General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I need help figuring something out. If I am a Christian, do I want my fellow humans to have [View all]former9thward
(33,424 posts)But you must look at the context. His questioners were hostile and trying to entrap him into saying that Jews did not have to pay a tax. That was they could arrest him and turn him over to Pilate who was the tax collector. Jesus first called them hypocrites, and then asked one of them to produce a Roman coin that would be suitable for paying Caesar's tax. One of them showed him a Roman coin, and he asked them whose head and inscription were on it. They answered, "Caesar's," and he responded: "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's".
It terms of the OP Jesus did not ask that tax money be used for the poor. That did not exist then. It is interesting that posters who deny the historical existence of Jesus quote him for some purpose in 2015.