Jesus giving advice on Taxes and more...

Jesus giving advice on Taxes

Jesus once told some men who were trying to trip him up... that it was OK to pay taxes.  The men asked about paying taxes.  Jesus asked whose image was on the coin.  They said, "Caesar's"  and Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and render to God that which is God's."  The wicked men were hoping Jesus would say that they should not pay taxes so they could accuse him of disloyalty to the Roman government. 

I know most people read into this that we should not mix the two, meaning God and money.  But the way I read it is that when Jesus said to render unto Caesar he may have also been referring to loyalty to your country.   A person who is willing to serve in the military makes many sacrifices.  They may be far from home and family but they are willing to make the sacrifice to serve their country.  So we should be willing to render unto Ceaser. . . if that means doing our part to support our country.  For example, taxes really do help support our country.   We should be willing to pay our taxes. .  . in an honest way.   That does not mean we should pay extra taxes but we should not cheat on our taxes to pay less.  Jesus also told Matthew and his friends to be honest in their collecting of taxes.

John the Baptist told the soldiers who had asked what they should do that they should do violence to no man, neither accuse anyone falsely, and to be content with their wages.   I am sure John knew that sometimes violence was necessary for a soldier, such as in war, so I think he meant do no unnecessary violence.   Remember that the Roman soldiers in the days of Jesus and John the Baptist were the national police force.  When they were dealing with violent robbers etc. they certainly had to use violence at times.  I think that John was saying to them ....for instance... that if they captured a criminal they did not need to abuse him etc.   Nor should the soldiers falsely accuse an innocent person nor do violence to people to entertain themselves.

So maybe those who are willing to serve their country by service in the military are being obedient to the Savior's admonition to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.And good soldiers follow the advice of John the Baptist too.  I met some of those soldiers many years ago and I tried to get into the military because I was so impressed with those quality, good soldiers I had met when I was 19.    I have great respect for those who are willing to sacrifice for their country.   My own father was in World War II.  His two best friends who enlisted with him died in that war.  Eventually, when I tried to join I found out that I did not qualify for the military.  I was excluded due to sleep walking. 

Scripture References:  Matthew 22:21,  Mark 12:17, and Luke 3:14.