Whose Image?
This is the message I preached on Sunday, Oct. 22 at St.Timothy and St. Mark Lutheran Churches. The text is Matthew 22:15-22.
I had to laugh when I first read today’s gospel reading.
You see, this year we got sticker shock when we received our tax return back
from the accountant. Previously we owed a little, but this year it was a LOT.
On top of that, because we had to file for an extension while I was in the
hospital and rehab, we found this out just about a week ago.
Now the taxes spoken of in this lesson are nothing like any
of our taxes. Instead it was a flat-rate personal tax on all men from age 14
and up and women from ages 12-65. It was levied at around at least a day’s
annual wage. Later it was combined with a percentage tax on property as well (The
Oxford Companion).
The tax was a painful reminder that the land of the Jewish
people was occupied by foreign powers who worshipped false gods. There was only
one way to pay the tax; with Roman coins which served not only as legal tender,
but pieces of propaganda. On one side of each coin was an image of Caesar with
inscriptions concerning his divinity or status as son of a god. During Jesus’ time,
a common phrase found on coins was, “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine
Augustus, high priest.” Such images and words flew in the face of the beliefs
of both Jews and followers of Jesus. So, both political and religious issues were
raised with the use of such money.
I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Politics makes
strange bedfellows.” This is what we see here as the Pharisees and Herodians
together come to see Jesus. The Pharisees were popular with the people, while
the Herodians aligned themselves with the Romans. Faithful observance of God’s
law was what motivated the Pharisees, while power and money motivated the
Herodians. The two groups were opposed to each other on nearly all issues,
except one—their desire to get rid of Jesus. Another way to understand their
unlikely alliance is, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Matthew tells us from the beginning that the Pharisees and
Herodians had plotted to entrap Jesus. They not only hoped to get him in
trouble with the Roman authorities, but also with the people.
Initially, their question seems simple enough; one which
required a mere yes or no answer. But it was a loaded question and Jesus knew
this group’s intentions. They were more concerned with their own power than they
were with honoring God.
If Jesus answered no to paying taxes, he would be guilty of
treason. If Jesus said yes, he would be guilty of heresy in the eyes of the
religious leaders. The adoration of the crowds too, would not only evaporate,
but would turn plain ugly. We are at a point in Matthew’s story where things
are getting tense. Earlier in that week, we have Jesus’ triumphal entry into
Jerusalem amid adoring crowds. He later overturns the tables of the money
changers in the temple. Then Jesus tells several provocative parables calling
into question the religious leaders’ authority and standing before God. Jesus
was becoming a problem.
Throughout the gospels, we see Jesus replying with
non-answers. Here again, he throws the question back to those who asked it, but
not before Jesus nails them as hypocrites who were trying to tempt him.
Now Jesus asks for one of the Roman coins to illustrate his
answer. What’s interesting is that it didn’t take long for the Pharisees and
Herodians to produce a coin. One must have reached into his purse and brought
forth the coin with its idolatrous image and inscription, acknowledging that
they are Caesar’s; and this in the court of the temple. No wonder Jesus called
them hypocrites.
Once they had given Jesus a coin, Jesus asks the Pharisees
and Herodians, “Whose head is this, and whose title? (V. 20). Their answer rightly is, “The emperor’s” (v.
21). But it’s not so simple because not only is there an engraved image, but
you also have the confession that Caesar is a god. Any Jew holding the coin is
breaking the first two of the Ten Commandments—to have no other gods before the
Lord God and to not misuse the Name of the Lord.
Jesus’ simple, ingenious response is to give the emperor
what is his and give God what’s God’s. There’s Jesus’ punch line. Jesus doesn’t
just evade the Pharisees’ and Herodians’ trap or confound their plans, but
issues a challenge to his hearers that reverberates through the ages into our
sanctuaries (David Lose)—namely who and whose are you?
In Matthew’s world, Caesar was still Caesar, tax was still
due and Christians were still struggling with the place of Caesar if Jesus is
Lord. This struggle continued into the early church as Christians interpreted
how to relate to political structures as we’re told in various New Testament
letters. (Rom 13:1-7 etc.).
Despite the fact that Jesus’ opponents carry a coin with a
graven image and confession of Caesar’s divinity, Jesus does not accuse them of
blasphemy or disloyalty. Instead, he calls them hypocrites, those who wear
another and false likeness. So, perhaps the charge against those trying to
entrap Jesus, is best understood as amnesia. They have forgotten who they are
and in whose likeness they were made.
Whose likeness is stamped on our lives? We too, are made in
the image of God. What’s more, in Holy Baptism, God makes us his very own. We “have
been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever” (ELW,
Baptism). So, if we are God’s, what belongs to God? We do. All of us and all
we have, all we do, who we are.
What might God’s good news and justice look like in our
world today? Where things get tricky is just because God is calling you to do
something, it doesn’t mean that’s what all of God’s people are supposed to do.
Remember Paul’s analogy of different parts of the body? We are hands and feet
and eyes etc. We will not function very well if we all do the same thing. Each
of us has different gifts of service to God and others as well as different
passions for service.
Someone heard the call to work in Honduras. Another heard
the call to make mats for the homeless, while another is compelled to work to
alleviate opiate addiction in our county. While we listen to God’s call for us,
we must understand that others may hear God’s call differently than we do. Can
we trust that the loving God who leads and guides us, leads and guides others
as well?
There’s a very short hymn in the ELW that beautifully expresses what should be the cry of our hearts.
The title is On My Heart Imprint Your Image.
On My Heart Imprint Your Image ELW 811
On
my heart imprint your image,
blessed
Jesus, king of grace,
that
life's troubles nor its pleasures
ever
may your work erase.
Let
the clear inscription be:
Jesus,
crucified for me,
is
my life, my hope's foundation,
all
my glory and salvation!
Text: Thomas H.
Kingo, 1634-1703; tr. Peer O. Strömme, 1856-1921, alt.
Amen.
Resources:
M. Eugene Boring, The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume
VIII, Matthew
Fred B. Craddock, Preaching Through the Christian Year A
David Lose, …in the Meantime, davidlosenet
Erick J. Thompson, workingpreacher.org
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