Summary: We belong to God. While we have responsibilities to others and institutions of various sorts, if we give them a higher priority than God, we set ourselves up for failure. Using the trap the religious leaders set for Jesus with regard to paying taxes to Caesar, we look at ways we can avoid the traps and follow Christ faithfully.
If you're a planner and a "calendar person" you already know that tax day is just a shade under six months from today. If you are neither of those, you know that taxes come along every year and you start to think about them around the first of April ... or maybe even as late as the 14th. Regardless, "the taxman cometh" and there's really nothing you can do about it. Even if you're not a planner, it makes sense to do some preparation for your taxes.
Or you could revolt against taxes. There is a long history of that. Our nation was founded in part because of "taxation without representation" like the Stamp Act (1765) and the Tax Act (1773), which culminated in the Boston Tea Party.
And in England in 1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta, which, among other provisions, stopped arbitrary tax levies.
The earliest history of taxes goes back about 5,000 years to ancient Egypt. And the Roman Emperor Augustus started a direct system of taxation around 9 BC.1
Nobody likes taxes unless they're on the receiving end!
It is little wonder then, as Jesus' fame spread following his public entry into Jerusalem, that the Pharisees and the Herodians, realizing Jesus' popularity was on the rise, decided to challenge him in the form of a taxation question.
These religious leaders considered Jesus more than a nuisance. They perceived him as a threat to their religious and political power and their way of life. The Pharisees would have had him arrested but they did not because of his popularity. They needed a way to diminish his standing with the masses. So, they came up with a plan.
Matthew tells us how the trap was laid. The Pharisees and the Herodians praised Jesus saying, "Teacher we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality." Everything they said was true. They may even have believed it; who knows?
But they had a hook in their next question: "Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" They thought they had Jesus cornered. If he said the taxes were lawful, he would give offense to the listeners who hated the empire's messing in their lives. If, however, he spoke against the tax, it wouldn't take long for Jesus' words to reach those in charge. He was "damned if he did and damned if he didn't," they thought. And remember that Jesus was known for telling the truth. "He can't wriggle out of this," they imagined.
But Jesus perceived their intentions. "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." Seeing the denarius they produced, Jesus said to them, "Whose head is this and whose title?"
"Ceasar's," they answered.
And Jesus responded, "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." Amazed at his answer -- and having nothing to say -- his opponents withdrew.
The religious leaders thought they had a trap that would put Jesus in their grasp. But of course, he quickly turned the tables on them. In Jesus' response and actions to this situation, we can learn some ways to deal with the traps we encounter that could derail us in our Christian journey.
Jesus just reframed the question. It was no longer about whose "side" he was on. Now the question was about where one's ultimate allegiance lay. The tax was a silver coin, but the debt we owe to God is our entire being.
Earlier in Matthew, we hear Jesus touching on the power of money. "No one can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."2 Here Jesus told us more about the relationship between money, ourselves and God.
Note that Jesus had to ask for a coin of the realm to use as an example. We know that Judas carried the purse for the group traveling with Jesus.3 Did Jesus even carry any coins with him? His questioners, however, had no trouble coming up with the coin. And the coin bore the image of Caesar. Jesus' logic was perfect. "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's ..."
The religious leaders were likely thinking, "He's about to fall into our trap!" But instead, Jesus appealed to their own knowledge of the scriptures, "... and to God the things that are God's."
Did Jesus look at the coin and think, "Are they really trying to compare money to a life fully devoted to my Father?"
By comparing the "things that are Caesar's" with the "things that are God's" Jesus was implying that everything is ultimately God's. Or, to put it another way, we render some things to Caesar because we live in this world for a time, but we render all things to God because we belong to him for eternity.
A coin made in Caesar's image belongs to Caesar. A person made in God's image belongs to God. "So God created humans in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them," Genesis tells us.4 If then, we belong to God, what are the consequences of belonging to him?
Repeatedly in scripture we read that God will not forsake his own. "For the LORD will not forsake his people, he will not abandon his heritage."5 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he himself has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."6
Belonging to God means that we also belong with the people of God, the Body of Christ. As part of the Body of Christ, we can lose our membership only by walking away. But even then, God watches for us to return.
We belong to God. What does God want from us? All that we are. And in return we walk through life with our loving God.
But sometimes we live as if none of this is true. It's often not intentional. We get busy with life. Work, family, marriage or dating, bills, vacations, friends, health issues, neighbors (good and bad), car troubles, highs and lows of life. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the stuff of physical existence and forget about God.
When our taxes come due, we pay them. If we don't, we get reminders and penalties and worse. So, we pay them. Ditto for our bills. Ditto for our obligations to other people.
But God doesn't send us statements, and God doesn't tax us. And particularly when life is going great, or when life is so bad we can hardly see straight, we tend to forget what it means to belong to God. And what do we do? We give to Caesar, because we have to, but we may live like misers with God. We profess our faithfulness to God, but we live with God as an afterthought.
One of the problems with living like this is that we get used to it. We get things figured out (we think) without God's help and without any thought of living as if we are children of God or living like we belong to God. One thing leads to another and before we know it, we're figuring we can get by without God in our lives.
Life changes, though, doesn't it? When we get used to everything going so well without depending on God, something often happens that brings us down to reality. Our peaceful life comes crashing down. Jobs end unexpectedly, health needs reappear, relationships sour, families break up, and so on. These things or any of a thousand other unexpected bad things happen.
And suddenly we remember we have moved away from the God who loves us and calls us to be part of God's family. At that moment, we can turn around and remember who we really belong to.
Jesus stood his ground when the religious leaders tried to trap him with the question about the taxes. Jesus' priority in life was to listen to his Father's voice and obey. We have his example to follow. It's not always easy, but it's always the best thing to do.