Knowing What’s What
Knowing What’s What
Matthew 22:15-22
Just a couple of weeks ago, it was time for me to pay my quarterly tax. My tax situation is a bit complicated. I am an employee of the church for the purposes of income tax, but I am considered an independent contractor and thus self-employed for Social Security purposes. And before you ask, yes, I still have to pay Social Security tax, even though I am receiving Social Security benefits. Since I am self-employed, I am obligated to pay into Social Security – they call it “self-employment tax” – quarterly. I have to pay on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. So, just a couple weeks ago, I had to write a check to Uncle Sam.
I don’t like paying taxes. For one thing, it seems like there’s a tax on everything. Washington doesn’t have an income tax, but they tax just about everything else. They tax my gasoline, they tax my car, they tax my restaurant meals, and they tax my fruit juice and bottled tea, they tax my tires, they tax my flour, they tax my house. There’s a tax on my electricity, on my water, and on my garbage. You name it – there’s probably a tax on it. If we were to calculate all the taxes that we pay, from the taxes on the factories that manufacture our goods, to the trucks that transport our goods, to taxes on services, we would find that we pay approximately 50 cents on every dollar in tax. Sales taxes, excise taxes, licences, fees, permits, property taxes, fuel taxes, and the “pass through” taxes that are added into the price we pay for goods and services – it all adds up.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t object to paying for fire protection, roads and bridges, and for police protection. There may be other things we pay for via taxes that are good and necessary, but as we’ve discovered over the past six months or so, there is a tremendous amount of waste and fraud, a lot of mismanaged money, and a lot that goes for things we shouldn’t be paying for. There is some good in the taxes we pay, but there is an awful lot of bad, too.
We have been paying for things that we oppose, and are forced to support against our own moral standards. Christians have been, either unknowingly or unwillingly, supporting Planned Parenthood and the murder of babies. We have been supporting terrorists. Part of our tax money has gone to support unions, whether you are a member or not. I would agree that national defense and national security are important, but we have spent a lot of money on wars that were none of our business. Some people have looked at what our taxes pay for and decided they don’t want to pay taxes. It would be nice if we were able to designate where our tax money goes, but we can’t. That is decided by Congress and their priorities aren’t always the same as ours. It would appear that tax is the price we pay for living in this country and this state. But for some people, paying tax is a moral issue in itself.
And if you think it’s bad here, think what it was in Jesus’ day. Not only did they have the mandated tithes and sacrifices, but they lived under the thumb of the Roman Empire. Emperors and senators, and high-ranking military people got very rich from taxes collected across the empire. And taxes might be particularly heavy on the more troublesome provinces – such as Judea. The Romans hired locals to collect taxes for them, and we have learned that these publicans, tax-collectors, were permitted to “charge a fee”, to put it gently, for collecting tax from their neighbors. The fee was paid on top of the tax, and the amount of the fee was basically up to the publican. The Romans didn’t care so long as they got their cut. So men like Zacchaeus and Matthew became very wealthy. The price they paid was to be shunned by their families, to be considered traitors by their neighbors, and to be excluded from the religious life of the community. Like prostitutes, they were among the worst of sinners.
Resentment ran high among the Jews – they resented the Romans, of course, but they particularly resented those who helped the Romans against their own people. They resented tax collectors and they resented paying taxes to Rome, particularly because they knew of the greed and extravagance of the emperor. They were taxed into poverty while he lived in luxury along with his friends and court favorites. It should not be surprising to us that the issue of taxes came up in the gospels. In fact, because Matthew himself had been a tax collector, it shouldn’t surprise us that the issue comes up in his gospel.
Before I go on, there’s another issue at play in this story. The chief priests, teachers of the Law, and the Pharisees opposed Jesus. We have read how they accused Jesus of being in league with the devil; how they accused him of being possessed by a demon; and, how they accused him of casting out demons by the power of Satan. We have seen them indignant at him. At the end of chapter 21 they looked for a way to arrest him (v.46). And now, verse 15 begins, Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. Everybody hated the Romans. Everybody hated taxes. And the Pharisees wanted to embarrass and humiliate Jesus and to turn public opinion against him.
“Teacher, 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.” In short, we know that you know the Torah and follow the Law. You don’t care about status or public opinion but only about the Law. Beware when people begin to flatter you. It’s often a prelude to a trap, or they want something from you. And this is the prelude to a trap – a trap based in the law itself.
“Is it right to pay the imperial taxes to Caesar or not?” It seems like a simple question, but there’s a snare in there. And it’s not just about paying taxes. There are actually two issues here: one is that the imperial tax was levied on subject nations. Roman citizens were exempt from this particular tax. Paying the tax was thus an acknowledgment of one’s inferior status and a nod to the might of Rome and her right to rule. In a sense, it might have been seen as admitting the lordship of Caesar over the Lordship of God. So, it was a form of idolatry.
Second, imperial coins were stamped with the image of the emperor. We can date Roman coins by the image they bear, because each emperor had his own coin minted with his own image and title. And there’s the rub. The Law says, Exodus 20:4, “You shall not make for yourselves an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” King James – “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image ...” The law actually goes on to put this in the context of worship, but the Jews had made this a literal command. That’s why there are no statues of great Jewish leaders. All the sculptures of Moses, David, etc., were carved by Medieval Christians. Jews don’t paint portraits. Jews don’t sculpt statues of people. There are no carvings. And the Roman coin had a “graven image.”
The funny thing is, though, that when Jesus asked for a coin, they had one handy. “Show me the coin used to pay the tax.” The imperial tax was paid in imperial coin – the only money trusted by Rome. “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” The image was a bust of the emperor, much like American quarters have the image of George Washington. The inscription read, Augustus Tiberius on the face and Pontiff Maximus on the reverse. If you have a dollar bill, take it out and look at it. What is the inscription? “Federal Reserve Note” “The United States of America” and then “this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” And whose image is on it? George Washington. This is government issued money, and this is what you use to pay your taxes. You pay in dollars. It actually belongs to the government.
Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.”
Now, let’s stop here and ask another question: Is Jesus talking about money, here? That may be what they thought. And we could go that direction. Since the coin is Caesar’s coin, Caesar is responsible for the “graven image.” It’s his sin, not yours. And since you are required to use the coin to pay your taxes, you are not accountable for the “graven image.”
We could go the direction of taxes: Is Jesus talking about taxes? It could be that he’s leading Paul in saying that we are subject to our government, and obligated to follow the law of our government, even if we disagree (so long as it does not break God’s law). That would mean that it is not the taxpayer who is at fault for the way the money is spent, but the fault of those who allocate it. That means for us, that even if our government supports the abortion industry, we are not guilty for the way the government spends the money. We are liable for the way we spend, but we are not for the way the government spends. The taxpayer is not guilty for the sins of the government. So we can pay our taxes with a clear conscience. It is Caesar’s coin, and Caesar’s guilt.
But is that what Jesus is talking about? Is there a deeper issue we need to see? Because Jesus did not stop with “Render unto Caesar,” did he? Jesus went on - “and to God what is God’s.” Give to God what belongs to God. What is that?
When Moses was confronting Pharaoh, there was a plague of hail. Moses told Pharaoh that when he left the city, he would spread his hands in prayer to the Lord. “The thunder will stop and there will be no more hail, so you may know that the earth is the Lord’s” (Ex 9:29). Psalm 24 tells us that the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it (Ps 24:1). Psalm 22:28 – dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. God is the Creator of this universe and it is his. The resources we enjoy come from the hand of God, which is why we ought to tithe. It is our way of acknowledging ownership, our way of expressing gratitude to God. That’s why Leviticus 28:30 tells us that the tithe belongs to the Lord. It’s not the money, but the attitude of the heart responding to the generosity and provision of God. Giving is an act of love and an act of worship. We give cheerfully when we love. Our worship, our praise, and our love belongs to God.
Salvation belongs to God (Rev. 7:10). Judgment belongs to God (Dt. 1:17). Power belongs to God (Ps 62:11). Vengeance belongs to God (Dt 32:35). Most importantly, know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture (Ps 100:3). James wrote, every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights (Jas 1:17). All we are, and all we have is a gift from God. So then, what might Jesus have meant when he said “give to God what belongs to God”?
Jesus could have been talking about the tithe. We know from other places that Jesus was quite critical of the way the Pharisees tithed, sorting out the good stuff for themselves and giving their leftovers to God, counting leaves and seeds to be sure that their tithe was exact and that they didn’t give more than was absolutely required. That’s the way many Christians give today. A family in one church where I was pastor bought themselves a brand new living room set - sofa, coffee table, easy chair, etc., and donate the torn and stained furniture to the church. They owned cats, so you can imagine the smell. And I know legalistic tithers, who sit down and calculate to the penny just how much their tithe should be, and question whether they should tithe on their gross income or on their net. Paul told the Corinthians to give what God had laid on their hearts to give and that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7). He commended the Macedonian churches - Philippi, Thessalonika, and others - for their sacrificial generosity (2 Cor 8:1-4, churches that even begged for the privilege of giving.
But I really think Jesus was talking about more than that. God doesn’t want your tithe. He doesn’t need your money. He doesn’t need your declarations of faith. What God does want is you. He wants you to be holy. Holy means this: you belong to God. YOU belong to God, whole and undivided. This is God’s will for you, Paul declares to Thessalonika, that you be holy (1 Th 4:3). He told the Corinthian church that they were called to be holy (1 Cor 1:2). Jesus commanded that we be “perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). Peter reminded the Church that just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Pe 1:15-16) and that we are a holy nation (1 Pe 2:9). It is clear that God wants us to be his holy people, a people that belong to him. Give to God what belongs to God – your whole self.
Do it today. Now is the time.