Scripture reading: Exodus 33:12-23.

Sermon text: Matthew 22:15-22.

Do we owe God anything? Most people live as if God has done nothing worth their time. Even Christians sometimes act as if our allegiance to God means nothing more than a trip to heaven when we die.

The sermon passage today reminds us of Jesus’ answer to the question, “What do I owe to God?” Jesus took an opportunity presented by His enemies to give us an important lesson in our lives today.

In A.D. 33, the Jewish month of Nisan, Jerusalem stood on the precipice of an explosion. The Romans tried to stay out of sight, but everyone who walked into the Temple from the south steps saw the Antonia Fortress towering over the north side of the Temple complex. Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, had come to town for the annual Passover festival, but he spent most of his time in the palace Herod had built for the events he had to endure in Jerusalem.

This Passover carried more weight than any since the Jews’ return from exile in 539 B.C., nearly 600 years before. The prophet Daniel had prophesied the coming of an “anointed one” who would restore Israel to its rightful place over all the nations. Daniel had prophesied to the day the moment the Anointed One, or the Messiah, would come, and the time had come for the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. The Jews knew their prophecy. The Jews expected something to happen; some of them with anticipation, others with dread.

The Pharisees and Sadducees dreaded anything that would antagonize the Romans. Just when they thought they would dodge another confrontation or rebellion, this man named Jesus had shown up at Passover. Even worse, He had ridden into town like a king. Jesus had acted like a “Messiah” for several years; now, His actions clearly demonstrated He intended to fulfill the role of Daniel’s prophesied Messiah.

You’ve heard the proverb, “Politics makes strange bed fellows.” In the incident St. Matthew recorded in today’s sermon text, the Pharisees found some of the most unlikely allies in their attempt to snare Jesus. The Herodians consisted of Jews who supported the rule of Herod’s family over Judea and Galilee. The Pharisees usually had nothing to do with the Herodians since the Pharisees had actively opposed any group that supported Gentile rule over the Jews. However, Jesus’ popularity with the common folk in town for Passover threatened the Pharisees’ privileged place in Roman-occupied Jerusalem.

The trap devised by the Pharisees and Herodians ranked as one of the most devious you’ll find in history. One of them first attempted to flatter Jesus to throw Him off guard. “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.” In some ways, the Pharisees would have said this as a rebuke of Jesus, because the “opinions” which Jesus ignored had mostly come from rabbis in the Pharisees’ ranks.

You can imagine Jesus’ reaction when the Pharisees said this. Most of us have found ourselves in situations like this; someone builds us up just before they pull their trump card, thinking they can trick us into a slip of the tongue. We may fall for it once, but we immediately throw up our guard when someone tries it again.

First came the flattery; now came the trap. “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

According to St. Luke, the Pharisees and Herodians devised this particular question “that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor” (Luke 20:20). As His questioners saw it, Jesus couldn’t win in this situation. If Jesus said, “pay your taxes,” the people would label Him a collaborator with the hated Romans and abandon Him (at best) or even assault Him (at worst). If Jesus said, “don’t pay your taxes,” the cabal would report Him to the Romans for inciting the people to break Roman law.

This question really hits home here in the South. I know of no real Alabamian who really likes paying taxes, and we’re paying for our own government. The Jews knew their taxes paid for Rome’s subsidies of their urban poor and for the immoral antics of the Roman emperors. It could get worse, and it did; the Jews also knew they didn’t simply pay the taxes they owed. The Roman tax collectors — usually native collaborators — submitted bids for the privilege of collecting taxes, with the winner collecting the taxes owed plus anything he though he could get away with charging the populace. Every conquered people despised those who collected taxes for Rome, and the Jews despised their tax collectors even more than most.

Jesus saw right through the trap. “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?” Then, in a surprising turn of events, Jesus asked them, “Show me the coin for the tax.”

Of course, it’s interesting that one of the Pharisees or Herodians could immediately produce a denarius, the standard coin of the Roman Empire. Most of the common people worked all day to earn a denarius, but the people most opposed to Jesus had no trouble pulling a day’s wage out of their purses. The denarius in Jesus’ time always contained an image of a Caesar, either Augustus or the emperor of the time, Tiberius. Jesus asked, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” The Jews told Him, “Caesar’s.”

Jesus’ next words stunned the crowd. “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Jesus’ reply may have stunned the crowd, but it really silenced His opponents. The Pharisees couldn’t respond without condemning themselves in their collusion with the Romans. The Herodians, who obviously supported Roman rule, couldn’t respond without antagonizing the Jewish crowd who hated Roman occupation of their land.

Jesus’ words may have silenced His detractors, but they still resonate with us today when we realize what Jesus truly said.

Most people today think Jesus’ words apply solely to paying our taxes. As I mentioned earlier, most Southerners resent taxes even if we grudgingly admit their necessity. Most of us hear Jesus’ words and interpret them as a commandment to support our government whether we like it or not.

Personally, I sometimes wish Jesus’ words simply stopped at paying our taxes. Instead, we need to examine the last words Jesus said here: “to God the things that are God’s.”

I want to return to the Scripture reading today. Moses asked God, “Please show me your glory.” God told Moses, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:19-20). As the Creator of the universe, God is infinitely above us, in holiness, in majesty, and in His glory. However, as our Father, Almighty God has shown His grace and His mercy on us through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. When we confess Jesus as Lord, believing God raised Him from the dead, we experience God’s redemption from sin. At that moment, Jesus becomes our “Caesar,” our Lord. We owe Him our loyalty and our obedience.

Yet, like the Jews resented the Roman presence in their lives, we often act as if we resent Jesus’ commandments to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. We hear God’s commandments, and we refuse to render to Him what He commands.  We allow our resentments of others to overcome our desire to serve God.

This cannot stand in our lives. When we consider what God gave for our salvation — the life of His divine Son — Jesus’ command to give “to God the things that are God’s” takes on a new importance. What do we owe God?

We owe God everything.

We owe God our worship; worship attendance is not an option. We owe God our love. We owe to God our love for others, because Jesus told His disciples (and us by extension), “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). We owe God our time in Bible study, because God gave us His word to instruct us and strengthen us in our Christian lifestyles. We owe God time in prayer, because God speaks to us in our prayers and strengthens our faith as He answers our prayers.

If you’re a believer in Jesus, you owe God everything in your life. If you’re not a believer in Jesus, it’s time you recognize you owe Him for all the blessings you’ve received, including the opportunity now to confess Him as Lord and believe in His resurrection. You owe God your life; now’s the time to give to Him what you owe.