Trinity
23
Mt
22:15-22
11/12/23
When
I go to the mailbox, there is one piece of mail that I never want to see. I dread the idea of it showing up in my mail. I am referring to correspondence from the
Internal Revenue Service.
I
don’t want anything to do with the IRS. Now don’t get me wrong, I pay my
taxes. Every year, there is the great
push in February and March to get them done so that they will be ready for tax day
in April. I do my best to be honest and
accurate so that I pay what I owe. But
once I file my taxes, I don’t want to think about the IRS for another year.
A
letter from the IRS is generally not good news.
It could mean that there was some error in my taxes, and it turns out
that I owe more than expected. I could
mean the dreaded notification that I am being audited. I don’t want to hear from the IRS because
most likely it will cost me time and money as I deal with a massive
bureaucracy.
The
residents of the Roman province of Judea didn’t want to deal with the Roman tax
administration either. Like me, they
didn’t want the hassle. But there was a
much more profound reason why they wanted nothing to do with it.
Roman
taxation was the most direct way that the Jews in Judea experienced Roman rule. It was a regular reminder that God’s people
did not rule themselves. Instead, they
were ruled by Gentiles who worshipped false gods. These pagans controlled the land of
Israel. The people longed to be freed
from this foreign domination. They
wanted God to deliver them, just as he had rescued Israel from slavery in
Egypt.
During
the reign of Herod the Great, and then his son Archelaus, the Jews in Palestine
were not under direct Roman taxation. That changed in 6 A.D. when the Romans
removed Archelaus and made Judea into a Roman province. This meant the start of Roman rule and taxes. The people were so upset that there was an
uprising and the Romans had to send legionary troops stationed in Syria to
restore order.
This aversion to Roman taxation
provides the background for our text this morning. It takes place during Holy Week. Jesus had entered into Jerusalem on Palm
Sunday as he was acclaimed by the crowd.
Then, the Lord began to engage in a series of debates with the Jewish
religious leaders. At the end of the
previous chapter he has told the parable of the vineyard in which he condemns
them for rejecting Jesus. Then we read, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his
parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although
they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held
him to be a prophet.”
The Pharisees were out to get
Jesus. In our text we learn, “Then the
Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words.” They came up
with a question that they were sure was a doozy. They sent their disciples along with the
Herodians who began by saying to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that you are
true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about
anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.” They praised Jesus as someone who was true to
God and was not afraid to speak the truth, even if this received
opposition. Of course, this is the very
thing they hoped that Jesus would do.
So they asked, “Tell us, then, what
you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” The Pharisees must have been congratulating
themselves about coming up with such a tricky and dangerous question. They were sure that they had Jesus. If Jesus said that they should not pay taxes,
then they had reason to bring accusation against him before the Roman
governor. After all, one thing you did not
do was to mess with the flow of income into the Roman empire.
On the other hand, if Jesus said that
they should pay taxes, then they also had Jesus. Such an answer would discredit Jesus with his
fellow Jews who were strongly opposed to paying taxes to Rome. Either way that Jesus answered, they had him.
Or so they thought. Jesus knew exactly what they were doing. He
said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?” Then he asked them to show him the coin used
for the tax. They brought him a denarius
which was the standard unit of payment.
It was a coin that had the image of the Emperor Tiberius and bore the
inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus and High Priest.”
Jesus then
asked them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.”
Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” Our Lord said that if the coin had Caesar’s
image and inscription on it, then give it to him. But he added that people needed to render to
God the things that are God’s. When his
opponents heard this, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Our Lord did
not answer their question directly. He
did not deny the need to pay taxes. Yet
he framed this in a way that subordinates the matter to what we owe God. St. Paul gives us a fuller treatment of this
in Romans chapter 13 when he says, “Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that
exist have been instituted by God.” We
learn that the authorities have been placed by God to restrain sin and
evil. God works through them and so Paul
says, “For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are
ministers of God, attending to this very thing.”
We
recognize that the government is the means by which God rules in our world to
maintain order. This is a blessing
because we need sin to be controlled or else there would be chaos. At the same time we certainly know that the
government is not perfect. After all,
our government allows, and even promotes abortion. We therefore work through
the means available to us in order to bring about changes. God’s will needs to guide
our voting on those matters where his word speaks clearly. We vote for candidates who support life, and
not for those who defend and promote abortion.
Ultimately, we will not allow the government to force us to violate
God’s will. When the government tells us
to do something that is contrary to God’s word, then we disobey and accept the
consequences that result from this.
We do
this because our Lord tells us that we must render to God the things that are
God’s. Of course, all things belong to
God, including our own lives. This means
that our lives are to be devoted to him.
We are to fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
There
are few things that we value more than our time and our money. So are we rendering to God the things that
are God’s? Do you take time to pray each
day? Do you take time to read God’s Word?
Do you take time to attend the Divine Service each Sunday? How does the amount of time that you devote
to God compare with the time you spend on sports, hobbies, and other activities
that we want to do?
Are you
rendering to the God the things that are God’s when it comes to your
money? How has the Lord blessed you
beyond his promise of daily bread? How
does the wealth in your life surpass the needs of food, shelter and
clothing? As we experience this, are we returning
to the Lord in our offering a portion that is commensurate with the blessings
he gives us? Are we using the wealth God
provides in order further the work of the Gospel and to help the needs of those
around us?
We often
fail to render to God the things that are God’s. We act in selfish ways as God takes second
place … or doesn’t even come to mind.
Yet that is why the Lord Jesus was in Jerusalem during Holy Week. Our Lord was there to render to God the
things that are God’s. He was there to
provide the perfect and complete obedience that is so lacking in our life.
Jesus came to Jerusalem with a
purpose. Just before he entered the city
he said, “See, we are going up
to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests
and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over
to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will
be raised on the third day.”
Jesus went to
Jerusalem to die. Our Lord said, “the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He offered to God the things that are God’s
as he offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He was obedient to the Father’s saving plan
all the way to death – to death on the cross.
Yet as
Jesus predicted, that saving plan did not end in death. On the third day God raised Jesus from the
dead. Through Christ’s resurrection God
defeated death. He began the life that will be ours when Jesus returns in glory
on the Last Day.
Through
baptism you have shared in this saving death, and so are forgiven. In the water of baptism, the Holy Spirit has
given you new life. He has made you a
new creation in Christ. You are different because of the work of the Spirit.
This
new life now seeks to live in ways that render to God the things that are
God’s. God has given us everything in Christ.
He has given us forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. Our response now is to serve God.
The
surprising thing is that God wants us to serve him by serving our
neighbor. God wants our praise and
thanksgiving. But he also wants us to
love and support our neighbor. So pray
for those in your life who are having difficulties. Be intentional about praying for the needs of
others. It can be hard to remember everyone when you are in the act of
prayer. So make a list and keep updating
it. Use that list in your daily
prayers. Let intercessory prayer be an
important part of your spiritual life.
You
know how God has blessed you. Let that
blessing flow on through you to the assistance of others. Give donations to help the advance of the
Gospel such as the through the work of the Lutheran Heritage Foundation or
Lutheran Seminary Uganda. Support work
on behalf of life through gifts to Clarity Women’s Care. Assist children and youth in our area by
donating funds that our youth will use to purchase Christmas gifts for those in
foster care. We render to God the things
that are God’s as we help in these and many other ways.
In our
text today the Pharisees think they have the perfect question with which they
can trap Jesus. He evades their trap by
pointing them to what really matters – rendering to God the things that are
God’s. Our Lord does so as he is about
to do this very thing himself. By his death on the cross Jesus obediently served
the Father’s will. He won forgiveness
for us, and now as the risen Lord he has poured forth the Spirit who helps us
to live in way that render to God the things that are God’s.
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