“Render unto Caesar…”

Matthew 22:15-22

Let’s talk about everyone’s favorite thing on the planet: taxes. This week, I am reflecting on Jesus’ encounter with Pharisees and Herodians in Jerusalem who are trying to trap him by having him answer a question about taxes: “Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

If Jesus answers that it is lawful, then Jesus alienates so many in his community who feel the bootheel of Roman oppression on their throats. If he says it is unlawful then that is a one-way ticket to crucifixion by the Romans for sedition.

This is what the Pharisees wanted, a trap to to undermine and even have Jesus killed. And Jesus brilliantly doesn’t answer it in a way that puts the challenge back on them: “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And that is where the question in this passage really is, I think. What is God’s? And are we neglecting to offer up to God what is God’s when we fill out our tax returns this year?

I can’t afford the challenges that come with being indicted for tax evasion. For many in Judea under Roman occupation, there was no evading paying Roman Taxes—not if you wanted you and your family to be safe. But what makes Jesus an excellent teacher is the subtext to this question that leads us to remember: what is God’s is a whole lot more than just our money.

And not everything that is God’s is in God’s possession. God granted us the blessing and abundance of creation that surrounds us. But how we treat that blessing might reflect how we would answer Jesus’ response to the Pharisees if asked of us today. If we saw all of creation as God’s and not ours to own and dominate, then I think we would treat it differently!

There might come a time for us to consider the morality of paying taxes—there is certainly tension to this question already. But there are other opportunities for us to respond to Jesus’ challenge to the Pharisees. There is much for us to consider giving back to God that we have long clung to as our own—forgetting God’s generosity and God’s love for us.