9TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Whose image and inscription is this?

A coin collector today would pay hundreds of dollars for a first-century denarius like the one Jesus held up in today’s Gospel reading. But that collector couldn’t buy even a loaf of bread with his coin. That’s because the image of the Emperor Tiberius is stamped on the coin. His empire is history, and his currency is now obsolete.

Clearly, you are worth far more than that denarius! That’s because, from the moment of your conception, you were stamped with the image of the one Ruler whose kingdom will never end. You bear the mark of a King whose dominion is “vast and forever peaceful” (Isaiah 9:6). What’s more, you were created with the unique capacity to receive that King’s life and love into your heart and to let that love change you so that you can come to reflect his glory to the world around you.

The world tends to measure a person’s worth by his or her usefulness or by his or her social standing. So a president would be viewed as more valuable than a janitor, and a CEO would be given a higher standing than a prison inmate. But that’s not how God sees us—and it’s not how he wants us to see each other! Every one of us has infinite value because of the way he made us, regardless of our achievements. He loves you, not for what you can offer, but for who you are.

So when Jesus says, “Repay . . . to God what belongs to God” (Mark 12:17), he is not only telling us to repay God by our good deeds. He is also telling us to live in the dignity of people stamped in his image—and to treat each other with that same dignity. This is the one thing that the Pharisees and Herodians in today’s Gospel couldn’t understand. They tried to trip Jesus simply because he didn’t fit with their image of what a “valuable” religious leader should look like.

Never doubt your worth. You are immensely significant to the Lord. Never doubt your significance to the people around you, either. Simply by becoming the person God created you to be, you play a central role in revealing his love to everyone you meet.

“Thank you, Father, for stamping me with your image. Lord, help me to live in the dignity of a beloved child of you, my King!”

2 Peter 3:12-15, 17-18
Psalm 90:2-4, 10, 14, 16
Mark 12:13-17