A government surveyor brought his surveying equipment to a farm to do some work for the state by which he was employed. He knocked on the farmhouse door and asked the farmer for permission to go into one of his fields and take some readings. The farmer had no hospitality for any state officials so he refused to give the man permission to work in any of his fields. He thought maybe the government was going to take some of his land for a public project.
“I will not give you permission to go onto my land!” said the farmer.
The surveyor then produced an official government document that authorized him to do the survey. “I have the authority,” he said, “to enter any field in the entire country to do my work.”
Faced with the authority of the government the farmer quite begrudgingly opened the gate and allowed the surveyor to enter one of his fields. The farmer then went to the far end of the field and opened another gate, through which one of his fiercest bulls came charging. Seeing the bull, the surveyor dropped his equipment and began to run for his life. The farmer shouted after him, “Show him that paper, show him that paper!”
I think we all have a little bit of the farmer in us. In everything from driving the speed limit to paying our taxes, our sinful nature resists the government’s control and claim on us. You may recall last week as we began this series on Faith & Politics as we explored the role of government, that the Apostle Paul gave the Roman Christians the directive to submit to, or obey the government. Instead of rebelling and resisting he says that we will obey and submit to the government. Then, he goes on to give some very specific ways in which that submission, or obedience, is to be lived out—through the payment of taxes and honor those in authority. As Paul gave those instructions, he was simply echoing the philosophy of Jesus himself as he was challenged by some Pharisees and others before his arrest. That’s the passage in Mark’s Gospel we read a few moments ago.
Jesus words to his questioners reveal that we are citizens of two kingdoms. That’s what I told the bible study group last Wednesday evening as we began our study on faith and politics in the life of Moses. We are ultimately citizens of the Kingdom of God, but in the meantime, we live as citizens of the good old U. S. of A. How do we conduct ourselves as those who are first of all citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven and yet have citizenship in one of the earthly Kingdoms?
It’s an important question, because we as disciples don’t always agree with what our government is doing, and it’s becoming a more important question these days, because we often find ourselves living in places which are becoming increasingly hostile to Christians and to Christian values. So how do we live as citizens of two kingdoms?
Jesus addresses that in this trick question the Pharisees and supporters of Herod ask of him. It’s a trick question because these “leaders” were hostile towards Jesus and were trying to trap him with his own words. Jesus gives a profound answer that gives us real guidance today.
Understand, the Pharisees and the Herodians were not teammates. The only thing they agreed on was that they didn’t like Jesus. The Herodians were pro-Rome and accepted Herod, a Roman appointee, as their rightful ruler. The Pharisees barely tolerated Herod, whom they considered a usurper, because they had no other choice. So when these two groups come together, you know something is up.
They ask Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar. The tax they are asking about is what was called a poll tax which the Roman emperor had imposed on all the Jews since A.D. 6. That was the year Judea became a Roman province. The poll tax was levied on all men from fourteen to sixty-five and on all women from twelve to sixty-five, and was one denarius, roughly a day’s wage per head. If you were breathing, you had to pay the tax. It was particularly galling to the Jews because it made them feel like slaves to Rome. They didn’t mind paying the Temple tax, because that represented their submission to God as their heavenly King. But to pay taxes to Rome meant that they were also in submission to an evil earthly king, and that grated against their conscience. Messiah was supposed to deliver them against such tyranny.
Their trap was this: For Jesus to say, “Yes, pay taxes to Caesar,” that would make Him unpopular with the people. But, if he says, “No, don’t pay taxes to Caesar,” then he would be in trouble with the Roman authorities. No matter how Jesus answers, He is in trouble! Mark tell us Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a coin and let me look at it.” They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And, Mark says, they were amazed.
One thing to note in this whole scene: Jesus didn’t have a coin. He had to ask for one. I wonder if that reflects his attitude about money. The coin they gave him had the image of Tiberius Caesar, who reigned from A.D. 14-37. The inscription read in Latin: “Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus;” and on the reverse side it said, “Chief Priest.” This inscription promoted emperor worship and was his claim to deity, which was particularly repulsive to Jews. But, Jesus says, literally, “Give BACK the things belonging to Caesar.” It’s Caesar’s coin, so give it BACK to him. On the other hand, make sure you give back to God, literally, “the things belonging to God.”
My brothers and sisters, if we enjoy the benefits of civil government – like police protection, public utilities, and the like – then we have an obligation to pay our taxes. The money belongs to the government, but WE belong to God. Whose image is on every human being? That’s right. We bear the image of God, and so while we give some of the government’s money back to them, we give ourselves back to God and to God alone.
Being a Christian does not preclude us from being a good citizen. On the contrary, our faith in Christ demands that we act as responsible citizens. Our faith requires that we fulfill our obligations to the civil government. Trusting Christ means paying our taxes even when we disagree with some of our government’s policies. In fact, a disciple of Christ should be the best citizen. That’s what some Chinese Communist officials discovered just a few years ago.
According to a story from Open Doors Ministry, which serves the persecuted church around the world, Chinese government officials became so fed up with sky-high rates of crime, drug addiction, and sickness in the county of Lancan Lahu, Yunnan province, that in the mid-1990s they turned for help to the only model citizens in the area: the Christians.
“We had to admit that the Lahu people were a dead loss because of their addiction to opium,” confessed an official who did not want to be named. “Their addiction made them weak and sick. Then they would go to one of their “priests,” who required animal sacrifices of such extravagance that the people became poor. And because they were so poor, they stole from each other, and law and order deteriorated. It was a vicious cycle that no amount of government propaganda could break.
“We noticed, however, that in some villages in the county, the Lahu were prosperous and peace loving. There was no drug problem, or any stealing or social order problems. Households had a plentiful supply of pigs, oxen, and chickens. So we commissioned a survey to find out why these villages were different. To our astonishment and embarrassment, we discovered the key factor was that these villages had a majority of Christians.”
Officials launched a daring experiment in 1998, the likes of which would have been unthinkable in China 10 years previous—they sponsored Christians to go into the troublesome villages and share their faith. They started by picking out the worst village, which had 240 people, 107 of which were hopelessly addicted to opium. Christian Lahus were bussed into the village at government expense, and the villagers were herded together by the police and made to listen to the testimonies of the Christians.
A year later, there were 17 converts in the village, and they began to grow rich because they stopped spending money on drugs. Eight of the 17 converts even had enough to own sewing machines and start small businesses. By early 2002, 83 of the villagers were Christians and the prosperity had spread. The government official said, “We are delighted with the results and have been extending the tactic to many other villages since then.” (The Pastors Connection, Open Doors USA e-mail, August 2002; corroborated by Kelly Callaghan, prayer and courier coordinator, Open Doors USA; www.PreachingToday.com)
These disciples were model citizens even in a country where the government opposed their values, and that’s what Christ wants us to be wherever we are, because it brings glory to Him. So pay your taxes, obey the laws of the land, and pray for your government officials. Even if we don’t respect those in office, we must respect the office itself. It’s a part of what it means to live in two worlds. It’s a part of what it means to live as a citizen of heaven while we’re a citizen here on earth.
Don’t think for a moment, though that Jesus has drawn a distinction between the sacred and the secular. There is no such distinction for the disciple of Jesus Christ. By giving back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, we are in essence reflecting our submission to the One who made us and claims us. We are reflecting our submission to God. Sure, Caesar gets a little of his money back, but God gets everything we are and have.
As Mark weaves his gospel together, that’s the greater point he makes later in chapter 12. In verses 28-31, confronted by a lawyer who wanted to know the greatest commandment, Jesus replies, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. 30 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ 31 The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
It’s also the same advice Paul would give believers in Rome, too. Back in Romans 13, right after Paul tells the believers there to pay their taxes and respect the authority over them, he says:
“8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law.9 For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law” (Romans 13: 8 – 10 NLT).
We can sympathize with the farmer who used a bull to chase the surveyor off his land. The government can seem unfair and repressive at times. That does not relieve the believer of his/her responsibility to be obedient to Christ.
With the constant barrage of political ads and the twenty-four hour news cycle, how does a disciple remain obedient? Let me offer a few suggestions. First, unplug. Limit the amount of news we watch AND the amount of social media we consume. News is driven by ratings and ad dollars, not by truth, and social media, well that’s the place where everyone has an opinion, and opinions are, excuse the reference, like armpits—everyone’s got them, and most of them stink. We can lose friends quickly on social media over political debates. I’m not saying the debate isn’t important. I’m saying we all need to unplug occasionally to maintain our sanity and our Christian witness.
Second, find someone we disagree with and invite them to coffee…not to talk politics, but to talk about life. We’ll discover that people are more than the sum of their political opinions. People who disagree with us are more than a link on a social media site that makes us angry. We might just make a new friend out of the deal.
Third, give ourselves to our community. Folks, it doesn’t matter who gets elected—Republican or Democrat—nothing in the direction of the nation is likely to change much. That shouldn’t keep us from casting our vote, but if we want to see change, why don’t we start right here in our community. We can change things here. We can change our relationship with our neighbor. We can attend city council meetings, police jury meetings and school board meetings. We can clean up a park or adopt a school. Seeing small changes locally will sustain through the seemingly endless lack of changes beyond.
Finally, pray. Pray for those in authority over us, and don’t pray that God would reign down judgment upon them. Pray for their health. Pray for their families. Pray for their leadership. Pray for our community. Pray for our schools. Pray for God’s grace to be real among us. Pray, pray, pray. Prayer is the greatest way we can fulfill our obligation as disciples of Jesus Christ, and it’s the primary way we’ll maintain our sanity during this election season.
