Image Is Everything
Image is everything. Have you ever heard that before? Image is everything. This idea seems to be one that the world lives by. This idea that: Image is everything.
On September 26, 1960, the first ever televised Presidential debate was held. Seventy million people tuned in to watch the verbal sparring contest between the two candidates. On one side of the debate was Vice President Richard Nixon. In August, a month earlier, he had spent two weeks in the hospital with a seriously injured knee, and because he had not yet fully recovered from the toll it took on him, the viewers tuning in to watch the debate on television saw a pale, sickly-looking, underweight man wearing clothes that didn’t quite fit right and a five o’clock shadow on top of his head. In contrast to Nixon, though, on the other side of the debate, was Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts. Kennedy, already a handsome, young man, had just recently returned from a campaign trip in California and was tan, fit, confident, and well-rested. Those who listened to the debate on the radio declared Nixon the winner, but those who watched the debate on television declared Kennedy the winner by a large margin. And it seems as though, to the world, image is everything.
When I was in college, we had a career day each February. As the career day approached, my school offered workshops to better prepare us for any interviews we should have. In these workshops, the importance of first impressions was heavily stressed. Recently, I was reading an article that helped clarify why first impressions are stressed so heavily when it comes to interviews. The expert in the article claimed that the first three seconds of an interview determines whether, for the rest of the interview, you hold that interviewer in the palm of your hand or have dug yourself into a hole so deep that it’s seemingly impossible to get out. According to this expert, in the first three seconds of meeting someone new, they take in how you’re dressed, how you’re groomed, what your mannerisms are, what your body language says, and anything else about your appearance, and they formulate a nearly irreversible opinion of you and of what you have to say. Again, the world seems to say that image is everything.
So what do you think? Is image that important? Is image everything? What would you say if I told you that Jesus agrees with the world? He agrees that: Image IS everything.
Scripture: Mark 12:13-17
If you would, open your Bibles to Mark 12. At the beginning of Mark 12, we find Jesus in the temple courts telling the religious leaders a parable about a vineyard, its owner, and some farmers renting the vineyard from the owner. Now without getting into the parable and what it means, it’s enough for us to simply know that Jesus had spoken this parable against the religious leaders who were listening to him. Because of that, the religious leaders began looking for a way to arrest him. They had to be creative, though, because Jesus was gaining popularity with the people, and the religious leaders were afraid of how the people would react if they tried to arrest him. In our text today, we find their first attempt to gain the people’s support. Beginning in verse 13:
Later they [the religious leaders] sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn’t we?
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him.
Body Part 1: We belong to God because we bear His image and name.
Now what was so amazing about Jesus’ answer? For those of you following along in the Encounter Guide for this sermon series, you’ve probably already given this question some thought. Before we get into that, though, allow me to paint a fuller picture of this encounter for you.
The question that the Pharisees and Herodians proposed to Jesus was a hot topic of the day. Jerusalem, where this encounter takes place, is located in the region of Judea, and Judea became a Roman province in the year AD 6. Any land that became a province of Rome had to pay taxes directly to the Roman emperor, and a census was always taken to determine how much would be made off of the newly acquired province. When this census was taken in Judea, and the institution of this tax was looming, the more zealous Jews began to revolt, and they did this for a couple reasons.
First of all, the Jews believed that, whenever the people of a land paid taxes, or tribute, to any ruler, they were acknowledging his sovereignty over them. Because Judea was where the temple was located, in the city of Jerusalem, the Jews considered it God’s land, and they considered God its sovereign ruler. Therefore, in the eyes of these Jews, paying taxes to the emperor was unacceptable because that would make him the ultimate authority instead of God.
Secondly, the coin that was used to pay this tax was the denarius. *Display coin overhead.* The denarius was a small, silver coin with the emperor’s portrait on the front of it. Tiberias Caesar Augustus was the Roman emperor at this time so his portrait was the one on the denarius. The offense of the coin to the Jews was found in this portrait and in the inscription around Tiberias’ portrait, which read in abbreviated form: ‘Tiberias Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus.’ In other words, the portrait and inscription on this coin claimed that Tiberius Caesar was god. On the back of the coin was a portrait of Tiberias’ mother, Livia (who would eventually be declared a goddess, too), and around her was the inscription ‘Pontifex Maximus,’ meaning “High Priest.” In other words, the emperor was god, and he was to be worshiped above all others. You can see where the Jews would have had a major problem with this. After all, their law stated that they were to have no other gods before Yahweh, and the law spoke harshly against graven images. And in this one small coin, both of these commands are assaulted head-on.
So to pay this tax using this coin was a big problem. Some of the strictest and most careful Jews would not even look at one of these coins because it was a slap in the face to both their freedom and, more importantly, to their God. Think about it. We get angry at the thought of ‘In God We Trust’ being taken off of our money. Imagine if an Islamic nation took over the United States and made us pay them taxes with money that they had minted, which bore claims on it that someone other than Jesus was god. How upset would be about that? You can see why this tax was such a concern of the people.
If this question was such a legitimate concern and frequently discussed, then why would anyone, as we see in the text, be so quick to assume hypocrisy when asked this question? Of course, it’s safe to assume that Jesus knew the hearts and minds of the Pharisees and Herodians. He had demonstrated his knowledge of the unspoken thoughts and motives of men on multiple occasions already. But I think that the people there, while interested in Jesus’ answer, would also have known, at the very least, that something funny was going on.
First, there’s this apparent alliance. I’m sure most of us here are familiar with the Pharisees—the religious elite of the day, the protectors of the law. However, there’s probably a lot less of us here that are familiar with the Herodians. You see, the Pharisees and the Herodians were not friends. Actually, they were drastically opposed to each other on many levels. Economically, the Herodians were from the upper class while the Pharisees were from the middle class. Politically, the Herodians enjoyed being under Roman rule because that meant they had power while the Pharisees desperately wanted to be free of Roman rule, which they saw as oppression. Theologically, the Herodians were aligned with the Sadducees, and the Sadducees and the Pharisees had very different thoughts on God and religion. Seeing these two groups together had to raise questions. Imagine seeing a group made up of ultraconservative Republicans and ultraliberal Democrats approaching you to get your opinion on something, and what’s more, you don’t see eye-to-eye on hardly any issues with either group. You would know that something weird was going on.
Secondly, there’s the flattery. After all the public confrontations that Jesus had with the religious officials of the day over what’s right and wrong, with many of these confrontations making these people look really bad, one of which had just happened earlier that day, why on earth would they address Jesus as ‘teacher,’ call him a ‘man of integrity,’ applaud his impartiality, and claim that his teachings about God were true after all? Did they just all of a sudden have a change of heart? It’s like that one person who you just can’t seem to get along with, who you always seem to be in complete disagreement with, and whose foolishness you just exposed earlier that day, coming up to you out of the blue and telling you how smart you are, how honest you are, and how you’re always right. Regardless if what they are saying is true or not, your initial reaction would be one of skepticism. Their words and their behavior just don’t seem consistent.
So you have these two groups of people who can’t stand each other coming up to Jesus, whom they openly disagree with all of the time, and telling him how honorable and wise he is. Then they ask the question: Is it morally right to pay this highly controversial and offensive tax? Notice that this is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, and it seems to put Jesus in a lose-lose situation. If Jesus says ‘no, it’s not alright to pay this tax,’ the Herodians can legally have Jesus arrested by the Roman authorities for stirring up resistance to Rome’s rule. However, if Jesus says ‘yes, it is alright to pay this tax,’ he’ll lose his popularity with the Jewish people because they’ll see him as pro-Roman when what they are looking for is a deliverer to free them from Roman oppression, not support it. And it’s Jesus’ popularity with the people that has kept the Jewish authorities from arresting him so far. So, by damaging his reputation with the people, the door would be wide open for the Jewish authorities to arrest him without any worry of a negative reaction from the people. In the minds of Jesus’ opponents, whether he says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ doesn’t matter, and they’re just moments away from overcoming this nuisance to their world.
Jesus calmly looks up at these conspirators, who are eagerly anticipating their victory, and he says, “Image is everything.” What? Where does he say that? “Bring me one of the coins used to pay this tax,” Jesus says, “and let me look at it.” “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” I picture the Pharisees and the Herodians looking a little puzzled right now, wondering where Jesus is going with this, and cautiously saying, “Caesar’s.” And then Jesus replies, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Image is everything.
Now I know some of you are probably wondering what in the world I’m talking about. Hang with me for a moment longer. When I hear Jesus say “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,” the question that springs immediately to mind is “well, how do we know what is Caesar’s and how do we know what is God’s?” But we already have the answer to this question. *Begin PowerPoint presentation here.* Image is everything. When Jesus was shown the coin, what did he ask? “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” Or, as some other translations read, “Whose image is this? And whose name is on it?” Clearly, everyone there got it because verse 17 says that they were amazed at Jesus’ answer. You know what something belongs to by the image it bears and by the name inscribed on it. The coin bears the image and the name of Caesar, and therefore, it belongs to Caesar. But what bears the image of God? And what is inscribed with the name of God?
*Fade music out as the final Scripture slide changes to a blank, black slide.*
Body Part 2: We reveal God by bearing his image and name.
Humanity…people…created in the image of God and called to be his children. Not just some but all. People bear the image of God. People bear the name of God as his children. People belong to God. But sometimes, the rightful belongings of someone are stolen from them.
In the parable that precedes our text, Jesus tells of an owner who rents a vineyard to some farmers. When the harvest comes, the owner sends numerous servants to collect some of the fruit that is rightfully his. These servants are severely beaten and sent away empty-handed, and some are even killed. Finally, the owner sends his own son, whom he loves, thinking that they will respect him. But they kill him as well and refuse to give back to the owner what is rightfully his. As I said before, this parable was spoken by Jesus as an illustration against the Jewish authorities.
In our text, when the Pharisees and Herodians ask Jesus if it’s right to pay the tax, the word they use means ‘to transfer ownership from one person to another.’ They are asking if they should transfer the money that they own to Caesar’s ownership. In response, when Jesus says to ‘give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s,’ the word Jesus uses means ‘to give back to someone that which is rightfully theirs.’ All of Judea, while they may not have liked Roman occupation, still benefited from things like roads and protection from neighboring nations because of Rome. Therefore, the tax used to provide those things rightfully belonged to Caesar. So give it back to him.
However, while Jesus technically has answered their question, he takes it a step further. It’s evident from their hypocrisy, from their hidden agenda, and from their willingness to lie in order to accomplish it, that their intentions are far more important than the standard by which God has called them to live. They have hijacked the image of God that they were given, and distorted it to look the way that they want it to look. Jesus says, “Give it back. The people are looking to you to see what God looks like. Give yourselves back to God, and start revealing him by reflecting his true image.”
Why is it that, when we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit enters into us and begins transforming us to look more like Jesus? Because we were created in the image of God, and Jesus is the perfect image of what God looks like.
What would Jesus say to us today? What would he say to you? Would he call us children of God, or would he look at us and say, “Give back to God what is God’s? He owns you. You don’t own him.”
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves giving Jesus lip service while trying to mask who we truly are. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves unable to stifle the urge to shout to the world who he truly is.
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves looking for loopholes to keep from loving others. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves fiercely loving others because God loves them and not because of what they do.
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves viewing everything we have as our possessions to do with as we choose. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves viewing everything we have as resources entrusted to us by God to help in revealing his kingdom to the world.
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves arrogantly telling Jesus who he’s supposed to be. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves humbled as our perception of Jesus is constantly being renewed.
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves held captive as Satan entangles us more and more in the bondage of sin. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves proclaiming to the world that we have been set free.
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves fearing the one who calms the storm because of the response that he demands from us. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves embracing a life of surrender to the one who is truly control whether we think we are or not.
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves separated from the lost, the ones who need us the most. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves in the midst of the dying, bringing the hope of life.
When we keep what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves trying to mold God into our own image. When we give back what is rightfully God’s, we find ourselves watching us heaven is torn open revealing the image of who he wants us to be.
Image is everything. So who do you look like?