From the Gospel of Mark    33 
    The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with this question about the tax. If Jesus 
said to pay the tax, then the people might be upset, because the tax was paid 
to the Romans who had conquered and occupied Israel. The people hated 
this occupation. But if Jesus said not to pay the tax, they could go to the 
Romans and accuse Jesus of encouraging the people not to pay taxes. 
    This was, in fact, one of the accusations which the chief priests tried to 
bring against Jesus when they accused him before Pontius Pilate. But Pilate 
did not believe it. He became angry at the chief priests for saying this 
because Pilate was in charge of collecting the tax for Rome. In effect, the 
chief priests were accusing Pilate of not doing his job. This false accusation 
did not work. All this is recounted in Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich's 
book, The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
1
    So the Pharisees thought they had a useful plan to entrap Jesus. But Jesus 
tells the people not to be so concerned about money, to pay the tax, but to 
focus on giving to God. 
    The Pharisees and other Jewish leaders used to profit from the taxes paid 
to the Roman government. A portion of that tax went into their hands, for 
the Temple and for the poor. Much of the money meant for the poor never 
reached those in need, but remained in the possession of the leaders.
2
 That is 
why the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders used to assist the Romans in 
collecting the tax, because they obtained the use of some of the tax money. 
    Jesus was also criticizing the Pharisees when He said,  Render to Caesar 
the things that are Caesar's.  Jesus was saying that the Pharisees and Jewish 
leaders ought not to take a portion of that money collected by the Romans. 
He was objecting to their misuse of the tax money to support their own 
power and authority. 
    These events foreshadow a future time in the Church when many 
Christians will dwell in nations conquered and occupied by enemies of 
Christianity. The government will compel the Church to pay taxes. Jesus is 
telling the Church, through this passage from Holy Scripture, to pay the tax. 
He is also telling Christians to strive for holiness instead of striving against 
the government's taxes. 
    In future years, the Church will pay taxes to a government which opposes 
the Christian Faith. This will occur during the occupation of Europe by the 
Arabs (during The Forty Years) and again, hundreds of years later, during 
the reign of the ten kings. 






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