The phrase "the coin of the realm" can refer to the money used in a particular country, but more often is it used in the sense of Merriam Webster's second definition: "something valued or used as if it were money in a particular sphere". The used-in-a- sentence example is "Information is the coin of the realm in the capital"--information has value in the same way that money has value.
That value is referred to in any number of stories Jesus told, or was a part of. In John's version of the Feeding of the 5000, Philip says "Twp hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little"--the denarius being the Roman coin that was the usual day's pay for a laborer. So the denarius was the value of that person's work (and also the word that the Spanish word for money, "dinero" came from) .
Measuring value by income level has been true for too long, and continues to be. The pandemic, where we discovered that many workers who are notoriously underpaid are nevertheless "essential" workers, has hopefully helped reawaken us to the inequities in supposed value of work in our society--how movie stars and sports stars have much higher incomes than "star" teachers, for example. Value is obviously not able to be measured by income, and yet it seems it is.
Again, this isn't new, and neither is determining someone's worth as a worker as a "commodity" or an "asset". Then there is determining someone's worth by "putting a price" on them. Apparently it was worth 30 pieces of silver to eliminate Jesus--in today's terms, around $300. Seems like those seeking to eliminate him got a pretty good deal, financially.
Maybe when we look at coins this week, we will consider just how cheaply some lives are valued--and yet how much more valuable each life really is, in God's eyes--and therefore, should be in our eyes also. Jesus said "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows." God values each one of us more than the religious leaders valued Jesus.
GOSPEL Matthew 10:26-31
26 ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
GOSPEL Luke 21:1-4
1 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; 2 he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 He said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; 4 for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.’
GOSPEL Matthew 26:14-16
14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, ‘What will you give me if I betray him to you?’ They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.