What Belongs to Us?

Mark 12:13-17

13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

Pray

I hope you had a great week. Many of you like me had a house full of family and even if you didn’t, I pray that you took Thursday as a day to be thankful for the things that you have been given.

The last Thursday of November was set as a holiday by president Abraham Lincoln in 1863. A proclamation was sent out by William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State. I want to read a little bit of that this morning.

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God......Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.”

At that time, if you know your history, the country was split in two and war was happening on this soil. What better time to thank God for the things that we do have. I love the detail that Seward goes into from the growth of the trees to the iron in the mines. Have you thanked God for the bountiful harvest in the country so that you have bread on your table? Have you thanked him for the safety that you feel in this town because of the people that live here and our police force? When you thank someone for something you are admitting something. You are admitting that the thing you are giving thanks for is a gift and does not, ultimately belong to you, but is only given to you by the good graces of another.

This leads us into the text for today.

13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk.

We see two factions of people in this verse. The Pharisees and the Herodians. The Pharisees, if we can make a modern day analysis would be on the right. They were the most conservative religious group. They were the ones that saw the law of God and decided to tack on extra laws so that they wouldn’t even get near the original law. The intent was to not break the commandments but when you add to what God says it ends up being an exercise in self righteousness. They created rules that they followed that they, in turn, wanted to make everyone else follow. It is akin to the movie “Footloose” where the old preacher in the town, to keep kids from lusting, decided to say it was a sin to dance. Some of you lived that movie.

The other group was the Herodians. They were supporters of the ruling class, the Herods. They were hellenistic Jews which was a combination of Judaism mixed with the Greek culture. They would be like someone on the left today. We see churches that adopt liberal values and they often side with what the governmental rule says they should do and with the leanings of culture.

If we look at these two groups and think of them as we think of the two groups we know of in the evangelical world today, how much would they have in common? They would have very little in common, maybe only the name “Christian” somewhere in there. The same was true about the Herodians and the Pharisees. The Pharisees wanted full Jewish independence with a messianic figure from the line of David to run the Romans out and the Herodians wanted someone from the line of the Herods to rule on the throne in Judea to get independence for the Jews. In other words, they were enemies of each other. They each had a fully separate idea of what the future should bring and how it should come about. Is this concept familiar to you? Yet, we see them working together against Jesus.

Luke’s gospel says of this account, “So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.”

There is an ancient proverb that says, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Both groups, though hating each other, saw Jesus as a threat so they want to get rid of Him. This is a struggle of power and ownership. The Herodians and the Pharisees knew that if Jesus was who He said He was, their way of life would be upended. They would no longer have the power that they loved and their high positions. They despised Jesus. So they come at Jesus with false praise.

14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God.

I heard a commentator say this week about this passage. “Gossip is something that you wouldn’t say to someone’s face and flattery is something that you wouldn’t say behind someones back.” This flattery that this group is bringing to Jesus is meant to mock Him, but they can’t help but say the truth and the people around Jesus know it. When Jesus taught in the synagogues, He did not rely on what the Rabbis of old said, He would give the meaning of the text. In doing this people wondered at Him because He taught with authority. He did not care about people’s status. He spoke to the rich, poor, sick and healthy alike. This is the reason people followed Him. They saw God. They saw the true God that loved and cared for His creation. To a lost and broken world, when the true light comes people react while others want to cover their eyes and pretend that it isn’t there. Much like we see in the world today when someone says that they have never seen the workings of God. This idea shows idolatry working in someone. Richard Dawkins, the British Evolutionary Biologist and atheist was asked what he would ask God. Dawkins replied, “Why did you hide yourself?” In reality, Dawkins and others do see God at work. Romans 1:21-23 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

In other words, these men can see the workings of God but they want to worship anything and everything except the true God. Why? Because letting a Jesus in would take away, what they think is their world, so they think up clever questions to try and disprove the God of the universe, much like the Pharisees and the Herodians. This is one of those questions.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?”

With this question, these two “enemies” put their brains together to try and trick him. The Jews hated paying taxes to the Romans. The taxes that were levied at that time were a ground tax which was 10% of all grain produced and 20% or all wine produced, 1% income tax on a man’s income and a poll tax taken every time there was a census of one day’s wage for all men and women of working age. Some of this money would go to the building of roads and infrastructure, but governments always take more than they produce and the Jews hated to pay the taxes. They wanted Jesus to take a stand on one side or the other. If he said that they should pay the tax, then his accusers would say that he was a shill for the Roman authorities and his followers would turn against him. If he said not to pay the tax then they could turn him into the Roman authorities as an insurrectionist and they would have him executed. Either way he would lose credibility and Jesus would be out of the picture.

15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test?

Jesus basically said, “Are you going to do this to me again?” They have already tried to trick him multiple times and he keeps foiling their plans, but in His mercy and being slow to anger, He answers their question in a peculiar way.

Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”

This is not a coin that any of his accusers would have on their possession because it would be unclean. They would have had to get it from someone in the area. Stamped on the head of this coin was a picture of Tiberius Caesar and the inscription says, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine”. In other words, “Son of god.” They believed that Caesar Augustus was deity a god so Tiberius would have been the son of god. Can you imagine the irony this must have portrayed? These people think that they are divine and the true God is walking amongst them. The Romans believed that all that was in their control was theirs just like the religious leaders thought that their view of God was correct.

16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,

He answers their question by saying, “Pay your taxes.” If the money has his face on it or the name of the country on it, “Pay your taxes.” There are good things that come from paying taxes. Infrastructure is good, roads, police, fire, all of these things are good. Is their corruption? Sure, but pay what you owe.

I was getting ready for this sermon this week and talked with Clive about taxes and how much Americans have to pay in income tax and then sales tax and then property tax. The founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they knew the kind of taxes that we pay and to what the government spends money on, but church, we are supposed to pay our taxes. We can vote for candidates that want to lower tax and we shouldn’t pay more than we have to, but living our lives in this world we must follow the laws of the land until they infringe upon our ability to worship God and how He has called us to worship.

Some people will say, “I can’t afford to pay the amount of taxes that they are asking for.” I understand that. I have heard that same thing from people that say, “I can’t afford to tithe.” If you are faithful to do what God has asked you to do, then He provides. Which brings us to the nail in the coffin of Jesus’ answer.

17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

In our recovery group the other night, one of the men was answering a question that went something like this, “Do you have a hard time believing that forgiveness of sin is a free gift from God?” The man replied something to the effect of, “I do not have a problem that my salvation is a free gift because everything I have is a gift. I only have my job because God gave me my brain and my body to use, I only have my wife because He gave her to me, I only have the money I made because it was a gift.”

If we are honest with ourselves and dive the depths of all the things that we have from material things to family we must realize that it is all from the Lord. It is by his grace that we have recieved it and it is by his good will that we retain it. When we think about income and taxes and tithe we have to think that if we are obedient, He will provide.

Are we giving God glory for the many blessings of our lives? Are we taking more than one day a year to thank him for His goodness? Our minds should be set of gratefulness every day because of the grace we have recieved from God. If you are grateful and have a heart set on thanksgiving, what can you do with all of your power, money and status? You can share it. The Pharisees and the Herodians wanted to hold on to something that was never theirs to hold on to, but they were going to try and retain it by whatever means. Jesus says, “Whoever will save his life, will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Paul helps bring us to a close this morning with his words in Philippians 2:5-8, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”