A Reflection on Taxes

Reflection given 10/18/20  on Matthew 22:15-22 to Jubilee Partners

First, I just want to start by unpacking what the text says, I’ll give it some context, and explain a little bit about why Jesus’ response left everyone so amazed. And at the end I’ll pose a few questions and give a few personal thoughts about application. But this passage is of course very hard to reflect on, because it has been interpreted so many different ways. And it was easy because I had already been thinking about these topics for the last year or so. And to give credit where credit is due I borrowed freely from the ideas in the following books:

• Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory Boyd
• Being Church by John Alexander
• The Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder
• The Upside-Down Kingdom by Donald Kraybill

Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s is a very cryptic answer, and one could almost say doesn’t really answer the question at all. Did Jesus say that they should pay taxes? (not exactly, he said give to Caesar what is Caesar’s). And then he follows up with the statement “give to God what is God’s,” what does that imply? What do you when Caesar and God have competing claims? Or should they only have separate areas of influence? What truth is Jesus getting at? We’ll get to these questions in a moment, but let’s turn to some of the details of this account.

First it was a combination of Pharisees and Herodians that came to Jesus to ask this question. It is interesting to note that these two groups normally would have nothing to do with one another. They were on polar opposite sides of the political spectrum of their day. The Pharisees were a dominant group in the temple in and they believed that Israel would be restored, if they kept the letter of the law. They resented the foreign domination of the Romans and would have thought Caesar’s coins were both idolatrous and unjust. They yearned for freedom from Roman rule and taxes were the constant irritation that brought up this painful topic. On the other hand, the Herodians might be viewed as the go-along to get-along group. They saw Roman occupation as an opportunity to gain political power for themselves. They supported making Herod a sort of puppet king in Judea, with local control, but ultimately loyal to Rome. This would have placed them in the ideal position to receive the benefits of Herod’s rule. So ultimately both groups, Pharisees and Herodias, wanted the same things: power for themselves. And they were afraid of Jesus because he was spoiling their plans by taking away the popular support of the people. But even so, why would they have viewed Jesus as so dangerous that he needed to be put to death? Well it’s clearly more than a matter of public opinion. If Jesus turned out to be raising support to eventually overthrow the Romans, that would likely bring the Roman army in to clean up and destroy their nation (which by the way, is eventually what happened anyway in 70 AD). But the point is, both these factions were really looking for power for themselves, and as Jesus pointed out pretty clearly, they are hypocrites trying to trap him in his words.

So now we know the people involved, let’s look at what they had to say. Their introduction is of course all flattery to try to put Jesus at ease before they give him their trap question. These words might be true but they are most definitely not sincere:  when they say to him: “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.” Then they ask their trap question: “what do you say? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar nor not?” … They would have thought that this is an impossible question to answer. If Jesus says “no you don’t have to pay taxes to Caesar” then they can bring him before the Roman authorities and claim he is leading a rebellion and must be put to death. Or if he says they should pay taxes to Caesar then he will lose all of his supporters who thought it was an unjust and idolatrous act.  

So Jesus has no problem calling them out: “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?“ He sees into their hearts, and probably the whole crowd does as well, because they know the Pharisees are already looking to discredit, if not to kill, Jesus. Then Jesus’ first response is to say: “bring me the coin used to pay the tax.”

This is actually quite funny if you stop to think about it. Jesus didn’t have the coin on him, that’s why he said “show me the coin,” but then the Pharisees and Herodians pull the coins out of their pockets and thereby show their duplicity to everyone in the crowds. They are the ones guilty of joining allegiance to Rome, not Jesus.

Secondly, Jesus asks “whose inscription is this and whose image?” “Caesar’s” they answer. Then the punch line hits them. “Caesar can have his coins, if he wants them, they are just little pieces of metal with his image. But you are to give to God what is made in God’s image, namely yourselves!” And I also would mention that Caesar himself is made also in God’s image too, so he also too is accountable to God.

The passage ends with their amazement at his response and then they walk away. That they were amazed is of no surprise, since he just took what should have been a no-win scenario and out of it was able to paint them in the worst possible light: as hypocrites and compromisers. But in the end, they too could have stayed to hear more from Jesus, but rather decided to walk away. No doubt they would need to give an account to their leaders for how things went. They had an opportunity to repent, but they walked away from the Son of God.

Okay so now I’d like to venture in a little deeper into my personal thoughts and interpretations of this passage as well as some application. I could of course just stop here; we don’t really have to go any deeper than being amazed, just as the Pharisees and Herodians were, at Jesus’ response. But I do think there are several things we can learn from Jesus’ attitude toward power and politics. He is showing us, in very important ways how his followers should act in this world where most people are trusting in power and politics.

So, I asked myself, if this had happened in today’s world, what sort of debate would Jesus have gotten himself into with the leaders of today? Well with the election now 16 days away, I think the question Jesus would get asked is this: “Jesus, we know you are impartial in all things, and you have integrity and aren’t swayed by people’s opinions; so, who do you vote for? Trump or Biden?” You know what I realized when I asked this question? I realized I was doing exactly what the Pharisees and Herodians were doing: I was hedging my bets with one political candidate over another. It doesn’t matter, by the way, who you are deciding to vote for in this election (or if you’re deciding not to vote, that doesn’t matter either). What Jesus is getting at, is who do you trust in to make things right in the world? Do you trust Donald Trump to bring economic wealth, religious freedom, conservative supreme court justices that will outlaw abortion, military strength, and so on? Or, perhaps you trust Joe Biden who promises greater economic equality, more peace and cooperation with other countries, welcoming refugees and immigrants, overhauling healthcare and fighting for the rights of minorities. If you trust in either of these two men or the parties that support them, I’m sorry to say you’re voting for the wrong person. Jesus says “give unto God what is God’s” and I don’t think there’s anything, not even politics, that doesn’t fall under the category of belonging to God. Jesus is my President. And the only vote that I want to give in political elections in the future is a “vote of no confidence” in either party to bring lasting justice and peace in our world, and let me explain why. I know I’m making a pretty scary argument. To be honest I’m a little bit scared of this prospect too, because I wonder: what would actually happen if Christians just stopped voting? Would our country suddenly turn repressive and destructive, unjust and evil? There is a very real possibility that voting is our way of keeping governments in check without actually putting our trust in them to fix the world, but that’s pretty hard to do. I’ll be the first to admit, I have, quite recently in fact, made lots of political arguments on Facebook and text messaging some of my friends. I want people to side with me because I think it will make a significant difference in making the world a better place. Then I started reading and reflecting on this passage and it dawned on me, “What an idiot you’ve been!” You’re doing exactly what the Pharisees and Herodians are doing: trusting in a human solution when we need is to give ourselves to God’s solution!

Now, at the end of the day, I’m not going to try to convince anyone not to vote, if that’s what you want to do. The only thing that I think is important, essential really, is that we don’t trust in or fight for our political opinions, but rather trust in God’s solution: which is to trust in the church—the extension of Jesus’ reign in the world today. Trump and Biden can fight over the votes if that’s what they want to do, just like Caesar can fight over tax money if that’s what he wants to claim. And the Pharisees and Herodians can fight over power and influence. But the church is something different. It’s God’s eternal reign, beginning here and now. The kingdom God is establishing is where true authority lies, no matter how bad things may seem in our, Christ is still king! Eberhard Arnold said: “All political, all social, all educational, all human problems are solved in a concrete way by the rulership of Christ.” So what does it look like for the church to take His power and authority seriously?

We must learn to obey Jesus and to follow His example of love and sacrifice. Whatever the political or social issue we face today, we need to “come under” the least of all people and become servants to all. If you’re concerned about abortion, then let’s be a church loyal to Christ, that loves and welcomes expecting mothers and their babies; if you’re concerned about poverty and homelessness, then let’s be a church that welcomes them into our homes and gives them food to eat. If you’re concerned about militarism and imperialism, then let’s go to those nations and serve the “enemies,” then invite soldiers from both sides to sit down and eat together. If you’re concerned about racism and discrimination, then let’s get the churches together and pray for unity, let’s show people that we can live together as one family. If you’re worried about global warming and climate change, then let’s be a church that gets excited about going back to the basics of simple living and show people the beauty of God’s creation. Notice how none of these issues needs to be partisan. None of these solutions involves fighting over who has the power to make decisions. No one needs to fight over who is getting their way, or who needs more rights and freedoms, because Christians should have the least rights and freedoms of all. Jesus laid his rights down, and so must we.

If what you’re afraid of, however, is religious liberty and the ability to practice our faith without persecution. Then I hate to say it, but you’re in for a real disappointment because as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:12- “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” If you’re voting for a political candidate to protect you from persecution then you’re giving to Caesar what belongs to God! Jesus also says in Luke 14:27- “Whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” This is also something I find a little scary, to tell the truth. I’ve never seriously had the face persecutions, not like the early church and not like our brothers and sisters do all across the world today.

I wanted to end with one last good (and challenging) example of how the early church understood passages like this. When Caesar made laws that are good and just of course Christians were expected to be obedient to those. But how did they respond to an unjust law? When Rome tried to force the early church into military service the church had a very clear and unified response. They didn’t demand freedom and the right not to fight, they didn’t rebel and revolt, and they didn’t flee. They simply said no, we will not fight, and then willingly submitted to the consequences, of persecution and death. That’s what it means to me, to give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to give to God what is God’s: being willing to submit even to the punishment that the Empire thinks is just. Because God has placed him in authority over us. 1 Peter 2:19-21 says: “For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God.  But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

                This is part of parcel of how the Kingdom spreads in our world today. Not through power and influence, not through voting the right people in office. But through two things: loving the least of all, and suffering and dying for them. John 12: 24-25 – Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Okay, so that might have gone a bit too far afield from the direct meaning of this passage, but I’m sure I’ve given you a lot to think about and discuss. I want us to continue asking ourselves: what does it look like for the Kingdom of God to come here on earth? Let’s continue imagining it, because the systems of our world have so clouded our minds that all we can imagine is how to operate from the top down. But they are not the rulers of this world any more. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is King. And let’s declare our allegiance to him by how we live our lives every day!