128th Post Jesus on Taxes & Tribute Con't. - Matthew 22: 21

Matthew 22: 21; Mark 12: 15 - 17; Luke 20: 24 - 25.
Render therefore to Caesar the thingst are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.
From the location of this passage in Matthew 22, you know this is at the end of Jesus earthly ministry. Jesus' enemies were starting to become larger in numbers and included more than the just the Temple leaders and teachers. If you look back to verse 15, you will notice the Pharisees, but now the Herodians had also joined as Jesus enemies. The Herodians are the political side of Jewish Government, so Jesus had alienated both the religious and political arms of Israel. It is interesting that the Sadduceeses, and the Pharisees could not agree on much of anything. And both these groups did not trust the Herodians, but yet all three could unite in their hatred of Jesus. The Sadduceeses and the Pharisees tried to catch Jesus on religous grounds, now the Herodians added political grounds to their snare to entrap Jesus. They asked Jesus if they as Jews needed to pay Roman taxes. Jesus' enemies knew that the Jewish people hated paying taxes to Rome, and grumbled everytime they had to pay. If Jesus told them they did not need to pay taxes, this would make Jesus an enemy of Rome. They thought they had Jesus this time, He could not answer safely. Jesus being God, saw the trap and got away cleanly. Look at Jesus answer "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and give unto God the things that are God's. " Jesus was able to escape their trap again.