Presenter view · Grades 5–8 · Religion · The Tribute Penny
Whose Image Is This?
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Before you start
Learning objectives
By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- read a Roman coin as evidence: whose image, whose inscription, and what it claims
- explain the trap set for Jesus, and how his answer escapes it
- connect “give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21) to being made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27)
- Go deeperjudge when obedience to the state must give way to conscience
Why this matters Coins, flags and screens all ask for our loyalty every day. Jesus’ question gives us a way to tell what belongs to God.
Materials
- Bibles, or Matthew 22:15–22 projected
- An image of the Tribute Penny (the exhibition page, or the coin on the student handout)
- Any coin from a student’s pocket or purse
- Differentiated handouts, one per student
On the classroom screen
Up next
Read a coin 5 min
Hold up an ordinary coin. “Whose face is on this? What words are written on it? What is the coin claiming?” Take answers: a president, a motto, a date, a country. Then: “Every coin tells you who is in charge. Two thousand years ago, someone handed Jesus a coin and tried to trap him with it.”
Ready
45:00
Questions to ask in front of the case
- What is the first thing you notice about the face on this coin?
- If you were a faithful Jew in Jerusalem, how would it feel to carry a coin that called the emperor the son of a god?
- The Tribute Penny sits beside the Shekel of Tyre, the coin that paid Judas. What do these two coins, side by side, say about money and loyalty?
- Jesus asked his questioners to show him the coin. Why might it matter that they were the ones carrying it?