Give to Caesar...

Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26
cf Matthew 17:24-27

It's one of the two things in life that people say will always be a certainty. Taxes. Nobody likes them, and that has probably been true since the beginning of organized government. But for just that long, the people governed have had to foot the cost for the coordination, protection, and services of their government. Like any people, the Jews of Jesus' time hated paying taxes. But they had more reason to hate it than you or I because they weren't supporting their own government--they were supporting an occupying, conquering government. You may resent supporting a government dominated by a political party with which you disagree. The Jews were in that position to the ultimate extreme. So naturally, with the exception of a couple of groups such as Herodians and tax collectors, almost every Jew had a uniform opinion about taxes--they're terrible. However, you couldn't openly disparage Roman taxes. Remember, this wasn't a democracy. They had no Bill of Rights or Freedom of Speech. So the Jews hated Roman taxes, but they kept quiet about it in public out of fear.

Which of course makes this the perfect trap for Jesus. Ask him about taxes. If He says, "no, don't pay taxes," the people will still love him, but He'll be Public Enemy Number 1 with the Romans. End of problem for the Pharisees. If He says, "yes, you should pay taxes," the Romans won't pay Him any mind, but the people might run Him out of town for seeming to support Rome. Yes, it must have seemed like the Pharisees finally had Him. So, the question was asked, and the people leaned in to hear Jesus' answer.

But wait a minute. Jesus asks, "who's picture is on this coin?" "Well, it's Caesar." "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's." The Jewish leaders walked away, stumped, because he had evaded their trap.

Part of the genius in Jesus' response was recognizing that it wasn't an either/or question. But for us today, it demonstrates that we have a type of dual citizenship with responsibilities in both areas. In a spiritual sense, we're foreigners here, and citizens in God's kingdom. Thus, we owe God (everything). But in a different sense, we have obligations materially on Earth as well. We are obligated to pay taxes, for instance, and to be fair in that and in all other business transactions. Jesus' point about taxes keeps us for thinking that we are too removed from the materiality of this world (though that is different from materialism, which Jesus cautions against). We cannot escape being part of the material transactions here, and we need to think about how Jesus would approach those. In this case, that means knowing what our obligations are and not evading them.