The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity (November 6, 2021)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Isn’t it interesting how God providentially works through the lectionary? It’s no accident that we heard Clint speak about the importance of stewardship for the Kingdom of God on the same Sunday we have an epistle reading the urges us not to make our bellies our god and a Gospel that tells us that, while we should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, we should remember to give our whole selves to God.

But they say that it’s a rude dinner guest who talks about religion and politics. So here we go.

St. Matthew 22:15-22 Explained

In this morning’s Gospel Reading , we see the Pharisees attempt to entangle Jesus by asking questions. They want to give him enough rope to hang himself. And they think that if they ensconce their question in flattery, Jesus will unwittingly spring their trap. “Master, we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth.” Of course, if they really believed that, why would they entrap Jesus?

And what is the question they use in their game? “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?” The question is what we might call a double-bind in that there is no real answer to the question: if Jesus says no, it’s not lawful to give tribute, or pay taxes, to Caesar, than his popularity with the people might skyrocket but the Pharisees could report him to the authority for being a revolutionary who was attempting to overthrow the Roman government like the various Zealot groups who constantly stoked rebellion against their occupiers. On the other hand, if Jesus straight up said that it was good and right to pay taxes to Caesar, he would have lost his credibility in the eyes of the people because, surprise, surprise, paying taxes back then wasn’t nearly as popular as it is today. Especially when you were paying those taxes to a foreign power that violently subjected your people and used coercive power to keep everyone in line. So what seems like an innocent, philosophical question is a masterful snare laid before Jesus.

And what does Jesus do? He asks someone to hand him a “tax coin.” The fact that Matthew uses the specialized term “tax coin” instead of the more generic term “denarius” like the other Gospel authors lends credibility to the theory that this Gospel was penned by someone with experience as a tax collector. Further, there’s a layer of irony in Jesus’ request: the Lord, the Creator, the one who holds the entire universe together, has to ask someone for a coin.

The coins at that time were like our coins in that they often had images of important national figures. Now in the United States, we have a federal law that prohibits living people to be featured on currency and a president has to be deceased for at least two years before they can be put on our money. I think this is a prudent rule but it wasn’t so in the ancient world. The kind of coin Jesus was handed would have had an image of Tiberius Caesar, the Roman emperor at the time. While merely putting someone’s face on a coin wouldn’t have bothered most Jews in Jesus’ day, the coin was problematic because it perpetuated a common form of religious worship of the emperor. So on the front of the coin, alongside the image, would have been the inscription “Tiberius Caesar, Son of Divine Augustus” and on the back, an inscription “Pontifex Maximus” which translates to “greatest priest.” These were both pagan titles that solidified the pagan belief that the emperor was a god.

So Jesus, in possession of this coin, asks his interlocutors whose image is on the coin, to which they reply that it’s Caesar. Jesus responds in a somewhat cryptic way: Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, an answer which silences and marvels his enemies.

St. Matthew 22:15-22 Interpreted

Beginning with the Reformation, Jesus’ words about rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s have been dissected and turned into a systematic and programmatic political theology known as Two Kingdoms which posits that God’s rule is divided into two kingdoms—the kingdom of law and the kingdom of grace which was based on Luther’s larger scheme of dividing everything into law/Gospel. And there’s much to commend about this view but today’s Gospel probably doesn’t bear that kind of weight. Jesus isn’t giving us a thorough description of how Church and state should relate.

A few points of emphasis in this passage helps us to see the point more clearly. First, the context of the Pharisees attempt to entrap Jesus is more important than the issue itself because the point of the reading is that our Lord outwits his opponents yet again. Matthew 22 begins with the parable of the wedding feast which we read on the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, the week Bishop Chad visited us. In that story, a man throws a wedding banquet for his son and invites a bunch of guests. The invitees all make excuses to his messengers and some of them even take the messengers and kill them. So the king sends his army to kill the ungrateful guests and invites all those in the highways and the hedges around the city. The parable is a description of the Jews and Gentiles response to the Gospel: national Israel rejects the wedding invitation while the Gentiles are invited to the wedding feast in their stead. But this parable sets the town for the rest of chapter 22. First, we have the encounter between Jesus and Pharisees on the issue of taxation. Our Gospel reading is followed by an encounter Jesus has with the Sadducees who sought to trip him up on the issue of resurrection and marriage. Finally, the Pharisees tried to entrap Jesus again by asking him to choose the greatest law. The chapter ends with Jesus entrapping his enemies when he poses them a question about the Messiah’s identity and then launches into a scathing critique of the religious leaders in chapter 23, all of which pushes the book quickly to its culmination when Jesus is arrested and crucified. These attempts to trick Jesus cast the Pharisees as the invited wedding guests who refuse their invitation and instead kill the messengers. But, of course, they’re outmatched because they’re trying to outsmart Wisdom itself.

So what does Jesus’ cryptic exhortation to the Pharisees mean? “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and God the things that are God’s.” As I’ve mentioned, this text really isn’t where we should go to parse out the entirety of the relationship between Church and State. It’s not a blueprint for all the nuances of what Christian political engagement should look like. Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2 are better texts to turn to for that because they’re clearer. I think what Jesus’ words to the Pharisees mean in context is that “since you have the coin, pay the tax and stop being so underhanded. You may owe Caesar the tax but you owe God all your heart, soul, and mind.”

St. Matthew 22:15-22 Applied

The Christian tradition isn’t prescriptive insofar as we are mandated a particular kind of political organization. We have freedom in how we organize the state, whether that’s a monarchy, republic, democracy, etc. Social organization is necessary and important but it’s also accidental and variable. So the extension of the Gospel reading is the principle that if a Christian engages with Caesar by travelling on his roads, relying on his protection, benefiting from his educational institutions, etc. then we have to pay our due. Even though Jesus was okay with paying taxes, he resists confusing what is temporary, a particular government, with what is eternal, our relationship with God. Be a good citizen but your citizenship isn’t what defines you in an essential way.

The Christian faith asks much of us. It addresses us at embodied and contextualized beings by demanding that we serve God with all our heart, soul, and mind and love our neighbors as ourselves. At the same time, our faith teaches us that what is temporal is subordinate in importance to what is eternal. Like St. Paul urges us in our Epistle, we don’t serve the belly, our passions and appetites (which applies to much more than just our diet). Rather, Paul urges us to look for our Lord who transfigures this vile body into glorious bodies like his. So our Gospel reading confronts us with an exhortation to avoid idolatry—whatever our political engagement looks like, and it can look differently for different people, it’s not an end to itself. Rather, we have a higher calling. While our identity is informed by our country, political persuasions, and other related issues, these are not what is essential about us. Every facet of our identity has to bow before the Cross and every part of who we are must be ultimately dedicated in service to our Lord.

It’s too easy to get caught up in the daily hassle of a 24/7 news cycle that constructs reality in a certain way and pushes us to view everything through that particular lens. But today’s reading is a challenge for many of us: give to Caesar what is Caesar’s — vote in an informed manner, support causes that matter to you and lead to increasing human flourishing, etc. But above all, do not forget that your body, your heart, and your soul don’t belong to a particular party or a candidate; they belong to our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s him we’re to imitate and his life requires us to transcend contemporary 21st century partisan politics in service of his Gospel.

The Collect for the Day reminds us that he is our refuge, strength, and the author of all goodness. God certainly uses our political efforts (whether because they’re good or because he’s faithful in spite of ourselves remains a question), but he doesn’t need them either. So, we don’t look to any particular politician or party as a refuge, strength, or the source of goodness. Rather we remember that, ultimately, it doesn’t matter who is in Washington or Annapolis or in any seat of power because God is in control and he’s not unseated when things don’t go our way. He hears the prayers of His Church and he will be faithful to place us where we get what we need. We may not be happy with that, but if we obey him, if we’re faithful to his calling, and keep our lives aimed at the real goal, we will grow in holiness, which is really where our true happiness is to be found.

Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But give your whole self to God. Politicians will fail you but God is always faithful.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.