My Sermon for October 22, 2023

My spouse said that yesterday's sermon was the best he'd ever heard on that Gospel.  Wow.  So let me reprint it here:

October 22, 2023

By Kristin Berkey-Abbott

 

 

Matthew 22:  15-22

 

 

If I had to pick a saying of Jesus’ that was most famous, this might be the one:  “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”—or perhaps this more familiar version:  ““Render[e] therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  People who didn’t grow up in church might think a famous politician said it—they might therefore be surprised to find out that it comes from a religious leader.  They might be surprised because so many of us have heard it in a pro-tax context; it wouldn’t surprise me to see it in a political campaign.

 

It probably won’t surprise you to find out that Jesus is making a much more nuanced argument—as well as skillfully avoiding a trap set for him.  Consider for a moment who is asking this question:  Pharisees and Herodians, not two populations who usually work together or even speak to each other.  Pharisees, religiously devout, resented the claims of divinity by the Roman emperor.  Herodians supported Herod, the Jewish ruler put in place by Rome, dependent on the Roman empire, and thus we assume would support the tax.  These two groups with differing views of Roman rule ask Jesus if it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor. 

 

Consider the Roman poll tax. 

 

Theologian David J. Lose says, “First, some background. It is not simply taxes in general that are up for debate here. Jews in first-century Palestine paid numerous taxes: temple taxes, land taxes, and customs taxes, just to name three. The tax in question was a particular—and particularly onerous—one. It was the imperial tax paid as tribute to Rome to support the Roman occupation of Israel. That is right: first-century Jews were required to pay their oppressors a denarius a year to support their own oppression.”

If Jesus says to pay taxes, the Pharisees can use his answer to show that he’s collaborating with the oppressor, Rome, that he doesn’t feel with the pain of the Jewish people.  If he tells everyone not to pay taxes, he’s a traitor to Rome.  Will he be a seditionist or a collaborator?  It seems that the questioners have set the perfect trap.

 

But Jesus is not so easily fooled.  He asks to see a coin.  There is clear evidence of all kinds of idolatry:  a graven image on the coin, an emperor claiming to be god, currency demanding loyalty.  Jesus is not just avoiding the question.  He’s asking a much more important question.  Who deserves our loyalty?  He says the famous line.  “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

 

Don’t be fooled.  Jesus has not suddenly transformed into a pro-government prophet.  He knows, and everyone around him knows, the terrible power wielded by earthly empires.  They are surrounded by the results of ruinous policies:  farmers evicted from their land, people in other occupations barely able to eke out a living, everyone in danger of losing the little bit that Rome allows them to have.  Even the ones at the top of the power structure, the Herods, the Pontius Pilates, know that they serve at the pleasure of the emperor, and the emperor’s loyalty is far from sure.

 

          Jesus isn’t advocating for a two state system.  He’s not telling us to be loyal to both government and God.  This is not a pro-tax text.  This is not a tithing text.  This is Jesus, reminding us of which kingdom came first.  As we heard in the Isaiah text, God was here before any earthly power, and God will outlast them all.

         

Jesus’ questioners have missed the point.  It reminds me of Christians who would come a few centuries later, theologians who would spend a lot of time and energy arguing over whether or not God came first or Jesus, arguing over whether or not Jesus is  more human or more divine.  However, I spent time this week thinking about these 4^th century controversies because I was writing an essay for my midterm in my Systematic Theology class.

 

As I thought about Jesus looking at the face on that coin, I thought of the questioners who had God right there with them.  They could ask Jesus anything, and they ask him about taxes.  They gazed upon the face of the Divine, and they asked about loyalty.

 

One of the Gospel commentaries I read reminded us that every life is marked with God’s visage—we look at each other and make the same mistake those Pharisees and Herodians did.  We see each other as the world sees us—marked and measured by what we wear, what we drive, the jobs we do, the houses we live in, the degrees we’ve earned, and the money we make.

 

But Jesus is different.  Throughout his ministry, he sees worth and potential where the rest of the world sees sinners and outcasts.  Jesus reminds us again and again that God chose us, that God loves us, just as surely as God declared the worth of Jesus at the baptism of Jesus.  We can put our trust in God, in a way that we will never be able to trust an earthly ruler.  Earthly rulers must worry about consolidating power and doing away with threats.  God does not.

 

If we really want to change the world, we can practice seeing others through the same lens of love that God sees each and every one of us.  It’s easy when we’re seeing people behaving well.  It’s harder when we feel threatened.

 

Let us remember what the words of Jesus imply.  We are not the emperor’s.  An earthly empire does not imprint us with our true identity.  Baptism does.  Communion does.  We are God’s.  But even without the sacraments, God claims us and declares how important we are.  In turn, we can act with the love that lets us see the essence of God in every human face.