Matthew 22:15-22
“Whose Image Do We Bear?”
The political season is upon us and we’ve got some pretty hotly contested races going.
Which means the television is rife with political commercials.
I don’t know about you all, but I really get turned off by political commercials.
Why can’t the candidates be nice to one another, or at least be nice in general?
Oftentimes, I’ll find myself, after watching a political commercial, routing for the other guy…
…simply because the one who sponsored the advertisement seemed so vicious and unfair in his and her attacks on the other person they are running against.
You know the tag lines with the candidates saying: “I’m so and so and I approve this ad.”
Do you ever think to yourself, when you see that, “Well, if you approve that kind of mean-mud-slinging, and stretching of the truth…I don’t know why anyone would want to put their trust in you!”
“I’d be ashamed to put my endorsement on that kind of meanness!”
The other day, I was riding behind a big ‘ol SUV with a sticker of an American Flag on one side of the bumper, one of those Jesus in the fish-sign things in the middle, and a sticker for one of the meanest political advertisers, in my opinion, on the other.
Kind of turns me off.
Our Gospel Lesson for this morning is well known and often used as an excuse for political theocracies, a need to blindly follow oppressive governments, and so forth.
Once again, Christ’s Words have been seriously misunderstood and misused…
…kind of like some of those political t-v ads we see…
…the truth gets twisted.
Jesus does not clearly resolve the question of authority of Church versus State in this morning’s encounter.
Requirements, such as taxation, imposed by the State, are not the main issues of our passage.
Rather, the main issue is that, as believers, our total allegiance belongs to God, and all other obligations are to be subordinate to this supreme loyalty.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s going on here in Matthew Chapter 22.
The story starts with the Jewish Church leaders looking for some way to get rid of Jesus.
They know that they don’t have any power to do anything to Him themselves, except flog Him and that might just have made Jesus even more popular.
So they tried to find ways to get Him to say something against the Romans so they can take over and do something to keep Jesus quiet.
But there is a problem. A lot of the ordinary folks regarded Jesus as a prophet and just giving Him to the Romans could make things very difficult for themselves.
So they come up with a plan that, if it works, and they see no reason why it won’t, whatever Jesus does will upset one side or the other.
This is their plan. There are two main groups arguing against each other.
One was the Herodians. These were not a Church group, but a group of Jewish people who supported Herod Antipas and wanted closer and better ties with Rome. They supported Roman taxation, and believed it was right for everyone to pay taxes to Rome.
This tax wasn’t based on income, but was a poll tax, something everyone had to pay…
…and their was a lot of unscrupulousness that went along with it.
The other group was the Pharisees.
This group was a religious group and they objected strongly against paying anything to Rome, claiming it was a heresy to do so.
They based this claim on the fact that the tax had to be paid in Roman coins which had an image of Caesar on them.
They refused to pay anything but the Temple Tax, which was paid in Jewish shekels.
It’s hard to see how two such opposing forces could work together, but they did.
They had a common cause—get rid of this Jesus!!!
So they thought they had a question worked up, that no matter what Jesus answered, He would condemn Himself.
The question was: “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
The conspirators thought there were only two possible answers.
Either answer would condemn Jesus.
They start out by flattering Jesus, and Jesus, quite justifiably calls them hypocrites.
He knows what is in their hearts.
Matthew tells us that it was “evil”.
So instead of answering their yes or no question, Jesus throws a question back at them, by asking for one of the coins.
Apparently, Jesus did not make it a habit to carry Roman coins around with Him.
His treasure was elsewhere.
“Show me the coin used for paying the tax,” Jesus says.
He points to the picture and inscription on the coin.
“Whose portrait is this?,” Jesus asks, “And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
“Then he said to them, ‘give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
Ingenious!
So ingenious that the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodians “were amazed. So they left him and went away.”
How many folks know the saying: “Render unto Caesar?”
A lot of us may not even know that this comes from the mouth of Jesus, it’s so well known.
I think that our familiarity with this saying can keep us from seeing the deeper meaning of this passage…
…we also often leave out the other part.
Jesus does say, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, but he also says, in the same breath: “and to God what is God’s.”
In Jesus’ response, He used the Greek word “apodote” which is translated as render or give back.
The coin bore Caesar’s image: give it back to him.
But whose image do we bear?
If we bear God’s image, does this not also mean: “Give yourself back to God?”
In Genesis 1:27 we are told: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Quite literally, we have all been created in the image of God, and we are to give back to God what is rightfully God’s!
Have we done this?
Are we doing this?
When humankind rebelled against the Creator, what was one of the main reasons?
We see in Genesis 3 that we wanted to be like God, but of course in doing this we did not become more like God…
…instead, we blurred our image, and became a bit like Satan as well.
The goodness of God became mixed in us with the badness or the evil of Satan.
We became unholy, naked, alone, fearful, lost.
And God said to Adam that we will return to the ground “since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
But I don’t want that to be the last word for me, and thankfully, neither does God!
By His grace, because of His great love for us, God has come back in human form to reclaim that which is rightfully His…humankind.
God has come to us in Jesus Christ, and in God’s mercy all of us who receive Jesus Christ, all of us who believe in His name God grants the right to, once again, “become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will but born of God.”
And for all of us who have been born of God—through the Cross of Christ, God stamps God’s inscription on us.
Whose portrait, whose inscription do we have stamped on us?
It is to be the likeness and image of God, for He made us…
…and as Christians, Christ has purchased us with His blood!!!
Are we willing to allow God to have what is already rightfully His?…
Our lives…our allegiance?
This does not mean that we do not pay taxes to Caesar, or to whoever the governing authority is.
Christians are to be good citizens.
We are to be good witnesses for Christ.
Because our ultimate and everlasting citizenship is not of this world.
Dust is not the final word for our lives, our citizenship is in heaven!
And this is what the we, the Church of Jesus Christ, are even while we still live in this dying world.
We are citizens of another, of a much greater country.
We are not to be of this world!
And while we are in this world, we are to be about God’s business.
Should we render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s?
Sure thing.
But, that’s just a coin.
What we are to render unto
God is our whole selves!
Are we doing this?
Or do we still live as Almost Christians, who have half an interest set in the kingdom of darkness, and another half in the kingdom of heaven?
Jesus told us that we cannot have it both ways.
Because the kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of God are like oil and water.
They are opposites.
They don’t mix.
Are we living with an American flag on our right side, a political affiliation on the other, and a symbol of Jesus somewhere in-between?
If so, I fear that our witness and our image… that is the image of God imprinted on us… may be slightly blurred.
Other people should be able to see Christ’s image and Christ’s inscription on us.
We are to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth…not part of the dust!
We are God’s coins.
We are to bear the image of God.
There is to be no competition between God and Caesar!
Our allegiance must be to Christ and Christ alone!!!
Sure, we are to pay a tax to Caesar, but God’s due is our complete devotion!
Is He getting it?
Is He getting it?
Let this be our true and complete aim while we await our eternal home!
Let us think back on the beginning of our Epistle Lesson that Chris read for us earlier, and try and apply this to our lives:
“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For we know, brothers, loved by God that he has chosen you…”
Friends. Brothers and sisters in Christ.
God has chosen us, out of this world.
God has stamped God’s image and inscription on our hearts.
We are to let that image and inscription shine before all peoples so that they too may come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to join us in waiting for His joyful return from heaven—“Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
Thanks be to God.
Amen!
