AtomCaesar’s or God’s?
Matthew 22:15-22
I have to tell you, when I read through this gospel lesson a week or so ago and starting praying about how it speaks to me and to us, I was tempted to put it away and turn to the lesson from Thessalonians. I mean, this gospel reading makes me tense in the say that the political season makes me tense…weighing the options, listening to the debates, reading the platforms of the various candidates, trying to determined if they would be good leaders, and all the rest. How shall we make the best choice for now and for the future? It makes me uneasy. Living in a democratic society is a good thing, but not an easy thing.
So, when I read the story of Jesus here, I felt like I had walked into a town hall meeting. Meet the candidate, Jesus, defending his tax policy. Taxes seem to make the agenda for every candidate – even Jesus. And the voters gather around to ask him this important question about taxes – a question for which they, like most of us, probably already know the answer they want to hear. They just want to know, “Does Jesus agree with them?” They don’t expect Jesus to stretch them and make them think differently. They just want to know his position so they known whose side he is on. And so they come to Jesus – two opposing parties, two positions – the Pharisees and the Herodians.
Most of us know something of the Pharisees. They seem to always be in the background of the story of Jesus – checking him out, pressing him to be faithful to the teaching of his own people and the practice of their faith. And in this issue of taxes, they also represent loyalty to their people, a people oppressed by Roman occupying forces and rankling under this taxation forced upon them to support the very troops that police them. The Herodians, on the other hand, are the party of the occupiers, those in power. They are the segment of the Jewish community that Rome has empowered to oversee the people and do Rome’s governing in their land. Their governance is supported by the tax. They are loyal to Rome and are despised by most of the community as traitors. So, these two different factions come to Jesus and say. “Jesus, we know that of all people, you are the most honest. You speak the truth regardless of the consequences. You are no party man. You are an independent thinker. (They sure would have set me up with such nice words.) So, what do you think, Jesus? Should we pay taxes to the emperor or not?”
Such a simple question, and yet a trap that Jesus cannot avoid. If Jesus says, “No, we’re Jews. Not only does Caesar expect us to pay tax with coins with his image stamped on them (the coins bore his image and also the words, “Caesar is Lord”) – Not only does he expect us to pay tax with these coins which no self-respecting Jew would even handle – but paying the tax would be giving in to the oppressive Roman rule. Don’t do it.” If Jesus says this he is in big trouble. He reveals himself as a political revolutionary and Rome had no patience with revolutionaries. They kept crosses ready at the gates of the city to discourage conscientious objectors.
On the other hand, if Jesus says, “Sure, go ahead and pay the stupid tax; what harm is there in a bit of compromise with Rome to keep the peace,” he reveals himself as a compromising collaborator and an enemy to his own people. Some people already suspect him of this since he healed the servant of the Roman Centurion.
“What do you think, Jesus?” Everybody leaned in to listen. It was the perfect trap. No matter what he said, he was in trouble.
So, Jesus asks for a coin. (Isn’t it interesting that he has none of the idolatrous coins, but those who test him do?) And he asks, “Whose image is on the coin?” The emperors. “Well then, it’s simple. He must own it if his picture is on it. You give to Caesar what is Caesars and to God what is God’s…but be careful. Don’t give to Caesar what is God’s.”
End of discussion. And the crowd went away amazed and I think wondering, “What exactly did he say?” I think we still wonder.
One evening a group of college young people were gathered for a Bible study in the dormitory. Imagine that. It does happen, young people. If you haven’t found one already in your college, look around, there actually are places that young people gather to study God’s word as a help in making their way in the world. Anyway, this group was studying this particular passage and after reading it they were amazed. And one of them finally said, “Okay, I don’t get it. Should we pay the taxes or not?”
Jesus doesn’t come right out and say, does he?
“Well maybe,” said a sophomore girl in the group, “Maybe when it comes to dealings between Jesus and the emperor, we just never know for sure when we’ve crossed that line, when we are giving to the emperor that which we ought only to give to God. Maybe we will always be uneasy with the emperor.”
It is an important insight. Jesus gives no simple answer here as to how to deal with living under the reign of God while living under the reign of the state authorities. Rather we are left with tension. Or are we?
Part of the problem we might have in understanding this word of Jesus is that we don’t have a lot of experience with Caesar’s around here. We North American Christians know that we are pretty fortunate to live where we live, in a democracy. So we may be tempted to think that this verse doesn’t really meet us where we live, that we don’t have any real problem with government or with the powers that be. No tension. Uh huh. Until we begin to talk about when to bring the troops home from Iraq and on a deeper level begin to talk about war and which war is just and who gets to go and when to end it…and then we begin to get tense. We’re not all that tense in our relation with democracy until we begin to talk about which taxes are fair taxes for me which ones are fair for you…and who should get their medical care paid for and who should pay their own way. We’re not all that tense with being Americans until we begin to try and sort out the laws of the land with regard to abortion or to human sexuality. Then it’s not so neat and easy. Its personal and its social and its spiritual all at the same time. And we begin to get a little tense…or a lot tense. And we divide into groups on one side of an issue or another. Christian groups mind you, on many sides. There are Christians who vote Republican and Christians who vote Democrat and Christians who vote by some other value or passion. And it’s not so easy to sort out all out. Living in a free market economy, a democracy means that there is no one voice saying, “My way or the cross.” No one Caesar, but yet many Caesars. And it leaves us all a little tense and rightly so, because it leaves us to sort it out day by day what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God.
“Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” says Jesus. Jesus knew we needed government, for order and safety. He knew we needed business and trade. But he also knew how easy it is to get confused over who is Lord of our life. “Whose image is on the coin of the realm?” says Jesus. “Caesar’s.” Then give Caesar his due. But whose image is on you? “In the beginning God made them male and female.” Remember? “In the image of God they were created.” Remember? So whose image is on you? God’s. Remember who you belong to. Remember that government cannot own you. Nor can any other ruler of this world.
“Give unto work the things that belong to work, give unto the school the things that belong to the school, give unto the football team or the choir the things that belong to the football team or the choir, give unto the church…(Let’s not leave the church out as an institution, too. We have our foibles.)…give unto the church the things that belong to the church…but…give unto God the things that are God’s.” Deciding which is which will always be a work in progress. But above all remember who you belong to. Remember whose image is on you and struggle with your decision based on that eternal truth. And as you struggle, remember to trust the forgiveness and love of God for when you make the right decision and the wrong one or the one that is not clearly right or wrong. Remember to trust the one thing sure in a broken and compromised world. Remember that you are created in the image of God and belong to your creator.
Matthew says at the end of this tense interchange that Jesus critics “were amazed; and they left him and went away.” I think they went away uneasy. I think Jesus left them thinking about how their own lives lined up before God and before the other powers that demand our time and attention. I think they went away thinking that their question wasn’t as simple as it seemed.
Now, I don’t know if we will leave church “amazed” today. Confused may be more like it! What did Pastor really say? But if we leave just a bit uneasy in how our allegiance to God meets our allegiance to state or community or economy, perhaps Jesus is pleased because it means we’re at least thinking about it. “Give to your community and your world the things that belong to it and to God the things that belong to God, but be careful that you don’t give the world what belongs only to God.” Let’s pray,
Dear Lord, we love our country and our community…but we also know that nations fall and rise under your sight. Help us to keep politics in its place, to see the purpose of government as the promoting of the common good, but also to admit that government has also been through the centuries a hindrance to the gospel. Help us to witness to our faith that God and not nations or economies rules the world, that Jesus is Lord and that we are to serve the Lord our God and no other in all that we do and say. Amen.
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