Caesar's Coin (Proper 24A)

 

Caesar’s Coin

18 October 2020

Proper 24A

8 a.m. Said Mass on the Labyrinth; 10:00 alive-streamed from the Chancel

The Parish Church of Trinity Ashland (Oregon)

The Rev. Fr. Tony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.

 

Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22

God, take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh. Amen.

 

 

In today’s Gospel reading, people ask Jesus to endorse a tax revolt against the Roman Empire.  They ask this not because they seek such a revolt.  The Pharisees here believe that one can pay Roman taxes and still keep God’s Law.  The Herodians support the local royal family and are collaborators with the Roman occupiers.  Both have marked Jesus as an all too subtle threat to the system, and want to force his hand.

 

“Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor?” they innocently ask.  

 

Such taxes had led to riots in the past and that ultimately would lead to the destruction of the Jewish homeland in 70 C.E.    Payment of taxes to the Romans was seen not only as a sign of political enslavement, but also as an idolatrous act forbidden by God.

 

The scene in today’s Gospel takes place in one of the outer courtyards of the Jerusalem Temple during Passover week.  The city is crowded to commemorate God’s delivery of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  The risk of mob violence is great.   The previous day, Jesus staged high political theater by disrupting the flow of money in the Temple by driving out moneychangers.

 

Amid this tension, they ask him innocently, “Is it permitted to pay taxes to the Emperor?”  

If Jesus says “yes,” he marks himself as an Imperial tool, a quisling, and a disloyal Jew, fair game for the rage of the mob.  If he answers “no,” he commits treason and marks himself for Roman execution.

Jesus replies, “In what coin is the tax paid?  Can you show me one?” 

They produce a Roman denarius, the coin for a common laborer’s wage for a day.  It is a common enough in archeological digs from the period, bearing an image of Tiberius Caesar on its front, with the inscription, “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the God Augustus”:  Son of God, despite the fact that Tiberius’ perversions against children and sick wickedness on his resort island of Capri were well known.   Jesus asks innocently, “Whose image is that?  And whose inscription?” 

Jesus has thus caught them in a trap.  They are in the Temple, in the same space that Jesus yesterday cleared of moneychangers. By producing a Roman coin in this spot, Jesus’ opponents show to all that they have carried a coin with an image—an blasphemous image with a clearly idolatrous inscription—into the sacred precincts.  Their sheepish reply shows they know they have been had, “It bears the Emperor’s image and his inscription.” 

Jesus replies, “Well then, if it’s to Caesar that this coin belongs, then give it back to him!”  And then he adds, slyly, “And what belongs to God, give to God.” 

Christians over the centuries have usually understood this saying of Jesus as defining two separate spheres: God’s workings versus earthly political activity, the Church versus the State.  In light of Romans 13’s admonition that everyone “be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God,” the advocates of two spheres say that since God set earthly rulers in their positions over us, we owe obedience to them as a duty to God.  By definition, the Christian is a citizen who abides by the law of the land.  It is only when the government requires us to do something forbidden by God that we obliged to resist.  Constantine, Luther, and ultimately the Nazis all said that this meant that the Church should be under the state’s control.  

But Jesus here is not intending two spheres at all.  Pre-Constantinian Father Tertullian points to Jesus’ words, “give back to God what is God’s” and asks, “What is it that has God’s image? Why, human beings, of course, since ‘God created human beings in his own image’ in Genesis 1.”  In other words, it is not a question of two spheres, but one alone: God’s. 

 

Jesus is not in favor of idolizing Caesar. But he is not in favor of revolting, for he knows that such things as this can be just as corrupted as the things they revolt against.   

“Go ahead and give Tiberius that coin, since it plainly belongs to him. But more importantly, we must pay back to God what is his!” 

 

He does not believe that you should get worked up over paying taxes, whether out of an outraged sense of political insult (a loss of “liberty”) or maintaining your ritual or moral purity (not committing “idolatry.”)  

 

If you are already up to your neck in swamp mud, you shouldn’t start going all sentimental about keeping your cheeks free of the filth. Jesus knows that we are living in occupied territory.  Not just Romans occupying Palestine, but spiritual Powers and Dominions, the evil systems that occupy God's good creation.  And Jesus says, do what you need to do to get by under such an occupation.  Pay the tax.  But don't let it fool you one bit.  Focus first on our obligation to return all that we are and have to God. 

My first career, as a U.S. diplomat, lasted 25 years. I had many years to think about the contrast between what works and gets you ahead in government and what Jesus taught.  Here are a few contrasts between Caesar’s coin and God’s.

Caesar’s coin is to do the expedient.    God’s is to do the right, do the beautiful.  

Caesar’s coin is to control.  God’s is to empower and to serve.

Caesar’s coin is what is in your group’s interest, whether nation, tribe, or party. God’s is what benefits those who need the most.

Caesar’s coin is achieving measurable goals and benchmarks.  God’s does not worry about results. 

Caesar’s coin is force and violence.  God’s is gentle love. 

Caesar’s coin is judgment and punishment, law and order.  God’s is grace, compassion, inclusion, and forgiveness. 

Caesar’s coin is reputation and public image.  God’s is true character and service.  

Caesar’s coin is making your point.  God’s is shutting up and listening. 

Caesar’s coin is taking credit by proper branding.  God’s is slight embarrassment at having to have been lucky enough to be there for a good thing, and a preference for anonymity.   

The world we live in is occupied territory.  All of us live under the spiritual Powers and Dominions, and as such, we are all in Caesar’s game, and have to pay in Caesar's coin.  In the degree that this is so, we play by Caesar’s rules.  But as Jesus said after his arrest, “those who live by the sword die by it.”  There is a much more important game afoot.  There are much, much more important issues that we should focus on.  

I pray that during this week, in meditation, reflection, and prayer, we all take note of the idols in our lives and then move to put them in their place.  Give back to Caesar what he owns.  But give to God what is God’s. 
 
In the name of Christ, Amen.