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

 

 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "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."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.

 

- Matthew 22:15-22 

 

In yesterday's reading, Jesus gave the parable of the Wedding Feast, as He continued to respond to the religious authorities in the temple at Jerusalem.  He said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding."'  But they made light of it and went their own ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'  For many are called, but few are chosen."

 

 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk.  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, "Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?  Show Me the tax money."  So they brought Him a denarius.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "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."  When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left Him and went their way.  The Pharisees seek to entangle Jesus by asking a kind of trick question, which works as a trap.  If Jesus gave a "yes" answer it would turn the Jewish people against Him (as they suffer under the oppressive taxation of the Romans).  But a "no" answer would bring a charge of treason by the Romans.  But yet again, the Word Himself is the master of all communication.  His answer defeats their cunning, showing that a believer can render the state its due while serving God (Romans 13:1-7).  More to the point, as the coin bears the image of the emperor and is more properly paid to him, each person bears the image of God and therefore belongs to God.  Conflict arises, my study Bible explains, when the state demands that which is contrary to God.  It notes also that the distinction between things that are Caesar's and things that are God's does not imply the division of a believer's life into the secular and the sacred.  Instead, we are to know that God is Lord over all of life, including the secular.  However, we fulfill governmental requirements that don't conflict with our first responsibility to God (see also Acts 4:19, 4:29).  To pay taxes and fulfill similar civil duties is not detrimental to holiness.  

 

 In Christ's time, we know the demand that was there to overthrow the Romans.  Indeed, many looked to an image of the prophesied Messiah who would be a worldly king, establishing again a throne of Israel and overthrowing foreign rule, with a powerful kingdom which could conquer all enemies.  So the question is more powerfully relative to Jesus than we might at first think.  While the Pharisees seek to entrap Him -- either with the ruling Romans or with the people of Israel -- Jesus is also the Christ, and the nature of this Messiah is not the one anticipated nor possibly even "demanded" by the people in this political sense.  So the question about Roman taxes has not only religious but also politically revolutionary overtones.  We should also note that among those who come to quiz Jesus are both the disciples of the Pharisees, together with their allies the Herodians:  that is, those who support the dynasty of Herod the Great which rules for Rome.  We know that the people (stirred up by the religious leadership who wants rid of Jesus) will demand that Barabbas, a violent rebel, be freed instead of Jesus at His Crucifixion (Matthew 27:15-26), so again, we can't overlook how powerfully relevant these issues really are to Jesus and very nature of His messianic ministry -- and particularly the central role of His Passion.  It makes us reflect upon the nature of what it is for Him to be the Suffering Servant who was prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12).  While there are certainly injustices done by the Romans -- and much more to follow even to the Church -- Jesus makes us think hard about what forms of revolution or rebellion are really about.  How do we correct injustice and throw off oppressive rule?  Of course, at the time of Christ there had never been an empire quite like the Roman Empire and Constitutional rule of law was not something that existed in the forms we know today.  So national expectations of wealth from conquered territory (including in the form of slavery which was virtually universal) also played a role in the ways that people thought about violence and the change of rule.  But let us consider what Jesus seems to be teaching us.  First of all, there is the sense of civic duties that exist for us all, regardless of what type of government we have.  We tend to think very individualistically compared with perspectives in the Bible and the historical perspectives of peoples everywhere.  Christ's response frames this question in both a communal and individual framework.  Whose business is it to govern?  Who mints the coin, who rules trade and exchange?  But both communally and individually, what's our duty to God?  How is our soul loyal to God, and at the same time we have civic duty to function among the wider community?  While faith in Christ calls on us for a type of radical conversion (that is, the loyalty of heart and soul and mind and strength in our love of God), how does that work out in terms of our relationship to neighbor, to community?  The faith of Christ in this sense turns political revolution as solution to spiritual problems upside down:  everything begins with the soul, with an internal loyalty and radical commitment to love of God first coupled and enacted through love of neighbor.   This itself can create radical change within us as individuals, as so many have found in the experience of their faith, but it is a kind of internal transformation and revolution against the things that get in the way of our love of God and its realization in our lives.  It is an overthrow of loyalty to the purely worldly and material with a commitment to put faith first in God's love and how we live it.  In this understanding, our internal change or transformation is also a "rebellion" against the one whom Jesus calls the prince or ruler of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11; Ephesians 2:2), the one who thrives on sin and all its forms including abuse and injustice and cruelty.  In this understanding, we might discern that abusive and oppressive rule is a product of sin, of "the evil one" (Matthew 5:37, 6:13).  We "render therefore to Caesar" practical and reasonable civic duty, but to render unto God what is God's demands of us no stone left unturned in an ongoing internal repentance, a commitment to knowing God and living as God's children that deepens as we mature and grow in faith.  This just might be the greatest power for transformation we can give to the world, for it goes to the real root of worldly problems.  Let us start there when we look for the change and good we desire.