Give to Caesar what belongs to him, and to God what belongs to Him

 Good morning. Another parable about the kingdom of heaven: it may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. He sent his slaves to tell everyone it was time to come. They were unwilling. Some even mistreated and killed his slaves. Those people the king destroyed. He sends his slaves out to the highways to invite as many as they find to the wedding feast. There are both good and evil people at the feast. There is a man who is not dressed in wedding clothes. The king wanted to know how did he come in there without wedding clothes. The king had him cast into the outer darkness. Many are cold and a few are frozen. I meant many are called but few are chosen 😇. You and I would think why is the king upset? After all he just pulled this guy off the street; why in the world would he have wedding clothes on? Generally a rich person like a king would have the wedding clothes himself for the guests to put on. This parable was again emphasizing that the scribes and Pharisees were the ones who had been invited to the wedding feast. They rejected the invitation from God and soon would kill His Son. So God called the “nobodies" to come to the feast. This got the Pharisees upset and so they counseled together how they might trap Him in what He said. They start out by trying to butter Him up. You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any. Now the zinger: is it lawful to give a poll tax to Caesar, or not? No matter which way He answers, someone is going to be upset - either the people because they hate the tax, or the Roman government because He is trying to incite people to not pay the tax. Jesus asks for a coin that is used to pay the tax. Whose likeness and inscription is this? Caesar’s. Give to Caesar what belongs to him, and to God what belongs to Him. Father thank You that You look after our family. Put Your protective shield around them. Help us to feel comforted by Your presence.

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