The Question about Paying Taxes
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
Reflection
As humans we take things and put our stamp on them. We take things and make them our own by our image or perhaps by our signature. We take things and claim them as our accomplishment. We win trophies and get certificates and claim credit for our mental, physical or maybe even shear work ethic and claim it as our own accomplishment.
When I think of what Jesus said in this passage about giving to the emperor the things that are the emperor's and the things that are God's to God; I can't help but to realize that none of it belongs to the emperor or to myself or to anyone else. We fool ourselves into thinking that what we have done is a result of how great we are. Win the race... was it due to God or to me? Get rich... was it due to my hard work or a result of what skills God has given me. Win the championship game... should I point skyward and then take the cheers for myself?
In this passage of Scripture, I hear God's call to clarify to myself that what I do and say and act, in the end, has no justification for God's loving act of sending Jesus into this world to save me and all people from sin, death and the devil. I cannot take, or even stake claim, through my own efforts, for a righteous judgment of God through my actions.
All I have is a gift from God... I owe it all to God to respond in love and joy to the gift God has chosen to give to me in Jesus. It's not because I won the game, the race, the job or anything else that makes me deserving of this love from God.
I'll give what I need to give to society in order to maintain order, but I owe all I have to God.
And that's great, if you ask me! Thanks be to God!
Prayer
Lord, I see your face all over everything in this creation of your's. I see your face alone... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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