Matthew 22:15-22
Bejamin Franklin in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, in 1789 wrote, “Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
Although Franklin popularised the phrase the earliest known iteration was by Christopher Bullock in1716.
And death and taxes are a
perfect summary of our Gospel story set for today.
What do I mean by that?
Well taxes are obvious.
Throughout its history, Rome
was constantly at war. This led to the development of a large and expensive
professional army, paid for through extensive taxation.
And Judea was one such place
that fell to the mighty Roman war machine.
During the Roman civil wars,
control weakened, and in 40 BCE the Parthians briefly seized Palestine,
installing Antigonus, the last Hasmonean king. But Herod, son of Antipater,
fled to Rome, where the Senate named him 'King of the Jews.' With Roman military
backing, he reclaimed Judea by 37 BCE, ending Hasmonean independence.
Herod, son of Antipater
becomes Herod the Great, established as a vassal King of Rome, creating a dynasty
and giving rise to the Herodians.
That bit of information is
going to be important later, so tuck it away and remember it.
And the Jews had to pay for
the privilege of being under Roman occupation with their puppet king.
This had led to a Jewish tribute
tax revolt led by Judas in 6/7AD. It was brutally put down by the Romans and
thousands of young Jewish men were crucified.
It’s worth thinking about
that for a moment.
Imagine if you will, that Russia is victorious in their war against Ukraine and occupy the country. And then they demand taxes off Ukrainians to pay for the war and the Russian military based in Ukraine.
That’s what’s going on here
with the Judeans paying taxes to the occupying Roman forces.
And was Jesus setting up to
lead another tribute tax revolt. That must have a been a question hanging in
the air.
Over the last few weeks, we
have been tracking Jesus since his triumphal entrance in Jerusalem.
Jesus has his authority
questioned, he has debated and told parables, all barbed. For example, Matthew 21:43
“For I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given
to a people who will produce fruit.”
And so - the Pharisee’s
went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.’
They devised a killer
question, a question by committee. And it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to
envisage them sitting around having a heated debate about this upstart Northern
rabbi whom the populace seemed to love. But who challenged them, and their
authority. And as far as they could see, was in danger of delaying the coming
of the Messiah by leading people astray and possibly bring the wrath of Rome down
on their heads.
The killer question!
Much like a good journalist
today, who challenges a politician with a question that will put them in a very
difficult situation.
A double bind.
Death and taxes – well we have the taxes and have considered the bitter and understandable resentment of having to pay this tax.
What about the death?
Well, we can see that whichever
way Jesus answers this question, if he answers with a simple binary choice, pay
the tax to Caesar or don’t pay the tax, either way he answers they have him.
Now look carefully who is
sent to put the killer question before Jesus.
‘They,
that is the Pharisees, sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.’
The story of Jesus brings
together some very odd bedfellows, even Pilate and Herod we are told became
friends!
So, we have the Herodians. Remember those? The ones who accepted the Roman rule and authority. Probably doing quite well out of it as well financially.
And we have students of the
Pharisees.
The trap is set.
Pay the taxes to Rome, and
that’s going to be the death of Jesus reputation as a devout Jewish Rabbi. What
kind of Rabbi would tell students to simple accept the Roman occupation when
all the writings and the prophets declared this was God’s land and the Judeans were
God’s chosen people. Jesus is corrupting the mind of these Pharisaic disciples
by saying we should simply accept and pay for the Roman tax.
And then the Herodians are waiting to pounce if he says, no, don’t pay the tax. They are in kowtow with their Roman overlords. They would very quickly pass on any message that suggest opposition to the Roman authority.
They present Jesus with a
double bind.
And they preface their poisonous
question with honeyed words.
“Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.
The first response from
Jesus – you hypocrites.
And a hypocrite is a person
who pretends to have beliefs, virtues, or moral standards that they do not
actually possess, originating from the Greek word for "actor."
Jesus immediately begins to
answer their question by asking for a coin in which the taxes are to be paid.
Remember, we are still in
the Temple where Jesus has been teaching and debating.
You can feel the tension and
drama as Jesus takes the coin, turns it over a few times, then holds it up and
asks
“Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
This very important, because
Jesus asked them to show him the coin used for paying the tax. Someone was carrying
this coin in the Temple precincts.
And the image and inscription?
On the obverse: A
portrait of Emperor Tiberius facing right. The inscription around the portrait translated
into English reads “Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine Augustus, Augustus.”
And on the reverse: Shows
the Roman goddess Livia. She is seated, holding a branch and a sceptre. The
inscription encircling her says “PONTIF MAXIM”, a position of a chief
priest in Ancient Rome.
If there’s one thing we know
about the Pharisees is the meticulous concern for keeping the law as zealous
Jews.
“You shall not make for
yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the waters below.”
The Pharisees refused to
handle this Roman coinage and yet here is someone in in the Temple carrying
this blasphemous image.
And then did Jesus flip the
coin back to the person who had given to him, pause just for a moment, and then
say,
“Give to back Caesar what
belongs to Caesar and give back to God what belongs to God.”
And we are told that they
were amazed – what we might say in modern parlance, they were gobsmacked!
Notice Jesus doesn’t answer
the question directly but pushes it back to them to ponder over.
Okay you Pharisee’s, you
don’t put any value on this tribute coin, then give it back to its owner, no
problems.
You Herodians, well you may
not like the image and inscription, but you have already bought into the whole
Roman rule, so what’s the problem in paying this tribute tax.
And this is not a simple
binary that creates two domains, the state and the church.
That’s too simple a reading.
The work we have to do with
this story is figuring out what belongs to God.
At one level that is not
that difficult because everything belongs to God, everything is gift.
As Paul reminded the
Athenians when speaking at the Areopagus, ‘for in him we live and move and
exist; as also some of your own poets have put it, ‘For we are his offspring.’
Eventually we will give back
everything, even our breath and our heartbeat.
And it is good if we can
begin to live with this as a reality now.
That is our journey as
apprentices to Jesus.
And cautiously let me say a
word about paying back to Caesar.
We may well be familiar with
Romans 13, beginning with these words, “Let everyone be subject to the
governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has
established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
However, this needs to be
put into a broader context, subject to scrutiny and soaked in prayer.
Take for example Edith Cavel.
The Church commemorated her life and sacrifice on Monday last, the 12th
October.
Edith Cavel was a British
nurse, working in German-occupied Belgium during the First World War. She
helped hundreds of British, French and Belgian soldiers escape the Germans. Eventually
she was arrested, tried and executed on the 12th October 1915.
She did not accept the
authority imposed by the Germans.
There are times when it is
right and proper and our Christian duty to question ruling authorities and sometimes
even stand in opposition.
And here’s the thing, the
more we lean into God, the more we offer our lives, the more we give to God the
things that belong to God, the better we will be able to make that call about paying
tribute to those in authority. Paul in his letter to the Romans writes,
“Therefore, I urge you,
brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” –
Romans 12:1
Yesterday (17th October) we celebrated the life of St Ignatious of Loyola and I end by using one of his prayers as we offer up our lives to God.
Take, Lord, and
receive all my liberty,
my memory, my
understanding
and my entire will.
All I have and call my
own,
You have given all to
me,
to you, Lord, I return
it.
Everything is yours;
do with it what you will.
Give me only your love
and your grace,
that is enough for me.
Amen.
https://youtu.be/QZW4_8_zCBE?si=aDafAVCYeGro2Mpy
To see the sermon in context follow this link....
Sunday 18th October 10.30 am service
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