{"id":9985,"date":"2021-12-02T06:37:13","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T12:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-luke-20\/"},"modified":"2021-12-02T09:23:24","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T15:23:24","slug":"devotional-on-luke-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-luke-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Luke"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_15825\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15825\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" class=\"size-large wp-image-15825\" srcset=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491-150x150.jpg 150w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491-768x768.jpg 768w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/IMG_2491.jpg 1936w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15825\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Riding the Anacortes Ferry to Friday Harbor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Images<\/p>\n<p>Luke 20: Give Caesar what is his and give God what is his.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a pretty good \u201cgotcha\u201d question designed to get Jesus into trouble with either the Romans or with the devout Jews.  The specific tax in question requires payment with a specific coin.  That coin bears the image of Caesar.  Pious Jews know what the Commandment says about \u201cgraven images.\u201d  They avoid such things, knowing they are sin.  The Romans say they have to carry with them a coin for tax payment that bears, not only a graven image, but, specifically, the image of a conquering king who considers himself divine.  If Jesus says he thinks they ought to pay taxes the pious Jews will have reason to accuse him of advocating the breaking of the Commandment.  Of course, if he says otherwise, he\u2019ll fall into the trap that\u2019s being set for him, setting him up as an enemy of Rome, a troublemaker.  The Romans know how to handle troublemakers.  Jesus, though, calmly asks for one of the hated coins.  Casually glancing at it he asks whose image it is engraved on the coin.  Everyone knows it\u2019s the image of Caesar.  Then he hands the coin back, remarking that since its Caesar\u2019s picture the coin is his anyway.  If he wants it, give it to him.  In God\u2019s Kingdom, that coin is worthless.  The \u201cflip side\u201d (pun intended) is that they\u2019re to give to God what\u2019s his.  What is it that I\u2019m to give to the Lord?  I think the same test used on the coin helps me answer that question and the answer is given to us long before even the Ten Commandments are given.  In the very first chapter of the Bible we find this: \u201cSo God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.\u201d  If I\u2019m obligated to give to Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s I\u2019m also obligated to give to God what\u2019s God\u2019s.  It may be marred and soiled, but I\u2019m created in God\u2019s image.  My life is to be given to him.<\/p>\n<p>Take Away: If a coin bearing Caesar\u2019s image belongs to Caesar, then a human being created in God\u2019s image belongs to the Lord.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Images Luke 20: Give Caesar what is his and give God what is his. It\u2019s a pretty good \u201cgotcha\u201d question designed to get Jesus into trouble with either the Romans or with the devout Jews. The specific tax in question requires payment with a specific coin. That coin bears the image of Caesar. Pious Jews [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1515,1428],"tags":[1229,466],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9985"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15888,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9985\/revisions\/15888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}