Give to God what is God’s
Matthew 22:15–22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and Give to God what is God’s.
What does this even mean? What is Jesus saying?
Are we to pay our taxes and our tithes?
If we disagree with the government, then are we supposed to bow down and give what we are asked to give?
If we disagree with the church, and maybe even our pastor, are we supposed to still give?
These are all questions that come to the forefront of my mind when I hear the declaration of Jesus.
I’ll be honest: I am challenged by this scripture because I do not find the tax code in the USA as a fair and equitable code for all people. I and many others have paid far more in taxes than many of the wealthiest US folks who know how to get around the tax code. I don’t have that luxury, and many of you don’t. And yet, each year I pay my taxes because I hope that they are used for infrastructure and taking care of those who need taken care of.
And as challenging as I find it, I think as we should not dismiss our misgivings with the scripture.
We have to own them, embrace them, and then set them aside. I know many of you hate paying taxes. Taxation was a fairly big reason the US colonies decided to break away from England. Wars have been fought over taxes. Wars have been won because of taxes. They are a reality that we cannot escape.
Just like in Jesus’s time, they were a reality that the Palestinians, who were occupied by Rome, could not escape. And not only were they taxed, they were taxed without fair representation.
And this is precisely the intersection where the Herodians and the Jewish Religious Leaders were trying to trap Jesus.
The Herodians and the Pharisees were not friends. They were adversaries. And yet, the enemy of their enemy (in this case the common enemy was Jesus) became their friend.
The question was a no win question:
The Herodians were Jews who were loyal to the Roman Government and therefore, wanted Jesus to say, “Do not give to Caesar anything” so that they could call him anti-Roman and seditious.
The Pharisees were Jews who were strict adherers to Jewish law, and who abhorred the Roman government and wanted Jesus to say, “Give what you have to Caesar” so that they could call him anti-Jew and anti-Covenant.
But Jesus doesn’t fall for their trap. Instead he gives the answer that we started with.
Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”
So where does that leave us?
I often think we get so caught up with the taxation piece, that we lose sight of the bigger picture.
When Jesus pulls out the coin to ask whose name is on the coin, they of course say Caesar. But what Matthew doesn’t tell us is that the coin also makes that claim that Tiberius who is Caesar at this time, is the son of the god Augustus, and then reaffirms that Tiberius is also divine. So the inscription claims that Tiberius is a god.
In his answer back to the Herodians and Pharisees, Jesus is not capitulating to both, in a watered down, milquetoast, non-answer; Jesus is claiming a radical notion that flies in the face of Caesar being god. Caesar may get the coins that are thrown at him, given to him through taxation, but Caesar is not God. Only God is God. Caesar may be placated by his delusions that he alone can rule, and that he alone is worthy, but in a nod to his own community, Jesus is claiming that the currency of God’s Kin-dom is that all are marked in the Image of God. Every life is an Icon of the one who is Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End, Father, Mother, Creator of All there is. Caesar may want to see Caesar’s image looking back at him, but what he is missing is that he is not God. As hard as he tries, only God is God.
Caesar is about Empire. His subjects are commodities. There is nothing divine or precious about those he rules over. As the theologian Richard E. Spalding states, “Caesar’s interest in the well-being of his subjects stops abruptly at the point where his power over their livelihood is threatened.”
God is about Compassion, Justice, and Equity. God’s creation is the very reflection of God’s own image. God’s interest is not in lording power over a creation that is subjectified and objectified; God’s interest is creating a world where all know they are loved and where all know they have been washed by the waters of Baptism. The true currency of God is love and goodness. Mercy and compassion: for we are all God’s children in which God’s goodness and image is made manifest in this world.
This is the claim of Jesus! Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.
The unsurprising news to us all should be that All things are God’s. We are all made in God’s image. Even Caesar is made in God’s image.
As we think about God’s Kin-dom above and beyond the kingdoms of this world, and as we give to God what is God’s, It is not lost to me that we are still rooted in this world here and everything is not “pie in the sky.”
To give God what is God’s doesn’t mean that we focus on the heavenly things at the expense of the earthly things, but that we live as if God’s Kin-dom is being made a reality in the here and now. As Christians, we have Christ’s resurrection ever before us, and the call of “thy Kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
We are still called to live here on earth, and to take care of the earth, and even perform our civic duties here on earth.
We have to live lives that see all those around us as those who bear God’s divine image.
We have to vote in a way where human dignity and kindness is able to flourish and not be diminished.
We have to speak up and speak out against the systems that kill and dehumanize the beloved of God in the name of commerce, empire, and capital.
Give to God what is God’s.
Give to God yourself.
Give to God your service.
Give to God your action.
Give to God your love.
Give to God your voice.
Give to God your anger.
Give to God your grief.
Give to God your joy.
Give to God your Love.
Because God has given to you, God’s love.
Being a follower of Jesus is not easy, nor is it for the faint of heart. We were never guaranteed that it would be easy. Thank God that we are made in God’s image! That even when life happens, and even when we pay taxes, and vote, and live life, and see what all is happening around us, we can have faith that God’s love for us is never failing, and we can joyfully give to God, what is God’s.
In the name of the Liberating Christ who sets us free from Empire: Amen
