It all sounds so simple, today’s Gospel reading, doesn’t it? And so relevant as well – should we have to pay taxes!
Give to the emperor what is the emperor’s, and to God what is God’s.
We certainly see examples of this thinking around us all the time nowadays:
· Tony Blair apparently wanting to play down his religious beliefs while Prime Minister so that he wasn’t thought of as a loony
· People going to church as Christians on Sundays but living as anything but during the week
· Faith (or “are you religious?”) being viewed as little more than a hobby to the outsider, meaning that worship is relegated to a lifestyle choice or hobby like going to B&Q on a Sunday or watching football.
In short, a literal understanding of “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” leads to a marginalisation of the Gospel message, saying what you do as a Christian should only happen inside church – and not affect the rest of your life.
But is this really the case? That our life as Christians is totally separate from our life as citizens of the UK, humans, or however else you want to put it?
We should start by considering what had happened in this Gospel account.
The Pharisees and Herodians were plotting against Jesus. We often hear about the Pharisees in the Gospels, but not the Herodians. Like the Pharisees, the Herodians were a sect of Judaism at the time, although the two sects had different concerns.
The Pharisees were of course very strict about the Jewish Law, and so anti-Roman. The Herododians, as their name suggests, were supporters of Herod and pro-Roman – even though he wasn’t Jewish and was a puppet ruler imposed by the Roman Empire.
No matter what Jesus’ response, he cannot win. If he said they should pay taxes, he would be criticised by the Pharisees for being supportive of the Empire. If he said they shouldn’t pay taxes, he would be denounced by the Herodians and so the Roman authorities for treason!
Let us consider the coin Jesus demands to be shown. It shows an image of the emperor. At this time the emperor was understood to be essentially a god. So coins with his image on were considered graven images of this other “god”. Not really the kind of thing good Jews should be carrying round.
In fact, Jewish Palestine had its own copper coins without the image of the emperor – allowing Jews to use coins without this problem. But the tax had to be paid using the Roman silver denarius everywhere in the empire, including Palestine.
Considering this, we have to wonder why either the Pharisee or Herodian were carrying such a coin. Had their concern really being about paying taxes they wouldn’t have been carrying the coin. A coin with an image of the emperor, and an inscription proclaiming him as a god. It would be worse than wearing a Swindon football shirt as a Reading fan, or a St Austell shirt as a St Blazey fan!
The fact that Jesus asks for this coin suggests that he and his companions didn’t carry such a coin, unsurprisingly, and also shows what lengths the Pharisee and Herodite were willing to go to set Jesus up!
But Jesus wasn’t going to be beaten this easily. His response, while appearing simple, is actually quite complicated.
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
So, yes. Pay taxes to the emperor, with coins showing the emperor’s image and so that belong to him, and give to God other things – things that don’t belong to the emperor.
But how does the emperor get the status of a god? Throughout the history of the Jews at least, all authority was believed to have come from God. In today’s first reading from Isaiah we heard God say to Cyrus “I have called you by name, I surname you” – or rather give you a title. Thus Cyrus, a gentile, was called the Lord’s anointed – a title normally given only to Jewish kings. The authority of Cyrus, then, came from God.
The secular state would therefore be understood to have a claim on its citizens, but only because the authority ultimately comes from God. This claim would include things like taxes.
If we think about the secular state at the moment we invariably think of taxes, and other concerns to do with money – especially with the financial situation at the moment. It is easy to get caught up in the concerns about money and financial stability at the expense of everything else. For many money appears to have taken the status of a god, being worshipped in itself.
But money isn’t evil of itself, and is essential to live. We need it for our day to day lives – as does the church itself – but it isn’t the be-all and end-all. It is, however, a sign of the secular state as much now as in the time of Jesus.
Money and the state has its place. Likewise God has its place. But they are not totally separate areas and we have to consider how they relate.
The authority of the state and money come from God. All things come from God – he made us out of nothing. We might owe taxes to the state, but we owe everything to God. The state too owes everything to the God who created all things.
If all things come from God, we should look at how we can use all things for the glory of God. That means not using them only for our own ends, worshipping and serving God not money.
The second reading today, from 1 Thessolonians, speaks about how Christians have become imitators of Christ and have turned to God and away from idols and so serve a living God.
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,” – some things which are of limited importance in the grand scheme of things – “ and to God the things that are God’s” – everything important, for everything comes from Him.
Let us then remember that there is not a separation between “church” and “not church” in our lives – the “not church” parts are also part of church, of serving the living God, Father Son and Holy Spirit.
