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MARK 12:14 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 12:13Mark 12:15
“And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Cesar, or not?”
They came to him and said: teacher, we know 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 lawful to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we? — the flattery is transparent but the question is genuine in its danger: yes means collaboration with Rome and alienation from the crowd; no means sedition against Rome and the basis for an arrest. The tribute question (the denarius tax for the poll tax) was deeply resented by Jewish nationalists.

Church Fathers on Mark 12:14

The Chief Priests though they sought to take Him, feared the multitude, and therefore they endeavored to effect what they could not do of themselves, by means of earthly powers, that they might themselves appear to be guiltless of His death.

Bede · 8th century

We have said elsewhere of the Herodians, that they were a certain new heresy, who said that Herod was the Christ, because the succession of the kingdom of Judah had failed. Others however say that the Herodians were the soldiers of Herod, whom the Pharisees brought as witnesses of the words of Christ, that they might take Him, and lead Him away. But observe how in their wickedness they wished to deceive Christ by flattery; for it goes on: 'Master, we know that thou art true.'

Theophylact · 11th century

For they questioned Him with honied words, and they surrounded Him as bees, who carry honey in their mouth, but a sting in their tail.

Pseudo-Jerome · 5th century
Read all 10 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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