Scripture reading: Isaiah 45:1-7.

Sermon text: Matthew 22:15-22.

A couple of weeks ago, I lectured on Greek history to my university students. We discussed how the Greeks tried practically every kind of government known to humanity from the dawn of the Minoan civilization in c. 2,000 B.C. to their conquest by Rome in the second century B.C.

We could also say the same for the Church. In our 2,000 years of existence, the Church has lived under every form of government imaginable. The Church began in the Roman Empire among a people who had lived under both tribal governments and monarchies. In the time since, the Church has survived anarchy, tyrannies, and dictatorships; thrived under monarchies, emperors, parliaments, and democracies; outlived Communism in Eastern Europe; and today exhibits exponential growth in Communist China and Muslim Sudan. Regardless of the secular powers in the capitals of the world, the Church has never surrendered in her mission to spread the Gospel of Christ.

The passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel today reminds us of the way the Church has spread throughout the world and converted people under every government. While human governments have changed, the kingdom of God remains constant. The Church recognizes her King and faithfully carries out His charge to minister to all humanity in His name.

Sermon

Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees and Herodians makes more sense when we understand the political situation in which it occurred.

The Jews had lived under the Davidic monarchy from c. 1010 B.C. to 586 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Jews to Mesopotamia. Both before and during the exile, Jewish prophets predicted the restoration of the Davidic throne and the return of all Jews to the land God had promised to them through their ancestor Abraham.

Once the Jews returned from exile after Cyrus’ decree of 539 B.C., they rebuilt Jerusalem, but on a smaller scale. They remained under Persian rule until Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in 331 B.C. Although Alexander died in 323 B.C., the Greek empires retained control of Judea until the Maccabbean revolt in the second century B.C., when the Hasmonean family established a short-lived dynasty.

While some people may have thought that Jewish independence would please the people, the Hasmonean dynasty infuriated the faithful. First, the Hasmoneans were priests of the tribe of Levi, not royals from David’s family of the tribe of Judah. Secondly, the Hasmonean rulers assumed the office of high priest, but they were not descended from the Zadokite family of priests. Lastly, many of the Hasmoneans never hesitated to resort to brutality against their opponents, especially the Pharisees. Therefore, most Jews were relieved when, in  63 B.C., the Roman general Pompey entered Jerusalem and ended Jewish independence.

Unfortunately, Roman rule brought the Herods to power. Herod the Great ruled with an iron hand, and his son, Archelaus, proved both cruel and incompetent. The Romans replaced Archelaus with a procurator in A.D. 6.

Roman rule didn’t alleviate all the problems for the Jews. Judaism had received legal recognition as an official religion, exempting them from the requirement to sacrifice to Caesar as god. However, the Romans required heavy taxes to pay for their occupation forces. Also, regardless of Judaism’s exemption from the imperial cult, the Jews knew their tax money subsidized Rome’s official pagan religions, including the temples in Rome.

All this history added to the tension we read in Matthew 22, but believe it or not, there’s one more bit of kindling to add to the fire. Remember the prophets I mentioned earlier? One of them, Daniel, had prophesied almost to the day the time at which David’s descendant would return to rule in Jerusalem (cf. Daniel 9). Another prophet, Zechariah, had prophesied how David’s descendant would signal His return (cf. Zechariah 9:9).The Jews knew their prophecy, and Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem earlier in the week had electrified the city. David’s descendant had arrived! The kingdom’s restoration had finally come!

Then, after Jesus’ entry into the city — right on time and according to prophecy — everything went crazy. Had Jesus announced a revolt against the Romans, the Jews would have lined up behind Him. Instead, Jesus instead went to the Temple on a housecleaning expedition, massively upsetting the Sadducees and puzzling the Pharisees. He then railed against the Pharisees in His parables, massively upsetting the Pharisees but pleasing the Sadducees. While Jesus’ actions in the Temple and His denunciations of the Pharisees threw these groups into conniptions, they played well with the crowds. Could anything trip up this Prophet from Galilee?

Now we can read the sermon passage again and better understand the setting. If you doubt that desperation can motivate people, note that the Pharisees joined with the Herodians, those who openly supported Roman rule in Judea. This only demonstrated their frustration. The Pharisees believed that only David’s descendant could rule in Jerusalem; Jesus’ actions had driven them into collusion with their bitter enemies.

The confrontation began with a great line of flattery: “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.” Then came the question guaranteed to put anyone in trouble: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” How would Jesus reply? Would He, as the rightful Descendant of David, support paying taxes to an oppressive occupying power that used those taxes to support pagan beliefs and practices?

Jesus skipped right over the flattery; He recognized a trap when He saw it. “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?” This statement should have told everyone that this test would not follow the Pharisees’ plan! Then came Jesus’ strangest request of this trip to Jerusalem: “Show me the coin for the tax.”

Someone produced the coin. The Greek text records this coin as a “denarius.” This coin represented a day’s wage for the average worker in Judea. This should tell us something about the people upset at Jesus: One of them carried a day’s pay around as if it were nothing. This also tells us something about Roman taxes; a day’s pay seems rather steep to us today.

Jesus took the coin and asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” Everyone knew the answer: “Caesar’s.” Everyone recognized Tiberius’ image on the coin; everyone knew the coin represented Caesar’s power as well as his likeness.

Jesus’ final statement stunned the crowd: “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

This statement deserves far more attention that it usually gets. “Render to Caesar” has become something of a cliche, usually when someone says we should pay our taxes. Jesus meant far more than for us to become good taxpayers.

First, Jesus restored the legitimate order to our loyalties. Although we owe our secular government our obedience and support, we must remember that God created the universe. God owns all Creation. God created humanity; He owns us. We must give God what is His. We owe our very beings to God. We must remember that our first loyalty lies to God; we must accept His commandments as the final rule in our lives. If our beliefs do not reflect our loyalty to God, we must change our beliefs.

Rendering to Caesar also means we must recognize the secular government’s authority in our lives, regardless of party or governing philosophy. The early Church had to work out the dilemma of supporting the secular government when it actively opposed believers’ faith.The early Church faced a quandary: Would Christians support Roman authority in spite of its opposition? St. Paul addressed this issue when he wrote to the Church in Rome, saying, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment” (Romans 13:1-2).

This meant far more in early Church history. Each year, every Roman citizen was required to attend a ritual sacrifice at the imperial altar. At this ceremony, the citizen was expected to put a pinch of incense on the altar and say, “Caesar is lord.” This declaration implied both loyalty to Caesar and recognition of his divinity. Rome had determined that the disparate ethnic groups of the empire, with their myriad religions, would unite around the imperial cult. Everyone would recognize Caesar as lord on penalty of death.

Christians could not declare the divinity of Caesar; they realized he was only a man. Jesus, as the Son of God, was truly divine. Although most Roman magistrates would quietly ignore Christians’ refusal to attend these ceremonies, times of persecution usually brought imprisonment or even death to those who refused to submit to Caesar’s lordship. Christians spent centuries declaring, instead, “Jesus is Lord.”

In the United States, this issue becomes confusing when we consider our governing philosophy. As a democracy, we believe that legitimate governing authority rests with the voters. We also believe in majority rule. As voters, we bear a massive responsibility to participate in elections. This responsibility requires us to study the issues, the candidates, and then vote in the elections. Then, regardless of who wins our elections, we must support our government through prayer and obedience of the laws it passes.

We must also remember that, as God’s representatives in the process, we must go beyond simply voting in our participation. Christians should also participate through contact with our representatives, serving as advocates for those God loves and holds dear. In the Old Testament, God consistently expected His people to support the oppressed, the poor, the widows, and the orphans. God’s expectations haven’t changed.

What if the government passes laws with which we cannot agree? Christians have always understood that our duty to God implies we must obey His commands regardless of the consequences. If we must disobey the government to live in obedience to God, we accept the consequences, knowing we stand in an exalted company of martyrs and other believers who kept their loyalty to God even in the face of imprisonment and even death.

Jesus Himself gave us an example of both faithfulness and obedience. When confronted with the power of Rome, Jesus refused to call upon an army of angels to rescue Him. Instead, He submitted to Rome’s authority, even to His crucifixion. The fact Jesus died an innocent man, the victim of an illegal trial, does not degrade His example of submission to the secular authority.

As Americans prepare to participate in our upcoming elections, we must remember our first loyalty to Jesus, Whom we have confessed as Lord and in Whose resurrection we believe. This confession has saved us from sin and from death. We must then exercise our responsibility in accordance with our confession in the Lordship of Christ. At the same time, we must pray for our brothers and sisters who suffer unjustly at the hands of their secular governments.

One day, we will enjoy the perfect, just and benevolent rule of Jesus as Lord of all Creation. Until that day, we must render our loyalties as Jesus has commanded, both to God and to Caesar.