Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s.” Mark 12:17 ESV1
To faithfully render something is to accurately represent it. But one can faithfully render something without rendering faithfully at all. To explain this phenomenon, let’s turn to an account recorded in the synoptic Gospels.
Malevolent is an adjective. It means “wishing evil or harm to another or others; showing ill will; ill-disposed; malicious: evil; harmful; injurious:”2 Jesus experienced malevolence from the religious leaders of His time. These religious leaders, particularly those from the sect of Pharisees, were hateful toward Jesus out of jealousy. The more and more popular Jesus got, the more and more irritated these religious leaders got. People were flocking to Jesus instead of them. People were praising Jesus and not them. Their envy got the best of them; it turned into malice. They began to look for a way to trap Jesus and bring Him down. That task was easier planned than carried out.