The coin used to pay the poll tax would have been a Roman denarius bearing the image of Tiberius and having the following writing: “The august Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus, high priest.”

The denarius makes claims for Caesar that are actually true of Our Lord: high priesthood and divine sonship. So to render unto Caesar is to hand back these claims, subordinating Caesar to Christ.

Moreover, the image of Caesar is on the coin, but the image of God is on our human nature. Thus we cannot say that Caesar has some autonomous sphere separate from God’s claim, as we are made in His image and likeness. Thus our entire lives are His, both personal and political.

Thus the attempt to trap Our Lord into either being a Galilean tax revolutionary (the tax revolt of Judas the Galilean, which happened in the years leading up Our Lord’s birth and its brutal suppression by Rome would still have been within living memory) or a Roman lackey fails.

Rather, Our Lord uses this as an opportunity to place the political at the service of the spiritual by subtly subordinating Caesar to God, and thus to Himself.

And we can see this in the first reading, in which the prophet Isaiah names the pagan king Cyrus as one anointed by God, which in Hebrew is rendered “Messiah” and in Greek “Christ.” When temporal power serves God’s aims, even if it does not correctly recognize Him, it serves Him.

This is why the Apostles, such as St. Peter and St. Paul, will appeal to Caesar, exhort prayers for him, see him as an instrument of God’s justice, etc.

Nonetheless, as St. John Chrysostom comments, insofar as Caesar acts contrary to the Faith we do not owe him our obedience. For in such a case we are not being asked to render proper tribute to Caesar, but are rather being asked to render tribute to the Devil, who is an usurper.

Thus while we owe obedience to Caesar even if temporal power does not recognize the claims of the Catholic Church, this obedience is owed only insofar as Caesar does not pay tribute to the Devil and usurp the rights of Christ and His Church.

In such situations, we owe no obedience, for as St. Augustine says, an unjust law is no law at all. Rather, we are called to act so as to render unto God that which is His and to make Caesar do the same.

We do this first and foremost by being Holy ourselves. By making recourse to the sacraments, especially to confession and the worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist. Then we heed the teachings of the Apostles and offer prayers for temporal authorities, that they may be converted.

Finally, insofar as we are able to be involved in the political process, we recognize that even here we must subordinate our actions to the will of God and the teachings of His Catholic Church. For there is no portion of our lives that we are not called to render unto God.