Just asking (22): whose image are you bearing?

Years ago when our family moved to USA, my son was so fascinated by an item in the mall he bought one and mailed it back to his former classmate in Hong Kong.
A Swiss Army knife.

Multifunction.

I never understood why people tend to be obsessed with the assumption that whatever Jesus did or said, as recorded in the Bible, must function as a Swiss Army knife.

Perhaps people highly esteem Jesus.
Or the Bible.
There must be multiple wisdoms.
Like a Swiss Army knife.

So whenever Jesus said something, that must be debunking a falsehood, teaching a spiritual truth, pointing to a moral jewel, and even evading political set-up.
All at the same time.
Swiss Army knife.

Jesus is the Son of God.
He should be like a Swiss Army knife.
Or even better.

Unfortunately, not all items are Swiss Army knife.
Chopsticks are to pick up things, like fish balls.
Sieves are to catch things like wonton.

Using the wrong tool could miss the target completely.

That’s why I always feel frustrated whenever I hear people use this saying to justify the separation of church and state:
“Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
(Mark 12:17 NET)

Why did Jesus have to be so mindful of not falling into the opponents’ traps to avoid ending up in Caesar’s court?
Did he really need to find a saying that could teach and evade?
Did Jesus need a Swiss Army knife?

Focusing on a multifunctional reply has a costly penalty: missing the key punch!

Could Jesus really not care about the Roman taxation issue—let alone separation of church and state, but rather want to indict the interlocutors’ forgetting their allegiance to their God?
Isn’t that a graver mistake?

Why not focus on Jesus’ question in Mk 12:16:
“Whose image is this, and whose inscription?”

Whose image were they, not the coin, bearing?
Who else but God!

“Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mark 12:17 NET)

Wasn’t this a clarion call to the Israelites to remember their God?
Wasn’t it an automatic classic echo of the Creation narrative in Genesis whenever Israelites heard the term “image”?

“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness . . .’” (Geneses 1:26 NET)

Why not forget about the Swiss Army knife?
Why not just look for the key function of a single use tool?
Why not re-examine our allegiance to the One whose image humans bear?

Just asking.