The Coin of a Different Realm

Matthew 22: 15 – 22

 

(preached on October 18, 2020)

 

Over the next couple of weeks, we Americans will have the opportunity to choose our President and other elected leaders.  The calendar marks November 3^rd as Election Day, but this year, because of the pandemic, the time for voting has been spread out.  Some of us have voted already; some will wait till the last minute.  We have different ways to cast our vote: by mail, in drop boxes, or in person.  We have different feelings about elections.  Some of us enjoy the anticipation and find the last weeks of the campaign exciting.  Others can’t wait till the whole thing is over.

 

Whatever we might think about campaigns, it helps to remember what a great blessing it is to live in a country where we can choose our leaders.  The process doesn’t always function perfectly, but each of us can participate in choosing who will govern us.  In many countries, that isn’t the case.

 

In Jesus’ time, it was unheard of for ordinary people to choose their leaders.  The relationship between the people and their government was very different.  But the question Jesus confronts in our gospel passage for today is a question for us as well.  Fundamentally, it’s a question of where you and I, as followers of Jesus, place our loyalties.  What loyalty do we give to earthly leaders, and what loyalty do we give to God?

 

The religious authorities, the Pharisees, confront Jesus in our passage for today from Matthew.  As usual, they put him on the spot in public, in full view of the crowds. First, they flatter him.  “Teacher, we know your teachings about God are true and we know you don’t care what people think of you.”  (Now comes the question.) “So tell us, is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” (Peterson translation)

 

To understand the importance of this question, it helps to have a little background.  Jesus and the Pharisees are in the temple in Jerusalem.  It was in Judea, a province of the Roman Empire.  Most of the people living in Judea were devout Jews.  The Roman rulers imposed a tribute tax on them; this is the tax the religious leaders are talking about.  Nobody likes paying taxes, but the Jews of Judea didn’t just dislike the tribute tax; they hated it.  Devout Jews didn’t even like to carry the coin used to pay the tax because the coin bore an image of the emperor.  Their religion taught that images like that were graven images, forbidden by God’s commandments.

 

They also hated the tax because, according to their faith, God was the only king.  To pay tax to an earthly king was to deny their conviction that God was king.  It was an insult to God.

 

So the question poses a real dilemma for Jesus.  If he says it’s not right to pay the tax, he’ll be in trouble with the Roman officials and probably arrested.  If he says it’s right to pay the tax, some of his followers will lose faith in him because they’re hoping he’ll drive the Roman rulers out.  The religious leaders want to trap him here.

But Jesus doesn’t fall into the trap.  He asks to see one of the coins, one of those coins stamped with the likeness of Caesar.  He asks, “Whose image is on this coin?” and they respond, “Caesar’s.”  “Well then,” Jesus replies, “give to Caesar what belongs to him, and give to God what belongs to God.”

 

If you’re the sort of person who likes things to be cut and dried – and I think a lot of us are – you might want to make these words of Jesus into an either-or proposition.  You might want to figure out what is Caesar’s and what is God’s, and make a nice, tidy division between the two. Give to Caesar, or give to God?  But is that what Jesus is doing here?

 

Think for a minute about how you might answer the following questions:  Did you put on shoes this morning, or did you come to church in a car?  Do you eat cereal for breakfast, or don’t you like football?  Are you a congregationalist, or do you live in the United States?  Will you obey God, or will you pay taxes to Caesar?

 

Those are either-or questions.  Each of them sets up what’s sometimes called a false dichotomy.  That’s an either-or choice that doesn’t have to be a choice at all.  Can you wear shoes and come to church in a car?  Can you eat cereal and enjoy football?  Can you be a congregationalist and live in America?  Of course!  In fact, you can be an American congregationalist who wears shoes and eats cereal, while enjoying football after you’ve gone to church in a car.  These things are not mutually exclusive.

 

When Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is his, and give to God what is God’s,” he’s not setting up an either-or choice.  Jesus knows God intimately.  He knows that God is not an either-or kind of God.  There’s no such thing as a choice between Caesar and God.  There’s no such thing as giving to Caesar or giving to God.  Everything belongs to God.

 

When Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what is his, and to God what is God’s,” he might have added, “And be sure you know the difference.”  Giving to Caesar what is his means giving the kind of loyalty to earthly leaders that’s appropriate for them.  Giving to God what is God’s is a commitment to dedicate our whole lives to God’s holy purposes: to living the way Jesus lived.

 

That means we live not just for ourselves.  We live not just for the achievement of our personal goals.  We live as part of a larger purpose.  We respect our community and our nation, but our respect is rooted in a commitment to living by the ways of Jesus in love, justice, and peace.

 

We give to Caesar what belongs to him: a coin stamped with his image.  At the same time, you and I remember that we are made in the image of God.  We give to God in the coin of a different realm.  We give God ourselves, our lives, our deepest commitment to God’s ways of love, justice, and peace.

 

Rev. Elva Merry Pawle

Pentecost 20

 

 

“Softly and Tenderly” Mark Hayes  – Maria Ferrante, Soprano