Give to God the Things that Are God’s
Gospel Reading
By the Rev. Darren Miner
Today’s Gospel reading looks like a straightforward debate over taxes, something we’re all familiar with. But there’s more going on here than meets the eye. An unnatural coalition of Jesus’ opponents has come together to bring Jesus down. I say “unnatural,” because the Pharisees were a Judean religious sect, while the Herodians were political lackeys of Rome from outside Judea. The Pharisees and the Herodians didn’t have anything in common, other than their antipathy to Jesus. But as the saying goes: “politics makes strange bedfellows.”
The Pharisees and Herodians posed the perfect “gotcha” question: “Is it in accordance with God’s law to pay the Roman poll tax?” It was a trick question, you see, and there was no right answer. If Jesus answered, “No, it is not lawful to pay the Roman tax,” then the Romans would have arrested him for sedition. If he answered, “Yes, it is right to pay the tax,” then he would have alienated a large percentage of the Jewish people, who resented the heavy taxation of their Roman masters. Either way, it would be the end of the Jesus movement. Or so Jesus’ enemies hoped!
But Jesus saw through the trap, and he cleverly avoided it. He refused to give the yes-or-no answer that his opponents had anticipated. Instead, he asked them to show him a coin and then asked them whose image and inscription was found on the coin. They brought out a denarius and responded, “Caesar’s.” Chalk up one point to Jesus! By bringing a denarius into the temple precincts, Jesus’ opponents had committed sacrilege and made their hypocrisy self-evident. You see, one side of the denarius declared that Caesar’s stepfather, Augustus, was a god, an assertion tantamount to idolatry.
But Jesus didn’t stop there. He went on to answer to their question, albeit indirectly. He instructed them: “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” We are told that Jesus’ opponents were amazed and walked away in defeat. What else could they do? How could they argue with what Jesus had said? For one thing, it probably wasn’t clear to them what Jesus even meant by this ambiguous quip. And frankly, I doubt they gave it much thought.
But as disciples of Jesus, we are obliged to give it a great deal of thought. What does it really mean for us today to “give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”? Broadly speaking, there are three schools of thought on the matter.
The first, espoused by John Calvin, focuses on the bit about Caesar. It interprets Jesus’ statement as granting divine sanction for the authority of the state. But I don’t think that Jesus was primarily concerned with the power of the state. It would be wholly inconsistent with his teaching about the Kingdom of God.
The Church Father Tertullian had a better explanation. He noted that the coin in question bore the image of Tiberius Caesar. As Jesus implied, that coin belonged to Caesar because it bore his image. But what then belongs to God? Tertullian’s answer was quite simple: that which bears the image of God. And the first chapter of Genesis tells us precisely what bears the image of God—we do!—human beings do! “In the image of God, he created them. Male and female he created them.” In this interpretation, Jesus has conceded that the coin in question belonged to Caesar and should be given back to him. But he then reminded the Pharisees and Herodians that they must likewise give back to God that which belongs to God—their very selves!
But there is a third, and even better, answer to the question “What are the things that are God’s?” Surely, everything without exception belongs to God, since God created “all that is, seen and unseen.” In that case, the proper response for a baptized Christian would be, not just to give back to God his or her self, but everything that he or she possesses as well. In this interpretation, Jesus is calling for a form of stewardship much more radical than any annual pledge.
Yes, we are now in the midst of our annual pledge drive. And yes, I urge you to give generously to support this church. (I want it to survive for another 100 years!) But I am urging you to do much more than to give your money. I am urging you to rededicate all that you are and all that you have to God’s use, holding nothing back. For true Christian stewardship admits of no half measures. Now, as to the details of how that might play out, that is between you and God.
With this in mind, let us start off our rededication to the Lord by reciting that ancient baptismal statement of faith, known as the Apostles’ Creed….
© 2020 by Darren Miner. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
