Mat 22:19 Show me the tax money.
Mat 22:20 Whose [is] this image and superscription?

(Aside: Who knew that the catch phrase, "Show me the money!" was a Bible quote?)

Christ consistently uses money as a symbol for the mental realm in the division of the world into the physical, mental, and emotional. For Christ, all business activity was a matter of thought and communnication. The key to the mental realm is the use of symbols, especially words. Christ makes that connection clear here, pointing to the words and image on the money, showing what it represents: not just the physical gold, but the connection with power.

Our mental activity abstracts the physical world into symbols. These symbols encapsulate information. For information to pass between people, they both must understand the symbols involved. We must code and decode words and ideas using the same system. Christ is pointing out that money is part of this artificial, man-made system of symbols.

Nature also passes information, but its information system is not arbitrary. It is part of the physical nature of things. DNA is more than a code. Its coding and decoding is a chemical process that actually does things. It is both a message and a mechanism in a way that words, which are purely symbolic, are not.

"Tribute" is from kênsos, which means "the tax" or "census."

"Money" is from nomisma, which means "anything sanctioned by current custom or usage," "institution," "coin," "money," and "full legal measure." The closest English equivelent is "currency."

"Image" is from eikôn, which means "likeness," "image," "image in a mirror," "personal description," "semblance," "comparison," and "archetype." It is the source of our word "icon."

"Superscription" is from epigraphê, which means "inscription," "title," "acription," and "description." It is from the verb that means, literally, "to write upon."