Mark 12:14

Plain English Version

They said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that you always want to do the right thing, and you always say true words. You talk to everyone the same way, people that are important and people that are not important. You always teach God’s words the right way. Well, we have a question about the Roman government bosses over our country. Is it right or wrong for us Jews to pay tax money to them?”

Cross References

Mark 12:13

Then the Jewish leaders sent some other men to try to trick Jesus. They sent some of the law men that were called Pharisees, and they sent some men that were good friends of Herod. Herod was the big government boss at that time. Those men tried to get Jesus to say something wrong, so they could make trouble for him.

Mark 12:15

Jesus knew that if he said, “Don’t pay that tax money,” then he will be in trouble with the Roman bosses, and if he said, “Pay that tax money,” then he will be in trouble with the Jewish people. They wanted to be free from the Roman bosses. So Jesus said, “Don’t try to trick me. Have you got some money? I want to look at a coin.”

John 7:18

Think about this. If somebody wants to make themselves look important, they make up their own stories. But sometimes a boss sends a work-man to give people a message. If that work-man wants people to respect his boss and know that his boss is important, then that work-man doesn’t make up his own story or tell lies. He only tells the true message that he heard. Then the people that listen to him respect the boss that sent him.

Romans 13:6

You have to pay tax money to the government too, for the same reason. Those government bosses work for God, and they need that money to do their job.

Galatians 1:10

I’m not trying to make people happy with me, I’m trying to make God happy with me. I work for Jesus Christ now, so it doesn’t matter to me if some people aren’t happy when I talk straight like this.

Galatians 2:6

The Christians in Jerusalem reckon their leaders are important, but it doesn’t matter to me if they are important, or not. God treats everybody the same way. Anyway, those leaders agreed that I was already teaching the true message about Jesus, and that I wasn’t leaving anything out.

1 Thessalonians 2:4

No way. You see, it was God that sent us. He knew us, and he trusted us to tell people his message. So we only say what he wants us to say. We don’t try to make people happy. We only try to make God happy.