As we continue to experience the Word of the Lord together, Let us Pray. Almighty God, Creator and Ruler of all that is, seen and unseen, you are Lord of everything Created. Open our ears, our hearts, and our minds to hear what you would have us hear, receive what you would have us receive, and understand what you would have us understand. Speak Lord, your servants are listening. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught. But if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, Thou who art our Rock and Redeemer, Amen.

Exodus 20.1-6 Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Matthew. Listen. Matthew 22.15-22.

The current confirmation class is learning and memorizing this book. It is titled, Belonging to God, A first Catechism. A catechism is a learning tool in Question and Answer form. Which is to say, the Catechism teaches us about theology, faith, God and humanity through questions and answers. Other than asking me to look at a hard copy, which you can certainly do, you can also find it online, at www.pcusa.org/theologyandworship/confession/firstcatechism.htm. For example, Question 1 is “Who are you?” And the answer is “I am a child of God.” Question 2, “What does it mean to be a child of God?” Girls, you want to impress them? “That I belong to God, who loves me.” They are doing pretty well with it, as you can see. So far, of the 60 questions, they have been assigned the first 45. They will have to be able to answer them, not only to me, but in front of session when they get to the point of joining. I should put them on the spot again, but I won’t. Though, I know that they have this one down. Question 7 “What did God create?” And the answer, “All that is, seen and unseen.”

This bit in Matthew has long been used to show that we are supposed to separate the sacred from the secular, and to keep up our obligations to the secular. But I wonder if we catch the nuance, or if we miss the subtlety. There is this question of the tax, and Jesus says Render Unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and Give to God what belongs to God. The problem for Caesar is this, it all belongs to God. Nothing belongs to Caesar that God hasn’t created, hasn’t formed. Sure the coins are human made. But who made the material that the coins are on? Granted they have been fashioned to look a certain manner by certain individuals. But who made those individuals? Render Unto Caesar almost has a sense of, “Give the baby his bottle, but remember, both the bottle and even the baby ultimately belong to me.”

Let’s back up just a little, look at the story itself.^[1] Trick questions that put people on the spot have been around as long as there have been public issues and leaders offering new programs. The one that we find today, posed by the Pharisees, had an obvious double edge. Paying taxes to the Roman emperor was one of the hot button topics of the day. What we’ve got here is not only taxation without representation, but also including subjugation. These are the Romans who marched into the country and stole the land. Some Jewish leaders had tried revolts over the issue, and the Romans had crushed them mercilessly, leaving crosses around the countryside, with dead and dying revolutionaries on them. The Pharisees question came, as we would say, with a health warning. Warning, surgeon general notes that answering this question dangerous to your health, in that answering it leads to direct death. Tell people that they shouldn’t pay, and pick out the color of your cross.

But, at the same time, anyone leading a pro-Jewish, kingdom of God, movement would be expected to oppose the tax, or face total discredit from the people. Surely the whole point of God becoming a king is that Caesar won’t be? What is the point of following Jesus all the way to Galilee unless the tax will be opposed? Why had they shouted all those Hosannas a few days ago? The media coverage people just went bezerk, this will certainly be the sound bit of the year.

Before Jesus answers, he asks them for a coin. Actually, by asking for a coin, Jesus really begins his answer. When they produce one, they show that they carry the hated currency. Exodus 20, the first two commandments. Don’t have any other God’s besides me, and do not have any engraved images to worship. Jews weren’t allowed to put images of people, human faces, on their coins. Caesar had his image all over the Roman currency. And around the edge of the coin, proclaiming to all the world who he was, Caesar had words that would send a shudder through any loyal, devout Jew, and should to us. “Son of God…high priest” was who Caesar thought he was. We can understand how every Jew would be unhappy to handle stuff like that.

Jesus gets handed the coin, and he holds it like we would a dead rat. “Whose is this…image? And what is this written on it.” He’s therefore shown what he thinks of Caesar, but hasn’t said anything that could get him in trouble. Wily politician Jesus has turned the question around, and is ready to throw it back at the Pharisees.

“It’s Caesar’s,” they reply, stating the obvious, but admitting that they themselves carry Caesar’s coin.

Let’s be clear. Jesus wasn’t trying to give an answer for all time on the relationship between God and political authority. That wasn’t the point. He was countering the challenge of the Pharisees with a challenge of his own. See, the need for wily politician Jesus was absent. He has already told his disciples that he himself would be crucified. It was eminent. This was, after all, Passion week. He wasn’t trying to wriggle out of danger, he was heading right toward it anyway. But he was going to do so on his own terms. His vocation was to be a revolutionary like they had never known in history.

“So,” says Jesus, “you’d better pay Caesar back his own coin, hadn’t you?” Ashtonishment. It sounds like revolution, but it also sounds like he was saying to pay the tax. “…And you’d better pay God back was belongs to God, too.” Even more astonishment. He can’t mean that God is more important than Caesar, can he?

Render Unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s. It all belongs to God. Not too long ago, there were some scientists, who decided they had grown smarter than God. It all belongs to God. Don’t misread this, as stated earlier has so often been done with this passage. I’m not saying that your mortgage isn’t important, or that you should rethink your obligations to the community. I’m sending Bob my 1040, and you should too. Just because it all belongs to God does not mean that God doesn’t want you to participate in community, civil, even secular activities. But in the same way that Jesus, who was not running from death at this point, but running to it, Jesus answers this question with a challenge; so too I say it all belongs to God as a challenge. In our day, in our time, the culture says that it all belongs to you. Well, the part that the government doesn’t take. You have so many options as to what to do with your money, your talent, your time. And God always seems to get the last portion. God is an afterthought for so many people, even Christians, when it comes to our lives, and yes, our money. “This year God, we’ve got some serious house repair, and next year one more starts college, so we can afford to give you this much. God, this much will belong to you.”

Render Unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but remember, it all belongs to God. It is a challenge in today’s world. It is filled with tension. The call to be a Christian includes the call to be involved with, to be invested in the community and society. But don’t you ever forget from whom the blessings flow. When the plate comes around, you are enacting the prayer, “We return unto Thee what is Thine own.” Amen.

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1. The following sections owe credit to research from Tom Wright’s book, Matthew for Everyone Part Two Chapters 16-28. Westminster John Knox Press, pp 85-88.