Proper 24
Isaiah 45:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22
I.
Paul writes in Romans 8:28 these familiar words:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
These words are often — and rightly — pressed into service during tragedy or crisis in the life of a believing Christian.
They comfort the believer by assuring him that this grief has a purpose.
But could “all things” really mean all things?
Today’s gospel lesson (about paying taxes no less) says, “Yes.”
Even paying tribute to your oppressor is God’s will.
II.
“And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’”
The Pharisees have set a trap for Jesus, to “entangle him in his words.” Specifically, they want to goad Him into uttering something seditious.
He asks them to show them the coin that is used to pay tribute to Caesar.
Now, Jesus doesn’t reach into His own pocket to pull out the coin. He asks them to. And they have no trouble complying.
In showing the coin to Jesus they show that they have accepted Caesar’s economic arrangement. Their shackles are on open display.
“Whose likeness and inscription is this?” Jesus asks. And they reply, “Caesar’s.”
That’s the answer to the first part of Jesus’ question: “whose likeness?” They omit the second part of the answer, probably because to utter it would have been blasphemous.
But I will tell you what the inscription said.
It said:
“Emperor Tiberius August Son of the August God.”
There is, of course, no God but Jehovah, and so Israel’s complicity with idolatry is laid bare. The Jews carried these blasphemous coins around with them and on their very person.
So, Jesus has avoided their trap and entangled His opponents when they meant to entangle Him.
Then He says something remarkable. He says:
“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
To which we are told that His opponents “marveled.”
They marvel because it is, on the surface, the most practical and Pharisaical answer that could be given. The Pharisees are marveling, and I can imagine them saying, “We wish we had thought of that ourselves.”
III.
What makes Jesus’ response seem so clever, so Pharisaical?
Because He seems to be saying — and many Christians have taken Him to mean — that one’s faith can be neatly separated from the rest of one’s life.
In other words, that it is perfectly fine to carry around idolatrous coins in your pocket and pay tribute to your overlord with them.
That it is perfectly fine to sin on Saturday night and sing in church on Sunday morning.
It is as if sin and righteousness are easily compartmentalized.
To avoid living a bifurcated life, some Christians reduce Jesus’ words to what is called “pietism.” Its most extreme forms result in Christian men and women walling themselves off from the world in monasteries or fleeing to the desert to live solitary lives as hermits in a vain attempt to escape the world.
That is a valid vocation for some Christian men and women, but its justification cannot be found in this passage.
In fact, what Jesus is saying is that by rendering under to Caesar what is Caesar’s you are rendering to God what is God’s because everything comes from God.
There is no separation of purpose (the technical word is telos) between church and state, between earth and heaven, between piety and politics.1 Both realms are ordered to the glory of God, for “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
The Christian is to take an active role in both realms. He is to be especially concerned with bringing the lower orders (state, earth, and political) into conformity with the highest order, with God’s law.
Jesus commands us in Matthew 28:19-20:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
IV.
In carrying the image of “Tiberius, son of the August God” the Jews were once again acknowledging a foreign god. By paying tribute with those same coins, they were serving that god.
By thus answering the Pharisees’ challenge, Jesus not only exposes them as idolaters and quislings but reminds them of why they are subjugated.
We covered this two weeks ago, when I preached on the Parable of the Tenants. Jesus says in Matthew 21:43:
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”
In today’s story about the two coins, Jesus reminds the Pharisees that the kingdom of God has, in fact, been taken away from them.
At the root of Israel’s religion, at the heart of its sacrifices in the temple, was the belief that all things belong to God. Two verses from the psalms will suffice to make this point
Psalm 24:1 tells us that all the earth and every living creature belongs to God:
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein….”
Psalm 74:16 tells us that time itself belongs to God as well:
“Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.”
God has ordained that paying taxes to Caesar — while it is very much a sign of one’s subjection to the State — is still a right and proper way to render to God what belongs to God.
V.
How do we apply this lesson of the two coins to our lives?
The first application is to understand that all things work together to serve God’s purpose, but all things only work together for good to those who believe in Jesus Christ.
You will render to God what is God’s even if it is because the Internal Revenue Service forces you to, but this is for good.
The second application is to understand the God-ordained purpose of the tithe. Had Israel been faithful in paying tribute to God alone, they would not have been forced to pay tribute to Caesar.
God only asks ten percent and promises to multiply its effect in building up the Church. Isaiah 45:3 says:
“I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord.”
The State taxes you far in excess of ten percent and gives you much less than God wants you to have.
The reason is that the tender mercies of the State allow you to walk by sight and not by faith.
Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, all of these we can see, experience, and benefit from, but, like Esau, we trade our birthright in eternity for a pot of lentils now.2
God asks us to put our faith in Him and to trust Him to fulfill our needs, to give Him the first of all we get, trusting more is still to come.
This is what Jesus means when He says:
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”3
It is the ability to walk by faith and not by sight that makes the final application of this passage clear.
When Jesus says, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” He is including Himself.
In the moment He utters these words, Jesus Himself is a subject of Caesar, and Caesar will soon require His death.
Caesar demands Jesus’ life, which Jesus willingly surrenders to Caesar.
But, of course, life does not belong to Caesar. Life belongs to God. And God will not let His Holy One see the rot and stench of the grave.4 And so, Jesus is raised from the dead on the third day.
All things, even the blood tribute paid to Caesar, work for the good of those who love God.
We are to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, full of the faith and knowledge that God has rendered Caesar’s kingdom irrelevant. Amen.
Preached on October 22, 2023 at St. Peter’s Lithgow, Millbrook, New York.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
1. According to Paul, “in all things God works for the good of those who ____________ him.”
2. This means even paying tribute to an oppressive king is God’s ____________ for believers.
3. Whose likeness is on the coin the Pharisees show Jesus?
4. The inscription declares Emperor Tiberius to be the “August Son of the August ____________.”
5. Explain how Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees shows their complicity with idolatry.
6. What makes Jesus’ answer seem clever and Pharisaical?
7. To avoid living a bifurcated life, some Christians reduce Jesus’ words to what is called “____________.”
8. Explain how rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s also results in rendering unto God what is God’s.
9. There is no separation of ____________ between church and state, between earth and heaven, between piety and politics.
10. Explain how the Christian is to be active in both realms.
11. The paying of taxes to Caesar is a sign of one’s ____________ to the State.
12. Caesar demands Jesus’ ____________, which Jesus willingly surrenders to Caesar.
Parents and Grandparents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents or the minister after church. Older Children – Do one or more of the following: 1) Count how many times “render” is mentioned. 2) Discuss with your parents a time in your life when something started out bad but ended up good.
(1) love; (2) will; (3) Caesar’s; (4) god; (5) they carry the image of a foreign god with a blasphemous inscription in their own pockets every day; (6) he seems to offer a formula for compartmentalizing sin and righteousness; (7) pietism; (8) because everything comes from God and belongs to God; (9) purpose or telos; (10) he is to work to bring the lower orders (state, earth, political) into conformity with God’s law; (11) subjection; (12) life
The functioning of each order remains separate and distinct, but the orders themselves are directed towards fulfilling God’s will.
See “Esau Sells His Birthright” in Gen. 25:29-34.
The August God