Giving Caesar God's Due

 

Scriptures: Matthew 22:15-22; Malachi 3:6-10

Have you ever received something that you didn’t deserve? Some of the most beautiful gifts in life are the ones we do not deserve. A stranger paying for our lunch in the drive-through. An unexpected grace offered to us from a friend when we are not acting with grace. Our very salvation is offered as something we do not deserve from our Creator, the offering of his own Son on our behalf. The very nature of a gift implies that it is somehow not deserved. That’s what makes it a gift!

It is also a wonderful thing to give something when it is not deserved. We can be the one who offers grace when it is not merited; we can be the one to surprise someone else with kindness. This can bring even more joy! As nearly everyone can tell you, it is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

But there can be a dark side to giving when it is not deserved. Giving something to an unworthy recipient can be an act of grace, but it can also be an act of fatal ignorance. When we ascribe worthiness to things that are not worthy, we are in danger of offering too much of ourselves to someone or something that has no right to take it, all the while thinking that we are simply doing what we ought to do. We are like the good intentioned person who unknowingly responds to a scam email or phone call, wasting our precious time  with someone whose goal is to manipulate us. We may initially think that the scammer is worth engaging; we may even think that we can trust this person with our personal information and give it away. But the more we give to this unworthy recipient, the more it hurts us and the more we fall into their trap. 

“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” We see these famous words of Jesus in Matthew 22 in response to those who would have liked to trick him into saying something that would get him into trouble. The text tells us that those who heard marveled at Jesus’ response, and they were right to do so. Consider the wisdom of his words, that at the same time diffuse the trap that was set and declare the truth. Jesus says that if Caesar’s image is on the coin, then it is fine to give Caesar his due. But the implied question, if Caesar is entitled to the money with his image on it, becomes, “What does it mean that all people are made in the image of God?” Does not, by this logic, the life of every human, including Caesar himself, belong to the God in whose image they are made? 

This is the genius of Jesus’ reply, “Give to God what is God’s.” All belongs to God, material possessions, the metal that forms the coin, our very selves. Caesar can claim the material things on which he’s stamped his image for the time being, but it is God who holds the ultimate authority over heaven and earth and all who live there. 

Now before anyone gets too nervous, the theme of this piece is not money. We’ve all heard many a sermon on how this passage should frame the way we view our material possessions and rightfully acknowledge that it all belongs to God. Those are good and important things to hear, but I feel that in this cultural moment, we are in danger of rendering something else to Caesar that belongs to God in the realm of our politics. 

Caesar may have a different name or names, and there may be different faces on our coins, but if my own heart and the world we see around us is any indication, I fear we are rendering unto our politics things that are solely due to God. We offer our hope and our allegiance to human beings and human-formed systems and philosophies as if they can save us from ourselves and from the evil of the world. 

Today, as we sit just over three weeks away from the Presidential election, we are rendering our hope and our allegiance to our politics. As baptized members of Christ’s body, we don’t have that option. We are first and foremost members of the kingdom that we pray will come “on earth as it is in heaven.” Our political platform is the Sermon on the Mount. Our hope is in the subjection of all things to Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace. We live for a humanity brought into right relationship with God and with itself through the cross and the empty tomb. 

I invite you to do a mental exercise with me. Imagine your worst case scenario for the next three weeks. Imagine that we wake up on November 4th to find that all of our choices for political office have lost. It is not necessarily true that your worst case scenario looks just like mine, but we all have a worst case scenario. How would you feel in that situation? What would you do?

We should reflect on our responses to these questions, because even if all of our political hopes do not come to fruition and our political nightmares do, we as Christian people acknowledge that Jesus, the one upon whose shoulders all governments rest, will remain on the throne. 

When we think of our worst case scenarios, that can give us an indication of to whom we are rendering our hope and our allegiance. The election of any politician, even a good one who aligns with all of our beliefs, will not usher in the kingdom of God. When we act like the kingdom will come through a person not named Jesus Christ, we are putting our hope in Caesar, a hope that is due to God.

When we are fanatically dedicated to our own party or our own political figure, to the extent that we overlook their shortcomings and are unwilling to challenge them when they are wrong, we offer them an unholy allegiance. When we defend them at all costs, more so than we do for our brothers and sisters in the faith, we are offering an allegiance to Caesar that is due only to God.

And when we give our hope and allegiance to those who are not worthy of them, we face the inevitable disappointment of human beings letting us down. We look to have our needs met by a politics that can’t meet them. Caesar can’t fulfill our hopes. Caesar will use up our allegiance until we have nothing left, then simply pass us by, looking for the next devotee. Giving to Caesar what belongs to God will not get the results that we desire to see, and will consume us in the process. Rendering our allegiance to Caesar is a short-sighted strategy that doesn’t benefit ourselves nor the world in the long run.

We could perhaps leave it there with how false hope and allegiance leave us empty, but Matthew 22 is paired in the lectionary with Malachi 3, which reminds us that when we offer our ultimate hope and allegiance to anyone or anything other than God, there is a more serious issue at hand. 

Malachi’s words are words of judgement for the people of Israel. Verses 6-10 read like legal charges brought up in court. “You have robbed me,” God declares to Israel. Anticipating their question as to how they have robbed him, God explains to Israel that they have not rendered their proper tithes to him, holding back for themselves.

In not giving our hope and our allegiance to God, but instead holding it back for the seemingly quicker and more efficient solutions of party politics is not just a bad idea in the long run for ourselves and the things we care about. To do so is to steal from our Creator what is due to him. It is a direct violation against the one who gave us life. 

And there is a deep irony here, because, just like Adam and Eve in the garden, the temptation that we have is to place trust in ourselves rather than God, when it is God who has already provided and will provide all that we need. In Malachi, it becomes apparent that one of the reasons that the people are holding back on their tithes is that they are worried about food security in the face of failing crops — a valid concern! But in holding back what is due to God, they are sinning against the one who can help them. See what God says in verse 10: 

“And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.”

Just like the valid concern that people of Israel have for their food security, there are valid and important concerns that face us in this political season. There is important work to be done, truths to tell, and vulnerable people of all ages, races, and languages to stand up for. I am not suggesting that we become apolitical beings. We ought to act on behalf of the least of these. And yes, being informed and voting is a way of acting for the good of our neighbors. To not care what happens to God’s created world and God’s beloved children who live in it is to neglect our calling to be salt and light in the world. 

But the political, partisan avenues for change are worthless gods for us to lay our hope and allegiance before. When we bow down to them, we are acting against the one whose justice is perfect, the one whose will is eternal, and the one whose love is boundless. Just as God was ready to meet the physical needs of the people of Israel, God is able and ready to aid us in our societal needs, to enact justice, but we must put our trust in him.

Many of us have already or are going to vote over these next few weeks, and I would encourage you to do so. I have made some plans to vote early to hopefully avoid the crowd. It is important for me personally to participate in the process and make my voice heard. 

But I am stealing from God if I put a value on that vote that eclipses my hope in and allegiance to his eternal kingdom. I am stealing from God if I forget that when I come to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus, I am doing something so much more politically significant than casting a ballot with some names on it. When we receive Christ and go forth from our churches as his witnesses to the world, that is an act of world-changing power that no earthly politics has a chance of matching. Whether you are receiving communion spiritually at home, or physically in your church, this is the act in which we ought to put our hope. The lines to vote may be longer, and yes we will happily wait in them, but we receive our true hope at the end of a line where we receive bread and wine.  

The world is going to keep coming after us, coming after our hope, coming after our allegiance. Caesar is after his taxes, and we need to be ready. What can we do? How do we prepare ourselves to act as salt and light in the world while not losing focus on what is most important? 

We look to the example of Jesus. Notice what the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians say about Jesus as they approach him with their question about paying taxes. They are engaging in flattery to be sure, flattery aimed at getting Jesus to fall into their trap, but what they say is true. They proclaim three things about Jesus that can help us navigate politics wisely without surrendering our hope and our allegiance. 

First, they say that Jesus teaches the way of God faithfully. Jesus is committed to God’s way above all else. He lives and teaches it faithfully. If we are committed first and foremost to the way of God, we can better recognize those things that would lead us astray. To not surrender our hope, we must ground our hope in the truth if the gospel and we must know that gospel well.

The next thing said about Jesus in this passage is that he does not care about anyone’s opinion. We often are tempted to act and speak politically because it is what we are expected to do or what we think will make us seem most acceptable in the eyes of others. Instead of advocating for good things and causes because they are good, we act in such a way that elevates ourselves. When our hope and allegiance are placed with God and in his kingdom, we act in the name of justice not because it is popular to do so, but because it is our calling as citizens of the New Jerusalem. We trust not in the fact that others will view us favorably, but that God will enact righteousness in the end. 

  

Jesus’ questioners then say that he is not swayed by appearances. If we are to be like Jesus in this sense, we must be discerning people. There are many things that sound nice on the surface, but are rotten in reality. There are people who say one thing and do another. If we are easily swayed by appearances, we are more likely to surrender our hope and allegiance to unworthy causes and persons. We ought to look for leadership of integrity and depth, truth and substance, not flash and empty promises. We ought to demand these things most from those with whom we agree politically, and Christians should be the first ones to call out their own side when they are lacking in these areas.

After Jesus hears the question about taxes, the Scripture says that he responds to his questioners while recognizing their malice. He knows that these leaders are out to get him, that they don’t have pure intentions with their questions. While I shouldn’t and can’t make a proclamation about all or a majority of those who seek to be our political leaders, I will say this: the Enemy is using our politics to steal our joy and peace, and to get us to render our hope and allegiance to humans and human systems. There is a malice at work in our politics and it is about time we recognized it. When brothers and sisters in Christ can’t speak about these things without a fight breaking out, malice is at work. When nothing is done to help the most vulnerable while partisan bickering and arguing continue, malice is at work. When we feel too agitated to pray about our political concerns, malice is at work. Jesus recognized the malice and responded accordingly. We his people would do well to follow in his footsteps.  

Jesus’ response to the Pharisees’ question, the text says, marvels them. I think if there is one thing that we could really use in our political climate, it would be a little less spectacle and a little more holy awe. When the followers of Christ act as he did, refusing to surrender their hope or allegiance to anyone but God himself, the results would confound and awe the world. What would it look like for us to participate in our political context in such a way that does not add to polarization, but with a wisdom and peace that marvels the world? That is a hopeful vision that can only be grounded in the one who is our hope. That can only happen when we place our allegiance in him alone, the one who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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