Give to ceasar what is Caesar

Give to Caesar what his Caesars and to God what is God’s

Apparently this month is black History Month. I know this because Louis was telling me about it. His school reading book was about the history of the Olympics and I saw a picture of Jesse Owens, who famously won four Gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, In front of a very angry looking Adolf Hitler. When I told Louis all about this he said I know and listed other influential people of colour Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Ghandi. I was impressed.

The passage today doesn’t really convey how much of an issue it was for the Jews to pay taxes to Caesar.

The Romans were the hated Occupiers of 1st century Palestine who demanded taxes in all the provinces they conquered. The money itself had Caesars head on it. This was controversial for the Jews who did not believe in even having images of people on their coins. Imagine what this is like for the Jews. There money has been defiled. Here we have them being occupied, taken over by the Romans. This culture of worshipping the emperor was everywhere, common place. It’s as normal as the celebrity worshipping life you and I live. On the coin it proclaimed Caesar as son of god, high priest. So not only did you have to give an offering to Caesar as lord, the currency you were using pronounced him as the son of God.

If you refused this, you could not take part in the economy which meant you had no money and you would starve.

Money, Tax has always been an emotive issue. It can cause unrest, even violence. It can topped governments and even powers from different ages. In Jesus time was no such exception.

So even worse than occupying their land and getting them to pay taxes these Romans were demanding that Caesar be worshipped, which was terrible to the Jews whose scripture tells them to only Worship the one true God.

But even worse than that, they demanded that Caesar be worshipped, which was terrible to the Jews whose scripture tells them to only Worship the one true God.

As Emperors, the Caesars saw themselves as gods on earth. Bringing peace and prosperity They demanded overt displays of worship and acknowledgement from subjects. They wanted to be worshiped as sons of god. One Caesar had a choir that followed him wherever he went singing 'you are worthy our lord and our god, to receive the honour and glory and power'

The Romans were masters of 'peace through victory' (Caesars often used) But for those who lived in the lands being conquered it was death & Destruction - peace very much depends on which side you are on! to control people, you need their money

to control people, you need their money

If you refused this, you could not take part in the economy which meant you had no money and you would starve.

Jesus knew all this of course, and the consequences of crossing the Romans. When Jesus was a boy, man called Judas led a revolt. He was crushed mercilessly. Hung on a cross. Everybody knew about it and it was a pretty good deterrent for anyone thinking of doing the same.

So when Jesus is asked this question- What does he do? Clearly whoever is asking the question is trying to get Jesus into trouble!

So, in our gospel reading today we have set the scene.

So, in our gospel reading today we have set the scene.

Asking “Should we partake in this system that glorifies Caesar as Lord?” They must have thought this would be the killer question because they could only foresee two ways Jesus could answer.

If he said that people should not pay - well, that would mean he would end up on a cross, before it was time. like many before them. He would be condemning himself, On the other hand, if he advised that everybody to pay their taxes surely, he would lose all credibility amongst his fellow disciples. How can you hold up both Caesar and Jesus as lord? They would leave him and he would end up having no support. That would also have suited them very much thank you! So, they waited, hands being rubbed together for an answer. But Jesus saw more than the two questions being asked of him. He saw the motivations behind the questions. And you can tell he was angry!! What Jesus did, was not a cop out or a side step. He introduced a third way into the argument. A Kingdom way, A God way that any of those that did not have a relationship with God would have had no idea of what he was talking about.

He asked them to take out a coin and show it to him. (take it out the box).

Imagine Jesus' distaste as he sees the coin with the head and inscription. This was a clever move already, as he is demonstrating that those people that asked the question who are already owning and using the coins themselves, that they were part of the system that they seemed to be criticising. Jesus knew where they were coming from.

He asks, 'who's image and who's description is this?' When they tell him, he says “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” What an answer! It was one that was looking beyond the question and pierced the hearts of those listening. Because, if you expected the tax to be paid then you could not have a problem with giving Caesar his due. Likewise, if you were against paying Caesar his due you could be pleased, see it as a cryptic remark to 'give Caesar his due'. And those who already knew the kingdom of God, those that knew who Jesus was, those with wisdom read something very different into that comment and were enriched by it.

The coin bears Caesars image. Let him have it.

Jesus wasn’t making a comment on politics or political authority. But was cleverly avoiding the trap the pharisees had put out for him.He wasn’t afraid of death, He already told his disciples he’d be crucified but he was going to do it on his own terms, not be drawn into a conflict he didn’t want.

Two things come out of this passage that might affect our lives today,

I thin

Jesus ends with “Give to God what is God’s”. Our Worship of God affects how we live our lives. God is not something we do on a Sunday, it permeates everything we do and how we do it, so our worship will affect what we do with our money, how we interact, our motivations.

As Jesus followers God is in us and in everything we do, we should always consider reacting to conflict in the third way that Jesus modeled. In a world full of conflict and hatred maybe we should react Like Martin Luther King and Ghandi, who crusaded against injustice but used passive resistance. How can we be like Jesus and his third way in our dealings with injustice and conflict?

Well we are very much like that coin, except we do not bear the image of ourselves on it.

We bear the image of God, it is his image that we are made in.

We belong to God and are built to reflect his glory.

We are made to reflect his godliness, his character.

We do however forget that very easily. just like those nations that had been conquered by the Romans we get used to the culture around us, comfortable with it and forget that we are built to worship God. We are wired that way , that's why religion has survived despite us being in one of the most secular countries in the world.

But it also means that we stop remembering that we are made in the image of God and we should give God what is his – which Is US freely and wholly.

This story reminds us that we can offer to the people in our community our third way.

To stop worrying about the small things in life , but to become free and live life as God intended – a life that allows us to reflect him.

Real living is to give God what is his - yourselves ! Wholly !

I keep saying to wake up in the morning and give yourself to God every day – have ou done it yet?

It is character forming and a way of starting this process. Just saying, I am yours God – and this day belongs to you

And once people see that little bit of God in us (and it is a little bit!). They see something different, something that lasts. Another way.