Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and that you teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and that you show deference to no one, because you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
Jesus, aware of their malice, said to them, “Why do you put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” So they brought him a denarius. He said to them, “Who’s head is this? And who’s title?” They answered him, “The emperor’s.” And he said to them, “Give, therefore, to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give to God, the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.
I get that the Pharisees and the Herodians were out to “entrap” Jesus. It happens all the time in the Gospels, you may know. Religious leaders and others were always trying to trick Jesus and get him into trouble. They asked him hard questions about marriage and divorce and about which commandment was the greatest. They present him with seemingly impossible situations, like that woman they wanted to stone to death after catching her in adultery. They watch him spend time with tax collectors, sinners, the unclean, the outcasts and outsiders of all kinds, just waiting to pounce and prove him to be the fake and the fraud and the false prophet they believed him to be.
But what he really shows along the way is that all of their questions, tricks and traps, reveal as much about them as they do about Jesus. What I mean is, they already knew what they wanted to hear – and they always thought they knew what Jesus would say or do. They didn’t expect there to actually be a “correct” answer. In fact they knew there wasn’t a single correct answer Jesus could give, which is why they asked their questions or posed their predicaments, like they did, in the first place.
For the Pharisees, for example, the right answer this morning is, “don’t pay the emperor’s tax.” Faithful Jews should be beholden to God’s higher authority, not that of any government. They weren’t really supposed to even handle graven images like the coin they brought to Jesus, let alone use them for the work of the world’s empire in Rome. That’s the answer the Pharisees wanted to hear.
On the other hand, for the Herodians – who were beholden to the politics and politicians of that same Roman empire – the right answer this morning is, “you absolutely should pay your taxes.” As subjects to the powers that be, it is right and lawful to obey and to pay, as the Emperor demands.
So, in the minds of those who confronted Jesus today – according to their plans – in keeping with their respective world views – Jesus was, to put it theologically … screwed. If his answer favored the Pharisees, then the Herodians would be upset. If his answer favored the Herodians, then the Pharisees would have a bone to pick. And they were all there for it … to catch Jesus in a pickle, get him into trouble, add one more strike to use against him when the time came.
And, of course, in this instance, it’s all about money. And, of course, both sides of the fence want more of it for themselves. And, of course, Jesus amazes them with his response because he gives them an answer neither side expected or hoped for or believed could be true. Jesus tells them to do both.
“Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and give to God the things that are God’s.” And I think the lesson in that response is pretty simple – and something neither side, and too many of us, too much of the time, want to believe: that there’s enough to go around. That there’s enough to do both. That there’s plenty, and we all know it.
It reminds me of a question I’ve been asked a million times – and that I’ve wondered about myself, along the way. The question goes something like this: “When I decide about my offering … when I do the math about my tithe to the church … do I make that decision based on the “net” or the “gross” of my income?” My snarky reply is to say something like, “If your giving is an expression of gratitude – as it is intended to be – for the grace of God and for the forgiveness of your sins – are you grateful and hopeful that God forgives the “gross” of your sins, or just the “net?”
A more faithful and kind and thoughtful – less snarky – response, though, is to say something like Jesus implies … that there’s enough to be more generous than we are inclined, and we all know it, so give accordingly.
There’s an old joke about Lutherans … that the reason we don’t go down to the river to be baptized … the reason we merely sprinkle each other or cross our foreheads with water, rather than fully immerse one another as part of the sacrament … is because we don’t want to get our wallets wet. In other words, the joke is that we want all the blessing and benefits and abundance of God’s grace in our life, we just don’t want to have to respond to that with our money.
But again, Jesus would say, like he reminds us this morning, that there’s enough, and we know it.
There’s another story about the pastor who addressed his congregation during their latest financial stewardship campaign, telling them about all they were trying to accomplish with their ministry. The pastor told his people, “the good news is that, as a congregation, we have all the money – and more – that we need to do what God is calling us to do through our life together. The bad news is, that money is all still folded up in your wallets, and stuffed in your purses, and stored away in your checking and savings accounts.”
Again, as Jesus would say, and as Jesus showed, there is enough. There’s plenty if we’re faithful and honest and generous in the way God has already been so generous with us.
What Jesus is really calling us to today – and every day – is to be clear about where, in whom, and toward what we put our allegiance. And it’s about more than taxes to the powers that be, for sure. We are beholden to the IRS in more ways than some of us wish, but we are to obey the law, and we are to pray and work and vote in ways that move our government to deal with our tax dollars in God-pleasing ways – which can be a sad, frustrating, laughable proposition a lot of the time, as we know.
Which is why I happen to think it’s a gift to have somewhere else to give our money if and when our tax money doesn’t make God smile.
See, I hope you see the money you give to God through the ministry we share in this place as a blessing for the world around us that “the empire” can’t or will not muster. I’m talking about supporting organizations like Zoey’s Place – our Mission Sunday for the month, just as one example – that actually works alongside government organizations to do good work in the world…
… and, I mean building houses in Haiti, a place whose government is so broken and impoverished it can’t do the kind of work Zanmi Fondwa does with our help;
… and, I mean supporting organizations like Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, Lutheran World Relief, and Lutheran Disaster Response, organizations where our offerings do the work of God in ways our tax dollars just don’t;
… and, I mean feeding people who are hungry by way of our food pantry;
… and, I mean, generally creating a safe, welcoming, loving place of grace and good news and generosity and abundance for all people in a world that is full of so much to the contrary;
… and I mean doing our best as a family of faith to educate, encourage and inspire one another about what God’s kingdom can look like when we get it right in that regard.
We are called to give in ways that bless the world – even when, maybe especially when, the world doesn’t return the favor. We are called to give because we can, not because we have to. And we are called to do that through the Church – and in other ways and to other places, too – with the same kind of sacrifice and joy with which God has first given to us. And the truth, good news and holy challenge from Jesus today is that we have been blessed with enough abundance to do all of this, by God’s gracious generosity and in Jesus’ name.
Amen
