Seminary Conclusions.

Give to God what is God's.

Sermon for Matthew 22:15-22

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

Taxes. State tax, federal tax, income tax, social security tax, Medicare tax, federal withholding. Bills. The IRS. WallStreet, the dow jones, the nasdaq, plummeting stock rates. These are just a few terms that make us squirm about our economic status and future.

When I was 16, I got my first job. I started work at a sporting goods store, and was super excited to be getting paid $7 an hour. I imagined all the great things I could buy then, how I could get more ‘cool’ clothes, how I could save up for a car, how I could go out more with friends. I knew I was working about 15 hours a week, and that should have meant that my first paycheck two weeks later would have been about $200.

I was shocked when I got my paycheck and it was closer to $100. I went from shocked to really upset. I wanted to know where my money went. I came home and asked my mom about why my check was so low. She explained to me that ‘taxes’ had been taken out. Although she explained why that much came out, I was still upset.

Why did all of that money have to come from me? Especially when I was making so little? And what good did taxes do for me? Did I get to help choose what happened with my tax money? If I opposed a war, could I say that I didn’t want my taxes to go towards it? The biggest thing was that I felt helpless, this big thing called the government was taking what I worked hard for, and I had no choice about it. This was a giant change in how I thought things were going to be when I had a job.

In the Gospel for today, we have a group of people who are attempting to use this helpless feeling about taxes to their advantage. However, this was an unlikely group. The Pharisees sent their disciples, with a pack of Herodians. Now the Pharisee’s disciples and the herodians would not have likely been in the same place, let alone working together. The Pharisees were backing the removal of Rome from the holy land, while the herodians are a part of the roman governance.

As they approached Jesus, they could not have made it more apparent that they were out to trap him, unless of course they wore a giant blinking sign that said, “we have it out for Jesus.” They walked up, and hoped to sweeten Jesus up, so that he would answer their question. They echoed praises of his impartiality, and his truth to the biblical teachings. Then they ask him a challenging question, “Is paying taxes to the emperor lawful, or not?”

This yes or no question, was meant to get Jesus in trouble. Because no matter which way he answered it, he was setting himself up for disaster. If he said yes, then he went against the Jewish understanding that they should not be dominated by the roman government. If he said no, then he was directly opposing the ruling government.

This wicked motley crew, thought they had devised the perfect plan to finally have a public reason to arrest Jesus. They had been so challenged by his radical changes of society, by what he stood for, by what he preached would come, that they perceived him as a threat. They couldn’t handle losing power, and reacted out of a need for protecting what they knew.

Don’t we also do this same thing? We feel the power or that which we consider routine and traditional slipping from our grip, and we panic. We think of ways to counteract this change, to make sure that it doesn’t occur. It’s happened to us over and over again.

During the civil rights movement, people fought over the seemingly radical change of truly valuing each person as equals. During WWII, people fought over religious differences, and what that would mean for societal values. We have fought over racism, sexism, classism, and even sexual preference. We as people seem to gravitate to that which feels the same to us. We can fight hard against change, feeling as if we don’t want to try something new. Why fix something that ain’t broke, right?

So we hide our intentions, we face each other with smiling faces, some kind words, and polite fully say things such as, “well, we just don’t think you are right for the job.” Instead of telling someone that the real reason they didn’t receive that job was because they were of a certain race, sex or sexual orientation. We act just as the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians. We scheme and plot, we find ways to turn things down because of our fear of change.

I plotted myself. I plotted that day I got my first check. I tried to figure out ways that I wouldn’t have to pay taxes. How I could work ‘off the books’ and get all my pay, instead of getting part of it taken away. Then I was reminded of what taxes go towards, and what our duty as Christians, was to the government.

Jesus gives the disciples of the Pharisees and the herodians a reminder as well. He is aware of their malice, and even calls them out on it. Instead of just walking away then, without answering their question, he provokes them into action. He tells them to get him a coin. So they reach into their pockets, and pull out a denarius. A denarius, is a roman coin, which has the face of the emperor on one side with his title, and the capitol on the reverse, with roman words claiming the emperor as high priest. It was a symbol that the emperor ruled both the earthly and heavenly realm.

Jesus asks them who is featured on the coin. They tell him the emperor, which would have been obvious to them. Jesus’ next statement leaves them speechless. He says, “give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” He doesn’t answer their yes or no question in a way they expect, but instead changes the game all together.

He calls them out on their hypocrisy twice, not only did they come to him in malice, but these religious officials were carrying around roman coins! They had violated their own question. Jesus doesn’t chastise them, instead, he leaves them with something to think about, that cannot get him in trouble with either group.

But what does Jesus mean by “give to the emperor what is the emperor’s and to God what is God’s.?” As Christians, this means for us today, that yes, we pay our taxes, but we do not give money or the government our lives. We may have to dedicate a portion of our materialistic wealth towards the government, but we do not have to dedicate our lives to it.

Instead, we are to remember that we are God’s people. As children of God, we have been saved by Jesus’ death, blessed by the Holy Spirit, and created in God’s image. God gives us eternal peace, and all that we can do is rejoice in that fact. So let us rejoice by reaching out and doing what the government cannot. Let us spread the message of God’s love, by caring for our neighbors, embracing the radical change that Jesus is offering, and live into a new future grounded in God’s promises.

We are given the opportunity to embrace diversity on all levels, change in our power structures, and fresh ways of being community. And we can do it all by following Jesus’ actions. Jesus doesn’t walk away in anger against his challengers, instead he is cool and collected, makes them think, and amazes them.

I can’t help but think of Jesus smiling as the disciples of the Pharisees and the herodians leave him. He smiles, looks down at the coin that is still in his hand, chuckles, and slides it into his pocket, to pass along to the next person in need he encounters.

The group had approached Jesus with cocky attitudes, believing they had found a way to corner him, and instead Jesus walks away with the last laugh. It wasn’t a laugh in malice, it was a laugh in triumphal joy, that he had initiated another radical change in a group of people, and was now moving on with new resources to help others.

So let us also follow this direction, having joyful laughter in the unexpected resources and triumphs that we have in God’s name, embracing change and inspiring radical change in those that we approach with the message of God’s love. Because we all need a moment of uncontrollable laughter in God’s service.
Amen.

posted by Dana @ 9:21 AM