To Whom do You Belong? [Matthew 22:15-22 - Proper 24A]

 The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Matthew 22:15-22

 

To Whom do You Belong?

 

Jesus does not have to answer your questions.  He is Jesus.  Throughout the Gospels he makes this abundantly clear.  Often the religious leaders confront him with tricky questions, always hoping to put Jesus in a precarious position, always hoping that his answer will erode his popular support or justify his arrest.

 

Today is no exception.  Once again the religious leaders scheme up a very difficult question.  Today’s is an especially rich query.  It combines the trifecta of trickiness: politics, money, and religion.  It is not difficult to imagine the Pharisees and the Herodians suppressing gleeful smiles and shaking with the buzz of excitement as they set up the ask.  Finally, after many unsatisfactory showdowns, many embarrassing encounters, they are going to force Jesus to reveal his partisan leanings.

 

The strange alliance that spawned this clever question would have immediately tipped Jesus off to their ignoble intentions.  The Pharisees and the Herodians did not typically cozy up to one another – especially they did not agree on this particular issue; in fact, it was a point of intense conflict between the two groups.  The Pharisees opposed the Roman Empire and had no interest in investing in their own oppression.  They, obviously, opposed the Imperial tax.  The Herodians, on the other hand, though they were also Jewish, actively supported the Emperor.  You might find that surprising until you discover that they did so to protect their own power, privilege, and place in the Empire.  The Pharisees claimed that the Herodians sold out their own people – a claim, I am sure, that did not endear them to their partisan opposition.  The Herodians, you likely have already deduced, supported the emperor’s tax.  The only thing these two groups agreed on, apparently, was their dislike of Jesus. 

 

But the question was more complex than local politics; it also carried religious implications.  There was more to the question than just whether one should financially support the empire. The question Jesus is asked is: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” Now we might think: of course it is lawful to pay taxes – not only is it legally permitted, it is expected.  But the question is not solely about secular law; it is a question of Jewish religious law.

 

The Jews, like other occupied peoples living under the authority of the Roman Empire, were required to pay the Imperial tax with Roman currency – instead of their local currency. The problem is the Roman currency bore the image of the Emperor and a declaration of his divinity – specifically that he was the son of god. And so possessing Roman currency was considered unlawful by some Jews. The coins broke two of the Ten Commandments: no graven images and no other gods.

 

This was the trap: the Pharisees intended to catch Jesus between the loyal Jewish Nationalists, those who wished to be free of Roman oppression and therefore strongly opposed the tax and the Roman currency, and the Roman authorities, who strongly opposed anyone who opposed the tax. The question, you see, was a truly clever one.  Answering either “yes” or “no” would have had significant consequences for Jesus.

 

And so Jesus doesn’t answer their question; he doesn’t have to: he is Jesus, after all.  Or at least he doesn’t answer the question as it was so cunningly conferred.  Jesus foregoes the multiple choice answers provided by his bi-partisan opposition.  He rejects their duality and adds option C: Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's. Rather than answering a question about taxes, Jesus begins a conversation about ownership and belonging.

 

Now I’m going to sound like Mthr. Claire here – although I am admittedly not the Greek expert that she is.  There is an unfortunate word choice in the version of the Bible from which we heard this morning, the New Revised Standard Version's translation of the Greek. After someone hands Jesus the coin, Jesus says, in the version you heard today, “Whose head is this?” But that wording misses Jesus' point. What he actually says is, “Whose image is this?” It might seem like a small thing, but it is not. Jesus is making an intentional allusion to the Genesis creation stories; that would have been clear in the original text. By suggesting that the coin belongs to the one in whose image it is made, Jesus is making an important theological statement. He is not just answering a question about one's relationship to money or taxes. Jesus doesn't allow us to compartmentalize our lives so easily; every question is theological because all of life falls under the reign of God.

 

And so Jesus says, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.” Which begs another question, a question much more immediate for those of us who are not terribly concerned with 1^st century Imperial taxation controversies: what things are God's?

 

In the context of taxes and money, probably the most obvious answer from the biblical perspective is the tithe. The Bible explicitly mentions the tithe thirty-nine times – 32 times in the Old Testament and Apocrypha, seven times in the New. In the Biblical context, including in Jesus' day, that meant 1/10 of one's first fruits – 10% off the top given directly back to God.

 

But is that it? Is the tithe, which for many feels like a lot to give, even what Jesus is talking about when he says, “Give to God the things that are God's”?

 

The question of what is God's, what belongs to God, is why the translation issue is so important; it gets to the deeper theological point Jesus is making in today's Gospel. The coin bears the image of the emperor; he has staked his claim by marking it with his own image; give to the emperor the things that belong to the emperor. And you, human being, you bear the image of God.

 

That does make the tithe seem like an insignificant ask, doesn’t it? God's claim is not on 10% of your salary; according to Jesus, God wants it all – all of you. God has staked a claim by marking you with the divine image. You are made in God's image. You bear the image of God. Give the coin to the emperor; give yourself to God. NT Wright says it well: “Caesar's...claims are as nothing before the all-embracing claim of the one true God.”

 

It sounds like a lot because it is. All you have and all you are belong to God. God wants you. God wants your heart, your mind, your soul, your body. God wants your life. And that is why God marked you with God's own image.

 

We live in a tribal world – a world in which identity is often tied to the groups or parties to which we belong.  This is nothing new, of course.  Two thousand years ago, the Pharisees and the Herodians tried to drag Jesus into their pressing partisan quarrel.  But even though division is nothing new, these are difficult times; this is the most partisan climate I have known in my lifetime.  I have family members questioning my salvation over social media platforms because Election Day approaches.  I doubt I am alone.

 

In this divided world, this tribal age, this partisan nation, folks want to know: To whom do you pledge your allegiance?  To whom do you belong?

 

Allow me to remind you that you are spoken for.  Your Creator has already claimed you.  You are marked with the divine image.  And so you belong to God.