The gospel reading for Trinity 20 in Year A is Matthew 22.15–22, the short exchange between Jesus and his opponents on the question of the Roman ‘poll’ tax. This has important theological implications for our understanding of issues of politics and power, though it is often misread.
It comes at a particular moment in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ time in his final days in Jerusalem—but the saying about ‘rendering unto Caesar’ also needs careful reading in context.
Join James and Ian as they explore this passage and its implications. Full written commentary behind the discussion will be posted in the next article.
Old Bailey ‘Justice’ is not blindfolded. The statue is sometimes blindfolded elsewhere.
For those of us who benefit from visuals-
To see this small passage re-enacted (albeit the video is made by a religious Cult- to be avoided!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URifKLvlx8s
Also ‘The Chosen’ https://watch.thechosen.tv/ is a very watchable although (for me) very annoyingly americaneze, family friendly, multi- season, fictitious dramatisation of the first disciples (made by an American evangelical- the son of Jerry B. Jenkins- (Left Behind series))
Matthew is portrayed as Autistic and loving his numbers and patterns etc.
What was the name of the author and the title of the Lexicon of the New Testament that you, Ian, mentioned? Thank you!
Sakae Kubo
Nevermind – I did some digging, found it, and ordered it.
Thanks again!
Jesus doesn’t tell anyone what tax is. He does the same when Jesus was asked about divorce. He doesn’t tell anyone what divorce was but tells us all what marriage is. Marriage is between one woman and one man, which makes the politically correct jargon “same sex marriage” a total contradiction in terms.