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.

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    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.

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 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.