settled on loyalty to the Roman emperor, to their oppressor. Israel was not free. Passover teaches us that the ultimate source of freedom is our God. Passover’s God allows us to unchain ourselves, and, once liberated by God’s grace, we can aspire to become our best selves. For instance, we might contemplate the God of goodness. It’s easy to do. Consider the goodness of the people through your life (maybe a parent, grandparent, a teacher, a coach, a neighbor). Reflect on the goodness of people around you now (your family, a friend, perhaps a pastor, maybe the person next door who is always there to help). You might also take a slow, meditative walk enriching yourself in creation. The source of it all is God. Once we encounter God’s goodness, we can be honest with ourselves and correct our flaws. Then our spirits can aspire to a greater good.

Here’s today’s second lesson: The God of the Passover is the God of freedom. God invites us to throw off all restraints that keep us down and to aspire to the best of ourselves. We can find our best selves when we are one with God.

Two lessons, then, from this one coin. The God of love requires our first loyalty. There can be no other than Love. Furthermore, God can help us cut through all that holds us down so our spirits can aspire to their best selves. Don’t settle for anything other than the God of Jesus Christ.

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