THE DEEP END -The Third Side of the Coin

Most of us have been raised to believe that there are two sides to every issue. So often we hear the term ‘there are two sides to every story’ or ‘two sides of a coin’ but there is, in fact, a third. A story always has your version, their version, and the truth. When it comes to a coin, there is the head side, the tail side, and the edge of the coin! One side of the coin may represent a particular point of view; the other its opposite. However, if we just stand the coin on its edge, we can see both sides more clearly and, more often than not, a third way.

What a loaded question the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians asked Jesus. If Jesus said the taxes shouldn’t be paid, he would have pleased the Pharisees but then they could report him and have him arrested as a rebel. If he said they should be paid, he would have gained the support of the Herodians but almost certainly lost all support from his followers.

But Jesus did not come into the world to discuss Roman taxation, temporal revolutions or political action. Neither did he come to only see two sides of a coin! He neither endorses Caesar as divine sovereign (as the inscription on the coin indicates) nor does he discourage the paying of taxes. He simply reminds his questioners that these are worldly affairs in a worldly kingdom but there is another kingdom yet to come with a much higher authority. ‘Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.’

Julieann Moran, Society of Missionary Children