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Proper 24A 2005 Matthew 22:15-22
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Two quick stories about taxes: Story one: A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying
the sunny Mexican weather. Suddenly, he was attracted by the screams of a woman kneeling in front of a child.
The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the child had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held
him up, gave him a few shakes, and an American quarter dropped to the sidewalk.
"Oh, thank you sir!" cried the woman. "You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?"
"No, ma'am," replied the man. "I'm with the United States Internal Revenue Service." (1)
STORY TWO: In a newly created nation in Africa, an elderly African was told that he was going to be taxed to support the
government. "Why?" he asked.
"To protect you from enemies, to feed you when you are hungry, to care for you when you are sick, and to educate your children,"
he was told.
"I see," said the old man. "It's like I have this dog, and the dog is hungry. He comes begging to me for food. So I take
my knife, cut off a piece of the poor dog's tail and give it to him to eat. That, I believe is what this taxation is." (2)
Nobody really likes taxes, especially when they are personally affected.
For the past several Sundays, our gospel lections have contained some of the most difficult parables that Jesus ever told:
the two sons, one who said he would abbey but did not, the other who said he would not obey but did; the tenants in the vineyard
who killed the landlord’s servants and eventually his son sent to collect the rent; and the wedding feast where the
guest without a wedding gown was cast into the outer darkness. These three parables are generally called parables of warning.
Jesus now has a series of confrontations with his enemies. In each one he is confronted in an attempt to show he is no better
than any other rabbi, or an attempt to ensnare him in serious difficulties. Not only does Jesus respond with superlative
wisdom, but he ends the exchanges by challenging his opponents with a question of his own that they cannot answer -- another
bit of veiled self-disclosure. All this probably takes place in the temple courts on Tuesday of Passion Week.
After Jesus spoke the three parables of warning to the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees went out from the temple courts where
Jesus was preaching, were joined by the Herodians, and "plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said." : Entrap: Trap reveals
the motive: this is no dispassionate inquiry into a proper attitude to the Roman overlord. Paying the poll tax was the most
obvious sign of submission to Rome. Zealots claimed the poll tax was a God-dishonoring badge of slavery to the pagans. The
trap, then, put Jesus into the position where he would either alienate a major part of the population or else lay himself
open to a charge of treason. (3)
The poll tax mentioned in this passage was levied by the Romans against the Jews beginning in A.D. 6 when Judea became a Roman
province. When imposed for the first time, it provoked a rebellion led by Judas the Galilean. So the trouble connected with
this tax had been around for most of Jesus’ life; there wasn’t a time he couldn’t remember it.
The Herodians were a group mentioned only three times in the Gospels and then only as joining with the Pharisees to oppose
Jesus. Nothing more is known about them than what the Gospels state. It appears that they were neither a religious sect
nor a political party. They were Jews who supported the dynasty of Herod and therefore the rule of Rome. The first time they
are referred to they are seen joining with the Pharisees to destroy Jesus; the second time, trying to trap Jesus by asking
him whether it is proper to pay tribute to Caesar. (4) But the Zealots, the Pharisees, and the ordinary people of Palestine
resented it.
And although the Pharisees and the Herodians were on opposite sides in New Testament times on obedience and taxes to the
Roman Empire, they found themselves allied against Jesus whom they saw as a greater danger. So now they tried to trap Jesus
in his words, trying to impale him on the horns of a serious dilemma. Should the authority of Caesar be recognized and the
poll tax be paid to him? If Jesus were to have affirmed payment of the poll tax to Caesar, he would no doubt have pleased
the Herodians. But he would have made himself an even greater enemy in the Pharisees and an enemy of the people who shared
the popular resentment to the poll tax as an unlawful imposition by a heathen government. But if Jesus denied that the poll
tax be paid, he would have made himself out to be an enemy of the state and possibly, subject to a charge of sedition. (5)
They are very clever these enemies of Jesus. They pressure Jesus beginning with flattery. The title "Teacher" and the long
preamble reflect flattery and pressure for Jesus to speak. If he does not reply after such an introduction, then he is revealed
as a man not a man of integrity and is swayed by people. The question "Is it right?" is theological, as all legal questions
inevitably were to a first-century Jew.
By NT times "Caesar," the family name of Julius Caesar, had become a title. The emperor at this time was Tiberius. The
wording of the question, with its deft "or not," demands a yes or a no. But Jesus will not be forced into a yes or no reply.
He recognizes the duplicity of his opponents. Jesus chooses to answer them on his own terms and asks for the coin used for
paying this tax. Such coins bore an image of the emperor's head, along with an offensive inscription ("Tiberius Caesar, son
of the divine Augustus" on one side and "pontifex maximus"--which Jesus would understand as "high priest"--on the other),
an inscription that would offend most Palestinian Jews. They hand Jesus a denarius, he looks at both sides of it, examining
it closely. He is quiet for a moment. And, then, as he has done before, he asks his questioners a question--this time a
question they have to answer.
Superficially, Jesus' answer accords with Jewish teaching
that people ought to pay taxes to their foreign overlords, since the great, even the pagan great, owe their position to God.
But Jesus' answer is more profound than that. It can be fully understood only in the light of religion-state relations in
first-century Rome. The Jews, with their theocratic heritage, were ill-equipped to formulate a theological rationale for paying
tribute to foreign and pagan overlords. The only time in their history that this had been theologically possible had been
the time of the Jews of the Exile, when they interpreted their situation as one of divine judgment. But it was not only Jewish
monotheism that linked religion and state. Paganism customarily insisted even more strongly on the unity of what we distinguish
as civil and religious obligations. Indeed, some decades later Christians faced the wrath of Rome because they refused to
participate in emperor worship--a refusal the state viewed as treason.
Seen in this light, Jesus' response is not some witty way of getting out of a predicament; rather, it shows his full awareness
of a major development in redemption history. Jesus does not side with the Zealots or with any who expected him to bring instant
political independence from Rome. The community he determines to build must survive in the world. And that means giving
– paying -- to whatever Caesar is in power whatever belongs to him, while never turning from its obligations to God.
The lesson was learned by both Paul and Peter in the earliest days of the Church. Of course, Jesus' reply is not a legal
statute resolving every issue. Where Caesar claims what is God's, the claims of God have priority. Still, Jesus' words not
only answer his enemies but also lay down the basis for the proper relationship of his people to government. The profoundness
and depth of his reply is amazing. (6)
He responds to the question about paying taxes to Caesar by indicating that participation in God's kingdom is not necessarily
incompatible with the fulfilling of civic responsibilities (such as paying taxes). Moreover, just as coins bearing the image
of Caesar should be given to Caesar, so also persons created in the image of God should give themselves to God. (7)
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
The King James puts it this way: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the
things that are God’s.” Our job is to know which is which.
AMEN
1. Bits & Pieces, March 31, 1994, p. 5., on eSermons.COM
2. Bits and Pieces, December 13, 1990. on eSermons.COM
3. Zondervan NIV Commentary, in CD-ROM Zondervan Bible Study Library (Scholar’s edition)
4. “Herodians”, New International Bible Dictionary, in loc. sit.
5. David G. Hagopian, Render to All What Is Due Them: What Every Christian Needs to Know about Honoring Civil Authority and
Paying Taxes, Part 2. Extracted from Ordained Servant vol. 4, no. 4 (October 1995).
6. Zondervan NIV Commentary, op. cit.
7. Asbury Bible Commentary, loc. sit.
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