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

 

Peter Paul Rubens, The Tribute Money, ca 1612.  Legion of Honor Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California

 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. 

 

- Luke 20:19–26 

 

 In Luke's Gospel, we are now reading through the events of Holy Week.   As He taught in the temple daily, He was questioned by the scribes and chief priests and elders of the temple as to His authority for His ministry and preaching.  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 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.   If we look at yesterday's reading, we see that Jesus has just told a parable against these rulers of the temple, even a threat -- that the owner of the vineyard will destroy the vinedressers and give the vineyard to others (see the parable in yesterday's reading, above).  It is clearly understood by these rulers that it was told against their leadership, and in the public hearing of the people.  So they begin to plot against Him.  Their plan is to find a way to deliver Christ to the power and authority of the governor; that is, the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate.  We could surmise that because of the people and their feelings toward both John the Baptist and Jesus as holy men, these rulers do not want to have Jesus' death on their hands in an obvious way.  So they seek to "set Him up," so to speak, in a way that will have the Roman state execute Him.

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.  Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?  This is a question which is designed to trap Jesus.  Taxation was compulsory to the Roman state.  If Jesus answers "Yes" then it would turn the people against Him.  If He answers "No" it will bring a charge of treason by the Romans.  Christ's answer, according to my study bible, defeats their cunning and also shows that a believer can render the state its due while serving God (Romans 13:1-7).  As the coin which Jesus demands be shown bears the image of the emperor, and is properly paid to him, so each person bears the image of God and therefore belongs to God.  Conflict arises, my study bible says, when the state demands that which is contrary to God.

The painting shown at the top of today's reading and commentary is called "The Tribute Money."  It is by Peter Paul Rubens, and was painted on or around the year 1612.   Since 1944, the original has hung in the Palace of the Legion of Honor, one of the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco, California.  I first saw it in the vestment room at the California Mission in Carmel, California, just off the beautiful Basilica, which also is a shrine to St. Junipero Serra.  Each time I return to this beautiful Mission I am struck by the painting, and it intrigued me more every time I saw it.   Clearly it is a copy, but I wondered why it was there and who put it there.  There is a beautiful icon, Byzantine in origin, of Mary the Mother of God, titled in the Roman Catholic tradition Our Mother of Perpetual Help.  In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, this icon is titled Theotokos Amolyntos.  Theotokos in Greek means "God-Bearer."  Amolyntos means "without taint" or "spotless" indicating her purity.  In the Eastern tradition, it is an icon of the Passion.  (Here is an interesting history of the tradition of this icon.)   A beautiful icon in a passage right next to the Basilica is something marvelous to contemplate and to pray with.  But entering into the vestment room, and turning around, one sees above the door the painting of Rubens.  Each time I visited the Mission I pondered why it was there.  Certainly in their role as missionaries, the mission fathers must have struggled with the demands of the Spanish state and military, especially as regarded their charges, the Native Americans of California.  And therein one can understand the reminder, as the priest prepared himself in the vestments for services, of the depth of choice that was always standing before them.  To whom does the soul belong?   What are the things that are Caesar's, and what are the things that are God's?  This no doubt was a clear struggle for these men of God who also had to work with the demands of the state -- including the demands for taxes, whatever the productivity of the missions.  I am no expert on this history, but I think the painting gives us a hint of the struggles of the mission fathers.  Since it appears now just above the door inside the vestment room, one presumes it was there for the private contemplation of the priest, the struggle in his own mission for those who were in his care.  The long turbulent history of colonization -- even across the world and in and by various countries -- is a subject which holds this question wherever it has taken place.  In films and literature, we find a varied representation of the struggles of pastors for their flocks, and the demands of the state.  That would include varied denominations of the Church, and also varied states, languages, governing systems, and militaries, and on different continents.  (For fictional representations more or less based on history one can read a novel from Nigeria, titled "Things Fall Apart," by China Achebe; or view a film called "The Mission" set in South America.)  Many modern, or one might say fashionable, political theories are quick to dismiss the sincerity of the Spanish mission fathers, but I am not one who ascribes to such thinking.  I am inclined to believe that theirs was a mission of faith and self-sacrifice for the love of God and love of their charges -- and also that their conflict with the demands of the state was real. Eventually, the missions would be secularized, and put under complete control of the military.   This was also not unusual for many colonies of different origin.  But this question Christ asks remains real for all of us now as well.  Then and now, the struggle between the demands of the state and our loyalty to and love of God remains with us.  Christ posed this question in this way not simply to defeat the machinations of those who wanted to entrap Him, but in order to expose the deeper layers and complexities of life in the world, life for His Church, and for those who would follow.  How are we in the world, but not of it?  How do we care both for our own souls and for the souls of others, and make decisions accordingly?  Everything belongs to God, for all of life is a gift of God, but where do our duties to the state lie, and where do they end?  I was grateful to see this painting at the mission, and understand the struggles of the fathers.  The state and its organization may change with the times and the place, but the struggle for faith remains the same, even as the demands of our secular communities and governments will change and differ from place to place and time to time.  Let us also, like the fathers, remember this question every day.