Bede

And so by seeking to slay Him, they proved the truth of what He had said in the parable. For He Himself is the Heir, whose unjust death He said was to be punished. They are the wicked husbandmen who sought to kill the Son of God. This also is daily committed in the Church when any one, only in name a brother, is ashamed or afraid, because of the many good men with whom he lives, to break into that unity of the Church's faith and peace which he abhors. And because the chief priests sought to lay hold of our Lord but could not by themselves, they tried to accomplish it by the hands of the governor; as it follows, And they watched him, &c.

This smooth and artful question was to entice the answerer to say that he fears God rather than Cæsar, for it follows, Neither acceptest thou the person of any, but teachest the way of God truly. This they say, to entice Him to tell them that they ought not to pay tribute, in order that the servants of the guard, (who according to the other Evangelists are said to have been present,) might immediately upon hearing it seize Him as the leader of a sedition against the Romans. And so they proceed to ask, Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not? For there was a great division among the people, some saying that for the sake of security and quiet, seeing that the Romans fought for all, they ought to pay tribute; while the Pharisees, on the contrary, declared, that the people of God who gave tithes and first fruits, ought not to be subject to the law of man.

Let those who impute the question of our Saviour to ignorance, learn from this place that Jesus was well able to know whose image was on the money; but He asks the question, that He might give a fitting answer to their words; for it follows, They answered and said, Cæsar's. We must not suppose Augustus is thereby meant, but Tiberius, for all the Roman kings were called Cæsar, from the first Caius Cæsar. But from their answer our Lord easily solves the question, for it follows, And he said unto them, Render unto Cæsar the things which be Cœsar's, and unto God the things which be God's.

Render also to God the things which be God's, that is to say, tithes, first fruits, offerings, and sacrifices.

Now they who ought rather to have believed such great wisdom, marvelled that in all their cunning they had found no opportunity of catching Him. As it follows, And they could not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.

And the chief priests and scribes sought to lay hands on him at that hour, and they feared the people. For they knew that he had spoken this parable against them. The chief priests and scribes, as if accusing the Lord of lying against them, sought to kill him, but by seeking this they were teaching that what he said was true. For he is the heir, whose unjust death he said would be avenged; they are the wicked tenants, who hesitated a little due to human fear from killing the Son of God until his hour had come, but they were never able to be restrained by divine love. Indeed, in a moral sense, each of the faithful is assigned to tend the mystery of baptism which he exercises in his works, like a vineyard he cultivates. One servant after another is sent to receive the fruit, which is read in the law, the psalms, and the prophecies, following their admonition by doing good. But a sent servant is mistreated or beaten and cast out, when the word heard is either despised or, worse, even blasphemed. He kills the sent heir as much as is in his power, who tramples the Son of God and insults the Spirit of grace by whom he was sanctified. With the bad tenant destroyed, the vineyard is given to another, when each humble person is enriched with the gift of grace which the proud one scorned. And this, too, that the chief priests and scribes, seeking to lay hands on Jesus, are restrained by the fear of the people, is enacted daily in the Church, when anyone refrains from attacking the unity of ecclesiastical faith and peace, which he does not love, either out of shame or fear of the multitude of good brothers living together. Yet, just as the Lord said about the foolish ostrich, when the time comes, will he take flight on high, because by persecuting the Church, he will rejoice in having the Lord crucified and displayed.

And observing, they sent spies, who pretended to be righteous, in order to catch him in his speech, and deliver him to the authority and power of the governor. Seeking to apprehend the Lord, the chief priests and the scribes feared the people, and therefore what they could not do themselves, they tried to accomplish through the hands of the governor, so that they might appear innocent of his death. For recently, under Caesar Augustus, Judea was subjected to the Romans, when a census was held throughout the entire world, and it had become tributary, and there was great unrest among the people, with some saying that for security and peace, with the Romans fighting for all, tributes should be paid; however, the Pharisees, who prided themselves on their righteousness, were contrary to this, arguing that the people of God, who paid tithes and offered first fruits, and other things written in the law, should not be subjected to human laws. The spark of this unrest grew so strong that after the Lord's passion, when the Romans besieged them, they preferred to lose their homeland, nation, and kingdom, the noble temple with its religion, even the light itself, rather than pay tributes.

They answered and said: Caesar's. And he said to them: Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. Let us not think of Caesar as Augustus but as Tiberius, his stepson, who succeeded in the place of his stepfather, under whom the Lord also suffered. All Roman kings from the first Gaius Caesar, who had seized the empire, were called Caesars. Moreover, when he says: Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, let us understand it to mean the coin, the tribute, and the money, and unto God the things that are God's: tithes, firstfruits, offerings, and sacrifices. Just as he himself pays the tribute for himself and Peter, and renders unto God the things that are God's, fulfilling the will of the Father. Alternatively: Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's; just as Caesar demands from you the impression of his image, so too does God, so that just as the coin is given to Caesar, so too the soul should be given to God, illuminated and imprinted with his visage. Hence the Psalmist: "The light of your face has been imprinted upon us, O Lord" (Psalm 4). For this light is the whole of man, and the true good, which is perceived not by the eyes but by the mind. He said “imprinted upon us”, as a denarius is imprinted with the image of the king. For man was made in the image and likeness of God, which he corrupted by sinning. Therefore, his true and eternal good is to be imprinted anew through rebirth.

There were two heresies among the Jews, one of the Pharisees, who boasted in the righteousness of their traditions, and hence they were called by the people, "separated;" the other of the Sadducees, whose name signified "righteous," claiming to themselves that which they were not. When the former went away, the latter came to tempt Him.

(ut sup.) They devise this story in order to convict those of folly, who assert the resurrection of the dead. Hence they object a base fable, that they may deny the truth of the resurrection.

Or these seven brothers answer to the reprobate, who throughout the whole life of the world, which revolves in seven days, are fruitless in good works, and these being carried away by death one after another, at length the course of the evil world, as the barren woman, itself also passes away.

Which must not be taken as if only they who are worthy were either to rise again or be without marriage, but all sinners also shall rise again, and abide without marriage in that new world. But our Lord wished to mention only the elect, that He might incite the minds of His hearers to search into the glory of the resurrection.

Or they are equal to the angels, and the children of God, because made new by the glory of the resurrection, with no fear of death, with no spot of corruption, with no quality of an earthly condition, they rejoice in the perpetual beholding of God's presence.

Or He says this, that after having proved that the souls abide alter death, (which the Sadducees denied,) He might next introduce the resurrection also of the bodies, which together with the souls have done good or evil. But that is a true life which the just live unto God, even though they are dead in the body. Now to prove the truth of the resurrection, He might have brought much more obvious examples from the Prophets, but the Sadducees received only the five books of Moses, rejecting the oracles of the Prophets.

And since they had been defeated in argument, they ask Him no further questions, but seize Him, and deliver Him up to the Roman power. From which we may learn, that the poison of envy may indeed be subdued, but it is a hard thing to keep it at rest.