‘Show Me the Money’: Jesus, Visual Aids, and the Tribute Question

Abstract

The question about paying tribute to Caesar is one of the most incendiary queries ever posed to Jesus. It seems straightforward, but either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response is politically perilous. Jesus’s answer seems equally straightforward, but scholars have debated its meaning, even the basic question of whether it is affirmative or negative. But many analyses have erred by considering the logion apart from Jesus’s use of the coin as a visual aid. After a brief survey of visual aids in biblical narratives and classical rhetoric, it becomes clear that the coin adds materially to Jesus’s response and clarifies his meaning.