Sights, for the moment, are set on “Render unto Caesar.”
Let’s calibrate.
He’s addressing the Pharisees as a part of the final showdown ahead of his passion. They and the Sadducees try trap him.
The Religious leadership is corrupt. Jesus speaks harshly to them because speaking words of comfort to them will have no avail and only prove his teaching to be easily dismissible. That’s not the case when a popular religious teacher whom many regard as a prophet directly rebukes you and your colleagues in-charge as deserving the most serious punishment for failing in the responsibility entrusted to them.
They are fearful of the crowds. They attribute their fear of the crowds to their fear of the Romans who will suppress any uprising with their total destruction. They’re fearful all around. But, in the end, they forget to fear the only one whom the must fear, the Lord. As a result they will lose everything.
It’s like Churchill’s famous judgment of Chamberlin, “You chose dishonor and you will have war.”
