Hello everyone, welcome back.
My name is Elise Brooklyn and this is Scattering Flowers, a podcast where we scatter flowers of faith.
Today is Tuesday, June 4th and we will be reading Mark 12, 13-17.
Follow along in your Bible if you have one.
Now, let’s read Mark 12, 13-17.
And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians to entrap him in his talk.
And they came and said to him, Teacher, we know that you are true and care for no man, for you do not regard the possession of men, but truly teach the way of God.
Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?
Should we pay them or should we not?
But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, Why put me to the test?
Bring me a coin and let me look at it.
They brought one, and he said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this?
They said to him, Caesar’s.
Jesus said to him, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.
And they were amazed at him.
I have a trick question for you.
What has a head and a tail but no body?
A coin! Did you guess right?
The Pharisees in the reading today tried to trick Jesus into saying not to pay their taxes to Caesar, but Jesus is way smarter than them and tells them to look at the face on the coin.
And they pay what belongs to Caesar, and God what belongs to God.
Next time you look in a mirror, look at your pretty good-looking face and remind yourself that you belong to God.
I think that’s pretty amazing.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, I belong to you and I was made in your image.
Please help me daily to remember that you are the helper of all my thoughts.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
I’ll be back tomorrow scattering my flowers.
See ya!