Give to God what is God's: A reflection on today's Gospel

“’Bring me a coin, and let me look at it.’ And they brought one. And he said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were amazed at him.”

Mark 12:15-17

“Give to God the things that are God’s.” How are we to determine what these things are that belong to God? The same way Jesus determined that the coin belonged to Caesar, by looking at whose image and inscription is on it. I believe it is no coincidence that the word for image, imago, used here in Mark is the same word that is used in Genesis when God decided to make man in his own image and likeness, imaginem. God’s image can be seen in every human person.

In this passage from Mark, Christ is once again reminding us that His New Covenant involves the offering up of one’s very self, one’s heart to God. God no longer asks for brunt offerings or treasures, as the pagan gods demanded. “Give to God the things that are God’s.” Give to God your heart, your whole self, which is marked with His image.

"You are a man, O Christian. So you are the money in the divine treasure-chest, a coin bearing the image and inscription of the divine emperor. From now on if I ask with Christ: “Whose image and inscription are these? You reply: “God's. And I answer: “So why do you not give back to God what is his?"
- St. Laurence of Brindisi