Transcription
All right, so I will read from the Old Testament, Ciro, instrument of God, says the Lord of his elect of Ciro, I have taken to the right, to knock down the nations before him, to untie the belts at the side of the king, to open before him the doors knocking, and no gate will remain closed. I will walk before you, I will flatten the roughness of the ground, I will break the gates of bronze, I will break the bars of iron, I will give you hidden treasures, and well-hidden riches, because you know that I am the Lord, God of Israel, that I call you by name. For the love of Jacob, my servant, and Israel, my elect, I have called you by name, I have given you a title, although you do not know me, I am the Lord, and there is none other. Outside of me there is no God. I will make you ready for action, even if you do not know me, because there is nothing outside of me. I am the Lord, there is none other. I form the light and create the darkness, I do good and provoke evil. I, the Lord, do all this, a prayer from God. Amen.
And our New Testament lesson from Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew chapter 22, verses 15 through 22. Hear God’s word this morning. Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are sincere and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not? But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for tax. And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, Whose head is this, and whose title? They answered, The emperor’s. Then he said to them, Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God that are God’s. When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away. This is the word of our Lord. Let us pray.
Wondrous and gracious God, we thank you for your word that lights our path and guides our hearts and teaches us to love and be your people. Gracious God, hear our prayer as we listen to your word so that it would lift us up and guide us to be your people in a world of pain, of hurt, of violence and separation. Help us to heal wounds, to bind up the brokenhearted, and to serve our God. In your name we pray. Amen.
Have you ever noticed that there are just times in Scripture when people think they’re being really a certain level of sneaky? You know, where they think they’ve got this plot going, and they’re acting like they are the biggest, smartest people in the room, and it really just feels like they’re this little three-year-old hiding behind a door, giggling, trying to play hide-and-seek Liam, raise your hand. You are, were that kid. If you want to play hide-and-seek with him, know that he’s going to lose.
David has one of these plots when he tries to kill Uriah the Hittite. Well, doesn’t try. He succeeds. And he thinks he’s going to fool who? He thinks he’s going to fool God. Adam and Eve in the garden, after they’ve eaten the apple and realized they’re naked, what do they do when God comes strolling through the garden? Quick, it’s God! Hide! Really? You’re going to hide from God? Think about all these plots that come around and about Jesus. All these moments where you think Jesus is oblivious to the plotting, to the ways that people are coming after him? And this time, in this very unsubtle plot, they’re trying on both sides to convict him. On the one hand, we see that Jesus, if he answers on the one side, the Pharisees will press for him to be guilty. On the other, the Herodians, the collaborators for the Roman Empire, will go after him. So there’s a group on each side of his answers that could cause trouble.
So if he says, in their world, don’t pay taxes. You shouldn’t pay taxes as people of Israel, as followers of God. You shouldn’t pay taxes. The Herodians will automatically run over to the governor and say, this guy, Jesus, is telling you not to pay taxes. You need to crucify him. On the other side, I’m going to get my exercise in. You have the Pharisees who say, this Jesus, he says you should pay taxes to Rome. What kind of an actual religious leader would tell you to do that? He is guilty already in their eyes before he even answers. He’ll be a disturber of the peace. He’ll be a false prophet. And yet, somehow Jesus gives an answer that neither side can attack. And to do so, to understand just how absolutely wondrous Jesus’ answer is, how he threads this wonderful needle in his commentary, needs us to understand the nature and form of money at that time.
Now, when we read this, we’re a bit confused because we’re wondering why taxes can be such a tipping point. I know, taxes are a tipping point, period. Anywhere, everywhere, taxes are problematic. But with this, it’s about the coinage more than anything. When we look at our coins, who’s on them? Well, do we still use pennies? I thought we got rid of pennies. So you have nickels, dimes, you have old presidents, usually. Now, you also have paper bills. You have a wallet with credit cards. You have Zeffy, Venmo, PayPal, all of these alternative formats of payment. But back in Jesus’ time, you had two forms of payment. You could barter. You could trade three sheep for one ox. You could trade a bunch of grain for one sheep. You could trade, or you could use coin of the realm. Coin of the realm being coin of the king. Who owns the coin? Who issues the coin? The king. And how powerful a king was would determine how widely that coin was used. The Roman Empire, their coins were good almost everywhere because they were big and powerful.
But here’s the other piece. They were stamped pieces of precious metal. Stamped, where? In the emperor’s treasury. From his wealth, his silver, his gold. Now, if you were going to trim, because criminals, trim around the coin to shorten it up and get a little bit of gold, that was a crime against the king. It was a crime of treason. So the king would print his money and it was literally in your pocket, but it was the king’s money. So to deface was treason. To harm it was treason. And yet here, their trap is ready. But Jesus says, give to Caesar what is Caesar. This is Caesar’s money. This is Caesar’s coin. So what? It has no bearing in your religious world. It has no bearing about how good or bad a servant of God you are. It is just Caesar’s money. Give it back to him. Give it back to him is what Jesus is saying. Give back to Caesar what is his because it doesn’t matter. Because what God wants is different. What God wants from each and every one of us is something far simpler and yet also far harder.
Because it’s simpler, because it’s one word. It’s harder because it takes a lot of work for us to give it to God. You see, God doesn’t mint coins. God never issued a coin. What God has issued is us. God has issued us. And throughout Scripture from the prophets on we hear of God calling one thing. The people of God to return to Him with their whole hearts and whole being. In Micah 6, 8 Micah tells the people, What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and walk humbly with your God? The truth is you can quote each prophet and each one will give you in essence the same message. Return to God. Give God your whole heart, your whole being, your whole everything. God sends prophet after prophet calling on the people of Israel to do that same thing. To return to Me. To return to the Most High. And so as we see this question play out about the Herodians or the Pharisees being happy with Jesus’ response. Neither one is happy but neither one can assail His answer. Because His answer is, your money, Caesar’s money, doesn’t matter. Because what God wants is far easier to figure out. It’s what the prophets have told you. It’s what I’m telling you. God wants you.
God wants the people to return with their whole hearts. And yet as the prophets go, it’s like they’re dealing with somebody wearing noise canceling headphones. Have you ever had to try and talk to someone and they’ve got both ears in that little happy world of noise cancellation? Gary, we were talking about family members with hearing aids. I think I’d rather communicate with somebody who’s hard of hearing than somebody who’s got those beats on with noise cancellation. It’s hard. You’ve got to go top of your lungs and guess what? The people of Israel, the prophets come, top of their lungs and guess what the people of Israel are doing?
Can’t hear the prophet. Can’t hear the prophet. They’re doing their own thing. And so Jesus comes and His call is much the same. Return to me. Turn to me. Please, come my people. I wish for your hearts. I wish for your obedience. I wish for your love. I desire for you. In Jewish theology, there’s this concept called the nephesh. We hear it when we hear Jesus’ answer of what does the Lord require? We hear it broken down into parts. When Jesus talks about it, it’s heart, soul, mind, strength. Your very being. Everything that makes up what makes you, you. That’s called the nephesh. The nephesh. That is everything that makes you a person, a child of God. Everything. So when God calls on you, God doesn’t just want your body in the pew. God doesn’t just want your heart and not you. God wants all of you to follow, to listen, to obey, to serve. That’s what God wants. God wants all of us. And God challenges all of us in this scripture. Not to ask whether or not we’re giving to Caesar. That part is just a red herring.
The real challenge is are we giving to God what is God’s? Are we giving God our hearts, souls, mind, and strength? Are we giving God our entire nephesh? Our entire being? Or are we giving God only a fraction? Brothers and sisters, may we hear Christ call. May we hear Christ ask for us to return. To return fully with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. May we love our God with all of our nephesh. Amen.
And now, children of God, let us respond to him.