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Jesus is in a predicament here with how he answers this question; the question of whether or not to pay the Census Tax to Rome or not. The tax in question likely originated the year Jesus was born when Caesar Augustus ordered a census be taken throughout the Empire so that people could be registered or counted in order to be taxed. Joseph and a very pregnant Mary had to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem so that Joseph could register his family in his hometown. The tax was likely in the amount of a denarius which was the amount of the average worker’s daily wage. Thus, one day of your life every year was dedicated to paying Caesar for roads, mail service, a stable government, and the safety of military protection.
One day’s work for all those benefits may not sound like a bad deal, but…the reason you have those benefits is that your nation was conquered by Rome. Your people were enslaved to build those roads. The government officials were imported pawns and were corrupt. And, that military protection amounted to nothing more than thugs who like beating people up and steal their stuff. It gets worse. The Romans also like for you to worship their gods and particularly they liked for you to worship Caesar as a god. One of the Roman Emperors went as far as to have a statue of Zeus put in the Temple. Another of them had a statue of himself put in the Temple to be worshipped. That did not go over well with the Jews known to be fiercely devoted to their one God. And so, the land of the Jews tended to be a problematic backwater region of the Empire that was prone to rebellion against Rome and the Jews’ loyalty to the one true God was always a big part of the reason. It made them extra-zealous.
So, Jesus is here on the spot. He’s in a double-bind. If he outright says pay the tax, that gets him in trouble with the majority of those who are following him who are mostly poor and for whom the tax is a burden. They are also the ones most mistreated by the Roman military because they are vulnerable. If he is the Messiah, why would he say pay the tax. Why not just go ahead and overthrow the Romans. On the other hand, if he outright says don’t pay the tax, that puts him in the camp of the militant revolutionary elements and gets him in trouble with Rome. The Pharisees and Herodians could then arrest him and turn over to the Romans and have him tried for sedition which carried the death penalty. There is no good way to answer the question.
Well, there are three classic blunders this unlikely cadre-coalition of Pharisees and Herodians are unaware of and they are about to fall victim to one. The most famous blunder is, of course, “Never get involved in a land war in Asia”. Less famous than that is “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.” And maybe less famous than that is “Never try to trap Jesus on things that you might be guilty of.” Like Mr. Collins, the Obsequious minister in Jane Eyre’s Pride and Prejudice, they butter Jesus up on how he’s so knowledgeable and of good judgement on matters and then in mock innocence, they ask his humble opinion on whether or not to pay taxes to Caesar.
So then, Jesus unleashed the power of his wit on their wealth of stupidity and asks them to show him the coin used for paying the tax…and they fell for it. With ready enthusiasm, they supply him with a denarius, the Roman coin for the amount of a daily wage, the amount of the tax. They don’t seem to realize they have just had the tables turned on them.
Any Jew carrying Roman coinage, especially a Pharisee, could quite easily be accused of idolatry for carrying such a thing. Roman coinage typically had an image on it of Caesar or one of the other gods. Denarii found from that period of time had an image of Emperor Tiberius on it with the inscription, “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, Son of the Divine Augustus.” In essence, Tiberius is calling himself the son of a god. Romans believed that when an Emperor died, he ascended into the heavens and became a god. A few of the Emperors even claimed to be gods when they were alive. Tiberius’ father was Augustus and was believed to have ascended to become a god. Thus, Tiberius was the son of a god in popular opinion.
So, let’s do the math. First, the conversation is taking place in the courtyard of the Jerusalem Temple which Jesus had just cleansed of Roman coinage the day before. Second, the Pharisees who were the legalists and moralists of the day and the most popular of the religious “denominations” at the time, they are the ones who provide Jesus with the denarius which in essence is an idol. Roman currency was not to be allowed in the Temple because they had images of Roman gods on them. The Pharisees, the ones trying to trap Jesus, have for all shapes and purposes brought an idol into the Temple.
Jesus, points this out to them. “Whose image is on the coin? And what does the title say.”; i.e., the idol you just brought into the temple. They respond with the obvious, “Caesar’s.” and they are smart enough not to recite the title to him in which Caesar claims to be the son of a god. There’s some irony here with respect to the matter of who is the true son of God.
If we were living in the first century and sitting in the main room of somebody’s house listening to a dramatic reading of the whole of Matthew’s Gospel, we will have noticed that Jesus himself had already been identified as the Son of God five times. Satan called him that twice when tempting him in the wilderness. “If you are the Son of God…” When in Gennesaret where Jesus cast 1,000 demons out of a man into a heard of pigs, the demons called him Son of God. When Jesus walked on a stormy sea water to his disciples who were in a swamping boat and calmed the storm, they called him Son of God. It will happen two more times. When Jesus is on trial before the Jewish authorities, the High Priest put him under oath and ordered him to tell them if he was the Son of God or not. Finally, as Jesus was dying on the cross, those mocking him shouted, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross”. The irony is that the true Son of God is holding these Pharisees accountable for carrying images of the pretend to be son of a god into the Temple.
When Jesus then states, “Give, therefore, to the Emperor the things that are the Emperor’s and to God, the things that are God’s”, I don’t think he’s talking about taxes anymore. He has just very skillfully exposed where lay the loyalties of the Pharisees and Herodians…with Caesar, the god of empire power. The image on the coin is the image of the god of those who wish to have the power to rule the world by whatever means, cruelty and corruption not excluded. Jesus has caught them pants up (it’s not a pants down kind of scandal) but their pockets are full. They are owned by the god of powerlust.
The real question in this passage isn’t should the Emperor’s Tax be paid. It is whose image do you bear. Here was a coalition of the most popular religious group and the hoity-toity of Judea’s politicians standing in the Temple in front of the true Son of God and they are not bearing the image of the God in whose image they were created and who called them to be his people. But rather, they are bearing a coin (wealth) with the image of Caesar on it.
Matthew says they were amazed. That word “amazed” in Greek is the word for religious wonder. When Jesus calmed the storm, his disciples were amazed. The crowds who followed Jesus were amazed at all the healings and exorcisms he was doing...and his teachings. Those were things only God could do and Jesus was doing them. Here we see Pharisees and Herodians, enemies of Jesus, amazed at how profoundly he had turned the tables on them. They could see there was more to this Jesus in the God department than they were giving him credit for. But…they left him. Walked away. Instead of confessing their idolatry and acknowledging their powerlust, they walk away and we know how the story ends. They crucify him.
This passage often comes up in discussions about the separation of Church and State. The Church shouldn’t run governments and governments shouldn’t run the church...and so churches don’t pay taxes. History has demonstrated quite well what happens when the two get emmeshed…evil happens. We have here a false trinity consisting of populist religious power, the Pharisees, and of political power, the Herodians, and of wealth, the coinage, coming together to trap Jesus who is the image of God. It’s too bad we are not presently in the midst of an election and could see firsthand how false trinities of religious powers, political powers, and wealth will form to endorse candidates whom they put forth as saviours near equal Jesus. Beware when that happens.
As we are not in the midst of an election, we can take a moment to consider the One in whose image we are made…the Trinity and be ready for when we are deluged with those who have come to serve. The image we bear is of the loving communion of God the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Three relational persons giving themselves so completely to one another in unconditional, selfless, even sacrificial love that they are one. Do we as a congregation and as individuals look like that?
That might be a confusing concept and question. In Colossians Chapter 3 Paul states pretty clearly what we who bear this image should look like. He writes: “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Col. 3:12-17).
Finally, when election season comes around…well, good trees bear good fruit and bad trees bear bad fruit. Look beyond the party and the platform and look at the character of the candidate. If they don’t bear the image of unconditional, selfless, even sacrificial love, then ask them to empty their pockets. You’ll be surprised if not shocked by what you find. Amen.
