Watching for their opportunity, the leaders send spies pretending to be honest men. They tried to get Jesus to say something that could be reported to the Roman governor so that he would arrest Jesus. “Teacher”, they said, “we know that you speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully. No tell us – is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
He saw through their trickery and said, “Shoe me a roman coin. Whose picture is stamped on it?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Well then”, he said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”
So they failed to trap Him by what He said in front of the people. Instead they were amazed at his answer, and they became silent.” (vv. 20-26, NLT)