Over here in the UK churches and other organisations can register as charities. When they do most of the income generated is exempt from tax as long as the income is used for charitable purposes. Charities will have to undergo scrutiny whether it is an independent examination by an independent examiner whole files a report (I do this for a church I don't go to) or an external audit. These reports are then filed with th Charities Commission.
There is a bit more behind your opening quote. Here are my thoughts, it's a bit long so not sure if it will be posted.
Mark 12:13-17
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
The Pharisees wanted to do more than trap Jesus. They wanted to see him killed for his response concerning the parable of the Evil Tennant Farmers in V 1-12 preceding the above but they were cowards and didn’t go. So they sent “their disciples” and the Herodians.The Pharisees despised the Herodians because they supported Rome, but would cooperate with them whenever it suited them.
The Herodians held political power and they supported the Herods, and therefore, indirectly, Rome. So, the two groups hated each other because to the Pharisees the Herodians compromised the Jewish nation and to the Herodians the Pharisee's were heretical......but, the two groups were united in their hatred of Jesus. The Romans wouldn’t believe the Pharisee's accusation of Jesus, because the Romans knew the Pharisees hated them. They needed pro-Roman witnesses to testify that Jesus was an insurrectionist. The Herodians were more than happy to go along.
Emperor Tiberius was reigning at the time of Christ. He was a pedophile, a sexual deviant, a murderer, and he enslaved millions of people. Tiberius claimed to be the worshipful son of a god.
He was despised by the Jews because he claimed to be a god. His portrait was on a coin which would probably have been a Denaruis.
The coin was the Tiberian Denarius
A denarius was roughly a day’s wages for a common labourer. The front of the coin depicts Tiberius crowned with the laurels of victory and divinity. Above is an abbreviation, “TI CAESAR DIVI AUG F AUGUSTUS,” which translates to, “Tiberius Caesar, Worshipful Son of the God, Augustus.” On the other side sits the Roman goddess of peace, Pax, and around her is the abbreviation, “Pontif Maxim” which means, “High Priest.
This coin was hated by the Jews as the very first commandment forbids the worship of anyone or anything but God, which included the crafting of any image of a false god, such as that on the coin.
I think there is a reason why Jesus asked for the coin. This episode took place in the Temple. Jesus asked for a coin because by producing it, the Pharisee’s disciples and Herodians revealed their own religious hypocrisy. If they had a coin then they bought into the sacred space of the Temple.
The trap.
If Jesus would have said "yes"then he would be seen to be supporting Rome and therefore turn the Jews against him.
If Jesus says "no" then he would have been considered and enemy of Rome and would have been killed for saying so.
In either case, he would have likely been killed but Jesus immediately recognises the trap, and exposes the hypocrisy of His interrogators.
THE NON-ANSWER
"Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jesus does not answer the question directly. Remember the trap, if he said yes or no then he is bang to rights so instead he answers the question with another one.
"Whose image is stamped on the coin? To which they replied "Caesar's"
Using their reply we find Jesus saying "Then give to Caesar what's his"
Imagine the Son of God holding this coin, the coin that depicted Tiberius as a god who commanded the allegiance of all under his domain. God in the flesh is holding this coin.
So in effect Jesus is saying "if this coin is his then give it back to him"
Then Jesus says "Give back to God the things that are God's"
Now he has narrowed the focus what belongs to who? What belongs to Caesar give it to him and by the way now I have your focus; give to God what's his.
This sent them packing, with no reply and no charges to bring.
So what is God's?
In the Hebrew tradition, everything rightfully belonged to God.
The Jewish people were to dedicate the first-fruits, that first portion of any harvest and the first-born of any animal, to God. By giving God the first-fruits, the Jewish people acknowledged that all good things came from God and that all things, in turn, belonged to God. God even declares, "Mine is the silver and mine the gold."
So you see everything belongs to God! The heavens, the earth and all that is on the earth.
Our souls belong to God, he created us.
If everything belongs to God what belongs to Caesar? NOTHING
So Jesus is saying "If you believe in God then everything is his then nothing belongs to Caesar, if you don't believe in God then give him the coin that bears his image"
Jesus is in effect challenging the Jews as to where there allegiance lies, is it with God or Rome"
So as believers what is ours and what is God's? Everything we have is God's
The money I have is God's, the car I have is God's, the house I live in is God's, and the list could go on.
Everything we have been given is God's, what he has given us lets be thankful, acknowledge that it's from him and when we have the opportunity use what we have to show God's love to people by blessing them.
The Greek word translated “render” is ‘apodidomi’ which means “to give back.”.
“Jesus looked at the coin and said, “Sure, that looks like his image. He think's it’s his. Go ahead, give him back what you think is his coin! But, by the way, actually everything belongs to God!”
