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

 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, but 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

 
In our current readings in Luke, it is Holy Week, and Jesus daily teaches in the temple.  He has been confronted by the leadership regarding His authority.  Yesterday we read that He 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 vine-dressers 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, but 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.  My study bible explains that the question on taxation is a trap, as Jesus implies by His question, "Why do you test Me?"  If He answers "yes" it will turn the Jewish people against Him.  If He answers "no" it will bring a charge of treason by the Romans.  His answer, my study bible says, establishes that a believer can at the same time render the state its due while serving God (Romans 13:1-7).  As the coin bears the image of the emperor, it is properly paid to him.  So also every person bears the image of God and therefore belongs to God.  The conflict between these loyalties arise when that which the state demands in contrary to God.

The question posed to Jesus reflects well the political nature of the expectations of the Messiah.  The people await one who will re-establish David's kingdom, throwing off the rule of the Roman Empire.   This is reflected, for instance, in John's Gospel, after Jesus feeds the multitude in the wilderness, whereupon we're told that Jesus understood they wanted to seize Him and make Him king by force (John 6:15).  When the crowds finally catch up to Him again the following day in Capernaum, He tells them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him" (John 6:26-27; see John 6 here).  The people are concerned with their daily lives.  They want a Messiah who will be the king they desire, who can live up to their political and material expectations.  But Jesus' mission is to teach about the kingdom of heaven that is in the midst of them.  Here in today's reading, the question posed to Jesus, designed not simply to discredit Him, but also to place Him in the sights of the authorities so that He may be done away with, reflects these political aims and aspirations.  Is He going to be a nationalist king, who will fight against the Romans, and drive them out of Israel?  Will He object to paying taxes to them as a matter of the religious law?  Let us remember that these expectations of the Messiah are not expectations of the divine Person of Christ, the Theanthropos ("God-man"), the One who is both human and divine in His Incarnation.  These considerations are stunning to the people, a stumbling block.  In their eyes, God may choose the one who is an anointed king, but Christ is something altogether different, and the Incarnation is the story here in itself.  As Son of Man and Son of God Jesus can say, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."   He can teach us that we each belong to God, while we live in the world.  His is not a question of constant political warfare, of slogans and warring armies, but a question of the soul -- and how truly to live as faithful to God and fully a part of this world.  But His answer gives us even more than that to ponder -- and that is to consider that all abstract or political questions regarding ethical or nationalist interests are not necessarily those things we need to act upon or consider uppermost in our service to God.  Too often we confuse absolute "rules" regarding political or social questions as if they were absolute rules imposed by God.  Do we always vote for this political party or that one because one is pleasing to God and others are not?  Do we treat our acquaintances with such absolute strictures, thinking we may associate with one and not with another because God decrees it forever and as an absolute?  Christ's life does not impose such absolutes upon us.  There is one absolute, and that is our love of God -- because this is the true nature of God, which calls us to worship God.   But within the worship of God and the life we seek to live of the Kingdom which Christ brings into the world, there is a life that asks of us alertness, awareness, a way of living that practices love, that may call on us for change and growth and learning.  This is discipleship.  Christ's way of life is one that calls us to repentance and to healing; it is a way of the heart and the soul.   As such, we render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is God's.  There might be a time when a tax is an outrage to our religious faith, and another time when it is perfectly just and reasonable, depending upon what is being directly asked of us.  Jesus Himself kept His identity secret and hidden until it was time for the Triumphal Entry, and even then defies the expectations about what the Messiah would be.  His ministry had to unfold in a particular way, through particular times -- as did the discipleship of those who would become the apostles of the Church.  Our love of Christ becomes, in this understanding, not simply a matter of abstract principles applied to political or civic affairs, but a question of heart and soul and spirit and strength -- and growth in understanding His love and how we live it.  Most distinctive of all, Christ's love is one that includes mercy.  When He teaches a story about what it means to be a neighbor, His finest example of being a neighbor is a Samaritan, a member of a hated group of enemies to the Jews.  On His way to His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, welcomed as Messiah, He calls out and stays at the home of the chief tax collector in a place notorious for sinfulness, and restores this man through repentance and his own recompense.  He touches a leper to heal him although it is forbidden to touch the unclean.  He praises a woman for her faith in front of the crowds, when her blood flow makes her unclean -- after she has surreptitiously touched the hem of His garment.  Each of these actions happen in a particular way and a particular time, and always within a sphere of faith.   Christ's work in the world and His continual presence to us together with the Father and the Spirit is one of active love, which cannot be contained in slogans and questions of which "side" we're on.  The absolute here is the Presence of God, our capacity for worship and life in the Kingdom He brings into the world (10:9-11), and for living a life activated by faith -- love of God which teaches us love of neighbor.  Let us consider all the riot of political, civic, personal, ethical, social rules we have -- and put them under the umbrella of the one absolute we have:  love of God which teaches us love of neighbor.  It is through Christ's love -- working in and through the great cloud of witnesses by which we are surrounded -- that we seek to make our proper way in the world, and live His Way which is a long, long learning curve, an entire journey of discipleship.  That is His call to us, the voice of our Shepherd which we always seek through prayer and through His love.