Caesar, Resurrection, and Two Traps for Jesus

Pharisees and Herodians ask whether paying tribute to Caesar is lawful. Jesus asks for a denarius, points to Caesar’s image and inscription, and answers that what belongs to Caesar should be rendered to Caesar and what belongs to God to God. Sadducees then pose a resurrection puzzle from levirate marriage law. Jesus answers from the burning-bush passage: God identifies himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he is God of the living, not the dead.

Where this fits in the story: Jesus refuses both political slogans and scriptural reductionism. Caesar’s image raises the deeper biblical question of God’s image, while the resurrection argument treats Torah as a living revelation of God’s covenant faithfulness.