The Image of Question

Matthew 22: 18-22 "18But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"

21"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

22When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away."

When I read this was I amazed? I kind of wish I could find the information on how many times people were amazed in scripture. It has to be a lot about every teaching of Jesus people were amazed, but I think they were amazed in a different way then when we glaze over the scripture we take for granted. I feel safe in saying that everybody reading this the first time was like, oh yeah money, pay taxes, and tithe to God. Right? That is not that amazing if you ask me, especially since I degraded it to those simple words but it has to be something more than that.

Jesus was a man of parables, with many things said having somewhat hidden or meanings that require deeper thought upon numerous meanings. Jesus was aware of the intent of their question but gave them a answer that hit them in the heart, something I did not understand in my first reading of this scripture. Jesus asked whose portrait or for better wording whose image was on the coin.

Matthew 20:21 "21"Caesar's," they replied.
Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

Seems like a total idea to money and tithing since yes all of creation is God's and he allows us to work and make money. All things in our life are because of him, we could stand to make sure we pay taxes and tithes. What if this was another time that Jesus was being wonderful in our wording that maybe glancing over this we do not understand what really happened? I think people were amazed because people had on their hearts from the beginning of creation.

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

If Caesar's image was upon that coin and belongs to him, and we are made in God's image, then just as Jesus originally stated we would belong to God. Doesn't that give you a feeling of worth? We are God's! Whenever Jesus asks a question to his audience or us specifically, we get hit with what the right answer is, but we do not want to accept it because it hurts our pride. Its quite funny because its the question we ask him in tricky wording to justify our actions. For example:

Luke 20:1-8 " 1One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2"Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"
3He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, 4John's baptism—was it from heaven, or from men?"

5They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' 6But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."

7So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."
8Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.""

This cuts away from the point of imagery of us belonging to God but I figured that many times when talking or praying to God we ask questions. I admit I ask a lot of questions, usually the recurring one is why this or that. How many times do we really want the answer? How many times do we just want them answered our way and not asking really for the truth? Our questions should be thought out better than just spouting them off, we don't know everything, and most the time we do not need to know everything. I hope my questions for God have meaning better than why is my car not working, but more spent on questioning how I can improve my character or walk with Christ.