The question about paying taxes

Gospel Reading: Matthew Chapter 22 versus 15 – 22.
The question about paying taxes.

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.

Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

SERMON: Matthew 22:15 – 22

A little boy desperately wanted £100.00 to buy some new toys and so he prayed to God for a whole week, but nothing happened.

So, he decided to write a letter to God requesting the £100.00. When the Post Office got the letter addressed to God they forwarded it on to 10 Downing street. The Prime minister surprisingly received it and was very impressed, touched and amused. So he instructed his advisor to send the boy £5.00. He thought £5.00 would be a lot to the little boy.

And the boy was, indeed, very delighted by the money. He sat down and immediately wrote a thank you note, which read: Dear God, thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through 10 Downing Street and, as usual, they kept most of it.

Well, people living 2000 years ago just like today did not like to pay taxes any more than we do today. In fact, there was a raging debate about the morality of paying tribute to Rome by way of taxation.

Our gospel text today has a saying of Jesus that most people know or have heard “Render unto Caesar …what is Caesar’s'”?

And I am sure that this familiarity keeps many from seeing the deeper meaning in this passage. In addition, some people have taken these words of Jesus and have drawn from them an entire theology of two kingdoms: The kingdom of man and the kingdom of God and how these two kingdoms are to relate to one another.

I am hopeful that you will find that Jesus is speaking in this text not about kingdoms
but about images.

So, let’s set the scene for yet another encounter between Jesus and Israel’s religious leadership.

Now the religious leaders had decided to craft a question that will entrap Jesus.

And, to do this, we find some very strange bedfellows on the planning committee: both the Pharisees and the Herodian’s.

The Pharisees, of course, were the ultra-conservative religious party in Israel. They were denounced by Jesus for their purely external observance of the Law and for the multitude of daily rituals and commands that they laid on the people commands which even they could not keep. The Temple leadership was riddled with men who were Pharisees.

Then, to the far far left were the Herodian’s. These were Jews who as the name implies were staunch supporters of King Herod and his dynasty. And the Herodian Dynasty received its power from the Roman occupiers in Palestine. They were in favour of Rome, of Roman rule, and of the power of the appointed Roman King Herod.

Now, it is the far right-wing Pharisees and the far left-wing Herodian’s who end up conspiring to entrap Jesus. Jesus knew that there had to be some devious intent for these two sects to join forces and come together to confront him.

The old adage: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” was certainly true that day.
The enemies of Rome and friends of Rome were united in their opposition to Jesus.
So, they devise a question which they are sure … Jesus cannot …wriggle out of.

They fashion a question for him …that they believed …must be answered …with a simple… Yes or No.

After some passive sounding flattery, they finally put the question to Jesus this way: “Tell us then what you think: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Emperor, or not?” (Matthew 22:17).

Now you may think that we pay enough taxes but the Romans imposed several taxes on the Jews. There was something called the ground tax which was a tax of ten percent of whatever came out of the ground, grains, and wine, and oil.

Then there was the income tax, and by our standards this was very light actually it was just one percent of one’s cash income with no deductions, of course.

And, finally, there was the poll tax. Yes, even then there was the dreaded poll tax.

It was also a flat tax and it amounted to a denarius which was approximately the wage of a common labourer for one day’s work. It was a tax imposed on every male from age 14 through 65 and on ever female from the age of 12 through to 65.

It was this poll tax that was the subject of the question put to Jesus by the Pharisees and the Herodian’s. It was a special tax, because it had to be paid in Roman silver coinage. Other business and tax matters could be paid in copper coinage, gold bullion, or other acceptable currency. But, the poll tax had to be paid with the Roman silver denarius and these coins bore the image of the Emperor, and they were inscribed with an inscription “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the divine Augustus.”

Now, this tax was a point of great controversy among the Jews. The Herodian’s, of course, were united in favour of the tax. In fact, they were in favour of all the Roman taxes. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were very much opposed to paying Caesar any taxes at all. But, it was the poll tax that irritated the Pharisees the most because they had to use a coin which bore a graven image of someone who claimed to be a descendant from “A god”.

We can begin now to see the trap that the Pharisees and the Herodian’s had crafted for Jesus?

If he answered their question “yes, it is lawful to pay this tax to Caesar,” then they would be able to turn the crowds against Him. On the other hand, if Jesus said, “no, it’s not lawful to pay the poll tax.” then the Herodian’s would have promptly brought a charge of troublemaking against Jesus and the Roman’s would have arrested him, and Jesus would be out of their way.

Jesus response, of course, put their conspiracy to flight. He began by calling them what they are. “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?”(Matthew 22:18)

The charge of hypocrisy was aimed directly at the Pharisees, for they paid the poll tax even though they judged it to be a violation of two of the ten commandments.

Jesus then turns the tables on the conspiracy “Show me the coin used for the tax,” and, they bring him a Roman denarius. “Whose image and inscription is on this?” he demanded. “Caesar’s,” they reply. “Then render to Caesar what is Caesar’s,” Give to the Emperor the things that are the emperor’s.

The Greek word translated ‘render or give’ often carries the sense of giving something “back” to whom it already belongs. In short the coin was given out by Rome so therefore give it back to Rome.

Now Jesus could have stopped here, and that would have been all that was needed to confound the Pharisees and the Herodian’s alike.

The Herodian’s could not have brought a charge of subversion against Jesus. As for the Pharisees, Jesus had just handed them the very thing they needed in order to pay the poll tax with a clear conscience! The denarius was not “theirs” in the first place; it was Caesar’s. To give the denarius to Caesar was simply to give to him what was already his.

In fact, the Pharisees would probably have been joyful as soon as they had digested the significance of what Jesus had said. But Jesus being Jesus did not stop there. He added these infamous words, “And, render to God, the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 22:21) Give to God the things that are God’s”

At that point, the tables are fully turned on both the Herodian’s and the Pharisees.

Why? Well, it is fine to give a denarius to Caesar because it bears his image.

For that reason, it belongs to him.

But, what does one give to God? What belongs to God? Well, what belongs to God is that which bears God’s image. But what bears the image of God?

In the very first chapter of Genesis, we are told God said, “Let us make humankind… in our image, according to our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) The Scriptures than go on to state, “So, God created man in his image” (Genesis 1:27)

Hence we are the coins; we are the image of God’s kingdom. If we are commanded “to give to God the things that are God’s,” then we must conclude from our Lord’s teaching that there is no limit to what we owe God.

We owe God our whole being for we are created In His Image. The Pharisees would not have missed that. They would not have missed what Jesus was really saying about them. He had been hammering them for days for exactly this failure.

Think back to the last few weeks of Gospel readings… In those parables, Jesus told them time after time that they are God’s workers in the vineyard, they who refuse to give to God the fruit of the vineyard.

They are God’s sons who say they will serve him, but then refuse. They are the sons of God’s Kingdom who refuse to come to the marriage of the King’s Son.

Now some well-meaning Christians have taken Jesus’ words in this text as a starting point in building a theology of two kingdoms.

But the Scriptures are clear in fact they are crystal clear in that they point out that WE are citizens of one Kingdom……The Kingdom of God.

We are called to be ambassadors of Christ to this world. We are in the world but not of it. Jesus words from this text are not about two kingdoms they are about two images.

You were made in God’s image and Jesus is calling us to “Give to God what is God’s!” Jesus words in today’s gospel come down to this: to what degree and in what ways are you and I giving to God what is God’s?

And the answer to that question leads to this question: to what degree and in what way do you and I bear the image of God? To what degree, and in what way is the image of Christ …evident in your life?

WE are called to give to God …what is God’s …because we bear his image.

So… how do we portray God’s image to the world? Jesus shared with his disciples and with us today how to be that kind of people:

“‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

We bear the image of God and through the power of the Holy Spirit who abides in our very being.

So my friends let me ask again….. Are you portraying the image of Christ?

Do you surrender to his will and to the presence of the Holy Spirit?

Do you allow the Holy Spirit to guide … mold you …and refine you?

And so my dear friends may our Father in Heaven in who’s image we were created guide you, and empower you to be for him all that he has created you to be.

Amen.

PRAYERS

Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your Spirit in this place; Lord, listen to your children praying, send us love, send us power, send us grace!

God of majesty, Your glory fills the earth and the heavens. You are the maker of all that is, of all that is good, of all that seeks good, of all beauty and truth and nobility. You surpass all that we think of you.