Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's

Rubens, Peter Paul.  The Tribute Money. 1612, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA

And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.  So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.  Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.

- Luke 20:19-26

Yesterday we read that, after being questioned as to His authority, Jesus began to tell the people this parable:  "A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.  But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.  And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.  Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do?  I will send my beloved son.  Probably they will respect him when they see him.'  But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'  So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?  He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others."  And when they heard it they said, "Certainly not!"  Then He looked at them and said, "What then is this that is written:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone'?  Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."

And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people -- for they knew He had spoken this parable against them.  So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.   Luke's Gospel asks us to take note:  not only are the chief priests and scribes anxious to get rid of Jesus, they lay a trap for Him, using spies.  But here is the goal:  they wish to deliver Him to Rome, to the power and the authority of the governor, Pontius Pilate.

Then they asked Him, saying, "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"  But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Show Me a denarius.  Whose image and inscription does it have?"  They answered and said, "Caesar's."  And He said to them, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people.  And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.  My study bible tells us that this question on taxation is designed to trap Jesus, just as the text has told us was the aim of the religious leadership.  A "yes" answer to their question would turn the Jewish people against Jesus, while a "no" would bring a charge of treason by the Romans.  But once again, Jesus' capacity for language defeats their purpose.  He evades their trap, by showing that a believer can render the state its due while serving God (Romans 13:1-7).  Just as the coin bears the image of the emperor and is properly paid to him, my study bible says, so each person bears the image of God, and therefore belongs to God.  Conflict arises only when the state demands that which is contrary to God. 

The painting above, titled The Tribute Money, by Peter Paul Rubens, was painted in the early 17th century.  It depicts just the scene that is the subject of today's reading in Luke. Interestingly, one can find a copy of this painting hanging above the door to a vestments room at Mission Carmel (or, more formally, Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo), in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.  This was the second mission built by Franciscan missionaries in Northern or Alta California, as it was called.  Father Junipero Serra was the Franciscan in charge of the missions, whose headquarters remained with this mission.  First established in the city of Monterey in 1770, the military governor of the region also had its headquarters in the same area.  We're told that this first military governor viewed all Spanish installations in California as military institutions first, and religious outposts second.  He was a harsh governor.  Fr. Serra intervened on behalf of soldiers under him, creating tensions with the governor.  Furthermore, the soldiers treated the Native Californians badly, raping Native women and keeping them as concubines.  Wanting to distance himself and his charges from the military, Fr. Serra received permission to move the mission to its present location of Carmel in 1771, on lands more suitable for farming.  The copy of the Rubens painting hangs in a room behind the main chapel, which was presumably used for vesting before services.  One cannot be certain it was always in this location, but it is telling that for a priest like Fr. Serra the painting would be one hanging in view when preparing for services, as clearly the tension in his own mission was between what he owed to the state (being dependent upon it) and his service to God.   In the stories of the Franciscan and other missionaries throughout the world, one can find similar tensions between the demands of the state (particularly regarding colonization) and the duties of missionaries to their neophyte faithful, their flocks.  Such tensions have been dramatized in films like The Mission (1986) and books such as Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (1958).  They depict the real life playing out of the tensions Christ outlines for us.  In the painting above, one can spot in the background a man in a large white turban (to the right of the man in the red hood), who is staring at the viewer.  Peering at us from under the turban is the face of Rubens himself, asking us to make the choice Christ points us toward.  Jesus never preaches as if we don't live in a real world with real tensions and difficulties.  The whole story of the Cross is just that:  living in a world that is imperfect, fallen, where evil will challenge us in our own missions serving Christ.  Our whole story and the long history of Christianity is one in which this tension is played out.  But let us remember in whose image we are created, and where our first duty lies.  From its inception, the Church has never distanced herself from the world.  St. Paul's words in Romans 13, cited by my study bible, to his own flock living as Roman citizens, working in the world, are testimony to that.  Ours is not a black-and-white kind of faith, but one that most honors the very fact of God's intervention in human history, the Incarnation itself in which God became one of us and lived among us as Jesus, its highest saint the woman who gave birth to the Christ child.  Perhaps even more important is the perspective of the transcendence of our faith, even as it works out through the temporal.  The Cross is the place where we live that tension, and make those choices, seeking Christ's mission for us as His disciples.  Let us live His wisdom and teaching, and follow Him with our own crosses.