Jesus and Politics: Render Unto Caesar
God Deserves All
Matthew 22:15-22
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. October 18th, 2020
We are in the middle of yet another presidential election. Once again it is the most important election of our lifetimes. Parties and their committees want us to know how much is at stake. They want us to know how terrible their opponent is. What you might have to gain, or what you might have to lose. The airwaves are full of ads. And tensions can run high. Social media is full of argument and contempt. And some conversations have grown even more difficult. If anyone disagrees they are evil, or they are stupid. It can’t be that we simply have different political commitments or loyalties. One thing I hear a lot is “we are more divided than ever before.” I don’t know if that’s the case, but that is certainly how it feels. Friendships across that political aisle can be strained, or nonexistent.
It also seems to me that social media has made political engagement, of a sort, far easier than it was in my youth. Now political discussion can take place anonymously or through the safety of a screen. We do not need to wait for the evening news to know what has happened, we get an instant notification. The effect is that it can feel like politics smothers us. Because politics is always available for us to think about. And worse, we can feel helpless. We hear and see so much but realize there is so little we can do. We feel the burden of this world but lack the ability to change it. That can lead to frustration, anger, and despair. Maybe you’ve felt that frustration yourself.
Now I know some of us may be sick of politics, too. And I know that most of us probably don’t care to hear the preacher go off about politics, we are here to hear the word of God. And I certainly have no intention of preaching on politics if by that you mean making a partisan case. But the word of God does tell us a few things about politics. And as it happens the lectionary gives us two passages from Matthew, one this week and once next week, that touch on politics and its place in the Christian life. This morning Jesus answers a question about taxes. And the implications of his answer tell us a lot about the place of politics in our life.
Jesus is preaching in the Temple when some Pharisees and Herodians come to try and trap him. That’s an interesting alliance. Pharisees were like evangelical populists, they did not take too kindly to the establishment Herodians who had made their peace with Rome and with Herod. But they find a common enemy in Jesus, who threatens the power of both. Their words drip with insincerity as they say, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.” They’re just buttering him up before the crowd before they ask their trick question.
That question is, “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” Pharisees would have thought it is probably not lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, because Roman coinage was idolatrous, containing the image of the emperor who was called “son of a god.” Herodians, being the political establishment, would of course consider it to be lawful to pay taxes. So here is the trick, and here is why Jesus calls them hypocrites. If Jesus says it is lawful to pay taxes, then he might lose the crowds who take him to be a prophet. But if he says it is unlawful to pay taxes, guards are present to take him in right then and there for sedition.
Jesus is in a bind, but his response astonishes everyone who hears.
First, Jesus says, “show me the coin for the tax.” Jesus, as it happens, does not have any money on him. But his opponents do, they bear the coins that bear the idolatrous image of caesar. "Whose head is this, and whose title?” Now the Pharisees and Herodians might sense Jesus has turned the tables on them. “The emperor’s.” They reply very simply.
"Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God’s." We are told the people are astonished at his answer, and his opponents are silenced.
But what does it mean to give to the emperor what is the emperor’s and give to God what is God’s? I think sometimes this account is taken to mean some proto-Seperation of Church and State. Where Jesus is advocating for a divided life, or divided loyalty. There are some things that belong to the Emperor, and in those cases we have our duties. But there are other things that belong to God, and we have our duties there. There is a private sphere, where we can pray and worship, and there is a public sphere where the Emperor may make his demands. The emperor, or the state and human politics, has authority over the economy and over the body. But Jesus has authority in our hearts and over our soul.
But that’s not quite what Jesus is getting at here, and that’s not why everyone is astonished at his teaching. To get at what Jesus is getting at we need to ask “what does belong to the Emperor? And what does belong to God?”
Everything belongs to God. “The sea is his for he made it, and his hands have molded the dry land.” “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.” God creates all things, and there is nothing in heaven and earth that he did not make. And so all belongs to God. The emperor himself belongs to God, as Paul notes he can only have authority as is given by God. Which is why Paul says we ought to pay taxes.
And what belongs to the Emperor? Why, that’s what makes this passage a little humorous. That coin. Because it has his face and name on it.
So we give to God what belongs to God and give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor. We give to God what belongs to God and we give the state what belongs to the state. We give to God what belongs to God, and we give to political life what belongs to political life. Knowing that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, that all belongs to God.
So what does this all mean? And what does this have to do with the election? What does this have to do with politics and the Christian life? I think it offers a useful corrective. Should we vote? Of course. As citizens we have a duty to consider the candidates and vote our conscience. That is giving to the emperor what is the emperor’s so to speak. And we should engage in rigorous and frank discussion.
But we must also remember that politics is not our ultimate loyalty. And I worry the way it can consume our days, the way that it can determine or undermine our friendships, the way it can become our identity when we say “I’m republican” or “I’m a democrat”, makes it seem like our ultimate loyalty. Politics is important. We are political creatures who have to make decisions about our life together, and are blessed to live in a democratic republic where those decisions can be made by free citizens. But we do not owe our life to politics.
All of us here and listening at home owe our life to God. And all of us here and listening at home have been bought with a price. All of us here and listening at home owe to God everything, our selves, our souls, and bodies. And all of us here should treat one another, no matter the outcome of the election, as one for whom Christ died.
I’m reminded that John Wesley was once asked by Methodists in Bristol for advice for how to go about the local election. He said:
1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy
2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and
3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”
That’s the advice of someone who knows the importance of politics, while at the same knowing that Jesus is Lord. That we should vigorously engage in the democratic process, while at the same time not letting our spirits be sharpened, knowing that we are all children of God. And we owe God our all.