Fr. Troy Beecham
A Sermon, Proper 24 A, 2023
Matthew 22:15-22
“The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus 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 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 the 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 the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.”
In the Gospel readings for the previous several weeks, Jesus has been teaching in the Temple. The Sadducee Temple officials, who sought to turn the people against Jesus because He publicly called their authority over the Temple invalid due to their many abuses of the poor and because they were not priests of the line of Aaron, questioned His authority to do “these things”, that is, his authoritative teaching of the Torah and Prophets, as well as his miracles. Jesus declines to answer their repeated questions about where he derives his authority to teach and power to perform miracles. He declines because any answer He gave would be twisted and used against Him because of their lack of true faith, the kind of faith that would transform them upon hearing His words. Last Sunday we read and explored the parable of the Wedding Feast, a parable which the Pharisees saw as an attack on them, as evidenced by their actions following their interaction with Jesus.
In this Gospel passage, the Pharisees, acting on behalf of the Sadducees, are joined by Herodians, who were those people who supported the rule of Herod and his successors, the client kings of the Roman Empire, and by the Zealots, a militant religious sect who claimed that God’s people should not be subject to pagan Gentiles and who were attempting to raise an armed rebellion against Rome. In every other aspect of life, these four groups were enemies, but now they had become united in purpose in their desire to get rid of Jesus: because He either threatened to disrupt the Herodian’s legitimacy to rule and maintain their corrupt lives, as had John the Baptist; or because He threatened the Pharisee’s claim to be the sole authorities on the interpretation and teaching of the Torah and Prophets; because He said the Sadducees had not Biblical authority over the Temple; or because He performed miracles for Roman occupiers as freely as He did for Jews, which outraged the Zealots. The many powerful forces at play in Israel, each despising the other and each wanting to be in power over Israel, became partners in a common cause to destroy the One who threatened to expose them all as acting against God and His Son sent to save the world.
As they approach him to engage in debate, they use language that gives the appearance of respect for him, when in fact they were trying to entrap him so that they could denounce him to the Roman and Temple authorities. The question they bring to Jesus in this passage was a subject of great debate in Jewish circles at the time that had both religious and civic repercussions: should faithful Jews pay the annual census tax to Rome? The census tax was different from other taxes in that it was a tax that went directly to the emperor’s personal treasury, and had to be paid using a specific coin bearing the image and titles of the emperor. Ordinary taxes are covered in the Torah as a common part of life, and though they may have chafed under all taxes, the census tax was a particularly thorny question. Opinions on paying taxes to Rome varied at the time depending on whether you were coming from a religious background or a civic. But this tax was a special case because it involved possible participation in idolatry because of having to handle a coin with a graven image and blasphemous words.
As in other such encounters, Jesus sees through their plot; He calls them hypocrites for pretending to respect Him while actually intending to discredit Him. It’s an interesting side-note that the Greek word “hypocrite” was the word used for stage actors. Jesus is telling them that they are being used as puppets by those with power to act against God, and ultimately their own best interests, when they believe that they are acting for God. He doesn’t just call them out to shame them, but to invite them into true a dialogue with Him that has the possibility of leading them to true faith. He knows that this is simply stage play pretending to be honest debate with the desire to learn. If Jesus says “yes, Jews must pay the census tax”, the Zealots and other Jews hostile to Rome, who had been hoping that Jesus would be their Messianic military leader, will turn against him, which in fact they eventually do. If Jesus says “no, Jews ought not to pay the emperor’s census tax”, he risks being arrested for inciting rebellion against Rome, which was one way for the Pharisees, Herodians, and the Sadducees to get rid of their opponents. It’s a sad reality, then as now, that the desire for power over others is as present in secular politics and life today as they are in the Temple or the Church. This same lust for power, masquerading as righteousness, is an ever present evil in all human politics and even in the Church, which calls for much wisdom and discernment on all our parts, wisdom that can only come from God.
Part of the stage acting, for the sake of the common people who would no doubt be intently listening, can be seen in their saying, “for you do not regard people with partiality.” The Greek literally translates as “for you do not look upon the face of a man.” This literal translation is interesting and important because this attempt at entrapment involves the face of the emperor on a coin. Time and again, they had tried to entrap Him, which was forbidden by the Torah, and they have failed yet again in one of their most devious and coordinated attempts. In fact, it shows up at the trial of Jesus when the Temple authorities and Sanhedrin cite this encounter as indemnification of Jesus to Pilate. When Jesus asks, “Whose head (image) is this, and whose title?” the key issue for His enemies is that the emperor’s head is inscribed on the coin as well as his blasphemous titles. For Jesus, it is just a coin. What is truly at stake is their souls, and ours.
For non-Jews, we may miss the vital connection that Jesus wants us to make, that God makes each one of us in His image. This coin may bear Caesar’s image, but you and I bear God’s image in our soul. So Jesus reframes the question, requiring them to court idolatry and blasphemy: what does it mean to render unto the emperor or God? The emperor may get a few of these coins, but God requires us to give ourselves. The ultimate question, the real question, Jesus asks is “who has ultimate sovereignty over us, the emperor or God, and whose purposes are we meant to serve, God, the state, or the Temple/Church”? For Roman listeners, they hear Jesus say that taxes should be paid. But for some Jewish listeners, who will immediately hear his referring to our being made in the image of God in Genesis 1, this places his religious peers in a bind: are they going to continue in this charade or will they hear the voice of God and repent?
His answer includes the word “give”, which in Greek can also mean give back or repay. This again redirects their question in a subtle way, taking the encounter from a question about the authority of Rome to the authority of God. Reframing the question in this manner forced his Jewish peers to accept that there were larger implications to what they thought was a narrow question, that this encounter was not about taxes but about a deeper faithfulness to God and recognizing that God was sitting there with them in Jesus. For Jews and Christians, we believe ultimately that God created all things, and that all we have is given to us by God; all that we are and have comes from God and belongs to God. We owe everything to him. This change of direction in the encounter invites them, and us, to remember this, and acknowledge the often difficult teaching that all human authority is, in some manner, appointed or allowed by God. Jesus seems to accept the status quo as the lesser of two evils, either being ruled by Rome or descend into a war that the Jews cannot hope to win, which is what sadly happens only a few decades after His crucifixion, resurrected , and ascension. He does not accept the Roman emperor or the Roman state’s claim to be divine, but teaches that God’s domain is greater than that of all emperors, kingdoms, states, and the Temple/Church, and that God’s kingdom will come on a day of God’s choosing. (St. Paul later uses similar logic in his Letter to the Romans 13:7 as part of a passage in which Paul says that administrators are sanctioned by God, as does St. Peter in his Letter, 1 Peter 2:17.)
In practical terms, Jesus sidesteps an obvious ploy: rather than holding the coin and pointing out what is objectionable about it, He has one of them hold the coin, which had the image of the emperor on one side and on the obverse side of the coin is inscribed Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, great high priest. Simply touching such a coin was an affront to his fellow Jews, as it was idolatrous and blasphemous, and would make anyone touching it ritually unclean, and He manages to have them hold the coin rather than touching it Himself because they are so intent on trapping Him that they forget themselves. Jesus’ wise answer, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”, and his forcing them to hold the offending coin without realizing what they were doing because their sole focus was on entrapping him rather than seeking wisdom from God, left his opponents “amazed”, literally gaping with their mouths wide open in astonishment. They are shamed in front of all the people in the Temple, and their desire to destroy Him only intensifies. The most important question, Jesus says, is “Who is really in charge of the world and the human family?”
In the end, this is the question: who is in charge of your life? Yes, we are all subject to the powers of this world, for now, and held captive by governments ruled by human greed and the desire for the power to rule over others, and often by a Church internally embroiled in human politics and interested more in power than the Gospel. But only for now. God promises that the age of the world in which we now live, which we must endure with faith, hope, and love, and strive to bring some part of the kingdom of God into being through the Holy Spirit, will come to an end. God promises to create a new heaven and earth, a conjoined reality in which there will no longer be any evil, suffering, or wickedness. We will finally one day be free from the spiritual powers of darkness and from our own desires to be gods with the power of life and death over each other in our hands. That day is coming, says Jesus and the Jewish Prophets. We have only to endure through hope and faith, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Until that day, as St. Paul says in his Letter to the Galatians 6:10, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers”, and “therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
Let us leave behind the coarse discourse of our time, the falling apart into factions, of desiring to rule over each other, and win no matter the cost. The price for these is too high, drawing our entire focus away from God. Instead, may our words and actions with each other show the truth of the Christian Faith, and that God is in control and is working out all things for our mutual good. As St. Paul tells us in his Letter to the Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things”.
Sisters and brothers in Jesus, pray that our words and actions may always show forth the sovereignty and the love of God in Jesus our Savior, so that all those who are not yet part of the mystical Body of Jesus through Holy baptism and through true faith may come at last into His loving arms and be saved.
Almighty and everlasting God, in Jesus you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
