Pentecost 20 (year A proper 24)- Matthew 22:15-22

The Gospel from St. Matthew 22:15-22 is a famous passage concerning paying taxes. Here the Pharisees and supporters of the Herodian family's political arrangement with the Romans try to trap Jesus. They ask if it is lawful (that is, according to the Jewish Torah) to pay the tribute demanded by the Romans. Jesus knows their true designs. He knows that these hypocrites simply want to cause problems. Almost any answer to their question will upset someone. If Jesus says not to pay tax, then the Romans (and the Herodians themselves) can say that He is a dangerous subversive. If He says to pay the tax, then both Jewish revolutionaries and pious conservatives can attack Him. Outwitting His opponents, He requests to see a coin and asks about the image- Caesar's. Since it has Caesar's image, it must be his, and any person willing to use the coin must acknowledge Caesar's claims upon money. So Christ's answer is suited to the immediate context and marvelously avoids the trap.

Yet, Christ's answer is more than just clever debate. He enunciates an important general principle: Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's (St. Matthew 22:21b). Government, even that of an oppressive conqueror, serves certain purposes such as preventing anarchy and insuring a rough justice and stable economic exchange. Believers like other people benefit from whatever degree of stability a government provides, and so believers are not anarchists. As seen throughout Scripture, especially as developed in the New Testament epistles, Christians pray for rulers and acknowledge that worldly power has certain legitimate purposes. 

However, the claims of Caesar are limited. Money may bear Caesar's image, but every human being bears the divine image. Therefore, the highest human loyalty is to God, not to any political and economic leader or system. It turns out that true faith is both collaborative and subversive at the same time. To the extent that a government restrains human evil and promotes the common good under God's Law, it deserves Christian support.

Despite such value in human rule, the Christian must always put God's requirements first. When any government (even a democratically elected one) claims too much for itself, it must either be ignored or opposed in some way. Caesar, for example, could claim taxes, but he had no right to claim to be worshipped as a god. In modern democracies, a government can justly ask many things of us, but it has no rights when it asks Christians to agree to practices that are against Scripture (such as abortion, euthanasia, or so-called same-sex marriage).