Luke 20

Just A Penny

Show me a penny Luke 20:24.

I expect there are a good many copies of our text in church today. For the text is an old and useful friend. We meet him every day and he is quite a frequent visitor to church. Now if you happen to have a copy in your pocket will you take it out and look at it; for a penny is quite an interesting thing when you examine it.

The American penny shows an engraving of Abraham Lincoln. The penny is the smallest amount of money, and yet Abraham Lincoln probably did the most to save this nation! But there's another way of looking at it too. Because pennies are so plentiful, people are reminded of Abraham Lincoln more.

The penny has a very interesting history. It was introduced into England more than eleven hundred years ago. In those days, as you know, England was divided into several small kingdoms, and the ruler of one of these kingdoms, King Offa of Mercia, first introduced the penny. This penny was made of silver and he copied it from a coin which had been made some years before by Pippin, the father of Charlemagne.

For many centuries the silver penny remained practically the only coin in use. There were no halfpence or farthings till the reign of Edward I; before that, if you wanted to buy something which cost a halfpenny or a farthing you halved or quartered your penny.

Silver pennies were coined until the reign of Charles II. Then copper halfpence were minted, and henceforth the silver pennies were made only for Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, when the King gives away money to as many poor people as he is years old.

Although copper halfpence were coined from the time of Charles II copper pence were not made till the year 1797. They were larger and heavier than our pennies. In 1860 the pennies were reduced to the size we know, and a little tin and zinc were mixed with the copper to make bronze.

Today in America, pennies have no medal of value and cost more to make than they are worth.

Perhaps you may wonder what the penny of our text was like. It was the silver Roman penny or denarius which every Jew had to pay as a tax to the Roman government. In value it was equal to about $80 of our money. On one side the coin bore the head or “image” of Tiberius Caesar, the reigning Roman Emperor, and round the edge was the “superscription”: “Tiberius Caesar, the son of the deified Augustus, (himself) Augustus.” On the reverse side was a picture of Livia the Emperor's mother seated, and holding a flower in her right hand and a scepter in her left. So the Roman penny looked not at all unlike our British one with the King's head on one side and Britannia on the other.

Now the Jews hated to pay the tribute money; they hated to feel they were under the rule of Rome, and they declared that God was their only King. So when the Pharisees wanted to catch Jesus in some of His words they hit upon a very crafty plan. They brought with them some of the Herodians, the supporters of King Herod who ruled the country for the Roman Emperor, and they asked Jesus whether it was lawful to pay tribute to Caesar or not. Now they knew that if Jesus answered “It is lawful” He would offend the people; and if He answered, “It is unlawful,” the Herodians might hand Him over as a traitor to the civil powers. But Jesus said neither. He said, “Show me a penny: bring me a piece of the tribute money.” And when they brought it He asked, “Whose image and superscription is this?” They answered, “Caesar's”; then He said, “Render (that is, “give back”) unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.” Give Caesar his due. But don't forget to give God his due too.

Boys and girls, we too bear an image and superscription. The image that we bear is the likeness of God Himself, for He made us in His own image. And the superscription is just the words “Made for God.” Whether we will or not we are carrying about with us God's image and superscription. Are we rendering unto God the things that are God's? Are we giving God His due?