“Then he [Jesus} said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor [Caesar] the things that are the emperor’s [Caesar’s], and to God the things that are God’s.’” [Matthew 22.21b]
[The full reading, the appointed Gospel Reading for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost is: Matthew 22.15-22. Read the text either in the NRSV [New Revised Standard Version] or, if you are so fortunate as to have that great work by the late Eugene Peterson, The Message, read it aloud in that.]
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How many of us remember this from our childhood? I do. Note that I have added in brackets the name of [Caesar] instead of “emperor.” There are two reasons for this. In the Greek (in which the Gospel According to the Storyteller Matthew was written) it appears thus:
τότε λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ θεῷ.
A literal translation would be: “Then he said to them, ‘Hand over therefore to Caesar, Caesar’s and to God, God’s.’”
For me, that title of the Roman Ruler who Ruled over the Land in which Jesus grew up, lived, and died will always be “Caesar” – it all has to do with how one hears the Bible read in Church and Sunday School while one is a child. Just who was that?
Caesar Augustus. Properly, it was Tiberius Caesar Augustus who was the second Roman emperor, reigning from AD 14 to 37. The Roman Army was occupying the land [the Holy Land as we called it] when Jesus was alive and it was under his foreign domain when Jesus died.
Now look at the Greek. The word for Caesar is Καίσαρος [KAI-sar-os]. And yes, we get the word Kaiser from it. [Remember that the next time (post-Pandemic of course) when you go to the Deli and order something on a Kaiser Roll.] We also get the New Testament Greek word κυριος as well. We translate it as Lord and mean Jesus. And therein lies the lesson.
Jesus – in friendly debate with the Pharisees (the religious pious folks of his time) – confronts those whom the Pharisees have sent to him (apparently not wanting to appear themselves). Well, politics has not changed much in 2,000 years). Also the Herodians have shown up.
Herodians? Either the soldiers of Herod Antipas, or more likely a political party who distinguished themselves as being different from the Pharisees (and the Saducees) (all that for another time) and were friendly to Herod the Great and his dynasty (i. e. Herod Antipas, the Herod of Jesus’ trial and death). They too (in addition to everyone faithful to God in “Palestine”) wanted political independence for the Jewish people, but instead of seeking to restore the Kingdom of David, they sought for a member of Herod’s dynasty to be on the throne in Judea. Historically, this did not work very well. But that is, again, another tale.
So, the story of today’s Gospel Reading is that the Pharisees (their disciples) along with the Herodians went to talk with Jesus, hoping to entrap him so as to bring Jesus (and his disciples and his followers) over to their side.
It all begins with the toss of a coin.
“So Jesus,” they ask, “should we lawfully pay taxes to Caesar or shouldn’t we?”
It’s a trick, a trap, a ruse.
But thus speaks Jesus, ever the incredibly intelligent and faithful one, responding, “Show me a coin.”
They do.
He holds it, looks it over, flips it once or twice in his fingers. “Who’s on the coin?”
They say, “Caesar.” (How stupid a question, everyone knows the image of Augustus has been minted to the coins.)
“OK,” says Jesus, “Tell you what. Give to Caesar what you should give to Caesar.”
Now the text as we read it does not pause here. I would like to believe that since it was first read aloud to the followers of Jesus near the end of the 1st Century (that’s when the Gospel According to Matthew appears) that the reader would “pause for effect.”
And then after a significant pause, continue, “Hand over therefore to Caesar, Caesar’s and to God, God’s.”
I love it! You can see the Pharisees and Herodians and everyone else, gulping.
Sadly they all miss the point.
What Jesus is telling them is this: No matter what, no matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter who is in authority, the ultimate authority is The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, the One who made a promise to Abraham, the One who spoke through the Prophets, the One who fought off those who would have desecrated the Temple permanently, the One who was announced in the mouth of John the Baptizer, the One I have been talking about ever since I met some of you in Capernaum – the only One to whom we owe our ultimate allegiance is not Caesar! It is – – – – God.”
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It’s rather appropriate to read this just however many pandemic-days are left before we in the United States vote to decide just who will be our President. We hold, as it were, the coin in our hands. We look at it and see words that are by law (since February 12, 1873) on every coin in U. S. currency: “E Pluribus Unum” (from many, one). As we look at those words these days we realize how questionable, even untruthful the phrase is.
We are many, that is true. But, we are not one, that is also true.
Division, Fear, Hatred, Bigotry, Anger, Wrath, and a list of even more ugly things occupy our land – and occupy our people (citizens and guests alike). For those who care deeply about these things, sadness is the mood of the hour. We feel unable to do much of anything to prevent the slaughter of our ideals, and of our people.
We have a choice. In just a small number of days (smaller still if you vote either by mail or early in person) we will decide who will be the leader of our nation. We will decide, that is, not just how we will walk into the future, but how all of us will walk into that future.
Giving to Caesar, Caesar’s means giving the power of our vote to one person who will have our trust to fulfill not just the legal and moral obligation of our Constitution, but fulfill the hopes and dreams of the Pluribus – citizens and guests of our land: healthcare, education, security, liberty and freedom, and all those lofty words contained in the historic documents of our national history.
Giving to God, God’s means giving the ultimate allegiance of our selves (body, mind, spirit) to the Eternal. We put God first. Caesar comes second.
Such allegiance to God then points us always and forever to the care of those around us, our neighbors, citizens and guests alike. In other words, by pledging our allegiance to God first, we become (as Martin Luther would say of the followers of Jesus) “little Christs to our neighbors.” We move beyond our selfish desires and move in love and compassion toward the hungry, naked, lonely, homeless, ill, dying, anyone in despair. We work, every day, to heal, feed, encompass with friendship, and more – anyone in need.
It means we swear allegiance to God as we cast our vote, always (for followers of Jesus) with the Gospel (the Good News of Jesus) in our head and in our heart.
It is the only way we can live in a world threatened by demons and the demonic, a world vulnerable to the anger and wrath of a few who would tear apart creation as creation was intended to be.
Amen.
Nota(ble) Be(n)e 