The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Durrell Watkins at
the Sunshine Cathedral on
Sunday, October 19, 2008.
When I was a kid in Arkansas, I once asked my great-aunt Gladys to explain
time zones to me. She paused for a moment and said, “Think of it this way.
When it’s noon in New York, it’s still 1955 in Arkansas.”
I was looking through old photographs one day and saw one of Aunt Gladys
and Uncle Arthur standing in front of a man in a black robe. I said, “What’s
this?” She said, “That was our wedding day. We were married by a judge; I
should have asked for a jury.”
Aunt Gladys was quick with the one-liners, but she came from a one-liner
generation. She grew up being entertained by such people as Gypsy Rose Lee who
once said, “God is love; but get it in writing.”
Today’s gospel reading offers us one of the best-known one-liners in the
bible: “Give Caesar what it is Caesar’s; and give God what is God’s.”
This is actually a daunting passage for a preacher to tackle because it is
a phrase that has so often been misrepresented to congregations. It has time
and again been used to support the status quo, and nothing could be less
faithful to the gospel.
I seem to remember as a child hearing homilists use this text to promote
patriotism, or generosity, or a dualism that says be supportive of both one
thing and another. Pay your taxes, pay your tithes… that’s what good people
do. If you believe in your country, then support it financially; and if you
believe in your church, support it financially.
I don’t disagree with that sentiment. I believe in supporting what is
important to us.
If you hope to draw Social Security, or if you benefited from college
grants, or if you want firefighters, police officers, and military personnel
to keep you safe, that money has to come from somewhere. I don’t mind paying
taxes; I simply want my taxes to pay for good things, like education and
health care and environmental protection.
And as someone who promotes religion every day of my life, I certainly want
people to support their church. As we give to our church, our church is then
able to give to the world. We offer hope and encouragement and empowerment to
people. We offer a spiritual home to people. We offer almost 40 different
services at no charge to our community and beyond, and even more services at
remarkably low costs. To do all that we do and all that we hope to do, the
church must be funded.
Those who practice the discipline of giving a percentage of their income
faithfully to the place where they are spiritually nourished experience a deep
level of blessing in their lives. I give to the church, to political causes,
to various charities, and I pay taxes. I consider such giving participating in
the circulation of divine supply.
And though I encourage generosity and believe it to be a core spiritual
principle, I must confess that as good as that message is, it is NOT the
message of today’s gospel reading.
So, I am faced with the challenge of not going with the easy task of saying
“fill out a pledge card and fill out a tax form,” but with really unpacking
what today’s passage says. I hope every member of this church will pledge next
year. And I hope every person in this room will file your taxes, if for no
other reason than to stay out of trouble with the IRS. And the day will come
when our primary sermon focus will be on the spiritual discipline of joyful
giving; but today’s gospel message is frankly about something else.
The tension continues to build as we near the end of Matthew’s gospel.
Today’s encounter between Jesus and religious leaders is in the context of
on-going confrontations. We’ve been hearing about them for a few weeks now. So
right off the bat, we see Jesus’ one-liner isn’t a simple little aphorism;
this is a strategic response to a calculated plot in the midst of an on-going
struggle. We’ve sanitized it by making it simply about paying tithes and
taxes, and in sanitizing it we’ve lost the danger and the power of the
message.
A group of religious lay scholars send their students to butt heads with
Jesus, but along with these students are also members of the Herodian Party…
yes, it’s a political alliance. Herodians supported the policies and the
descendants of Herod, a puppet king of the Roman Emperor. The religious lay
scholars sometimes encouraged people to not pay taxes as a form of civil
disobedience.
The Empire has possessed our country, stolen our resources,
limited our freedoms, and allowed us to practice our religion — but we are
aware they can disallow such open and unfettered practice at any time.
So
the common people not only viewed the Empire as their oppressors but hated
paying taxes to support their own oppression. The lay scholars were no fan of
the imperial taxes… so, if Jesus says “pay your taxes,” they’ve got him. He’s
a traitor to his people and his religion.
However, the Herodians have their authority and privilege because they are
integrated into the Empire. They are part of it! They enforce the tax code and
by doing so they protect their power and privilege. If Jesus says, “It is our
moral obligation to refuse to pay taxes,” then they’ve got him. They can
arrest him on the spot for tax evasion; or more likely, for treason or
sedition.
By sending the religious students and the Herodian politicos, Jesus’
enemies have painted him into a corner. He can’t win. If he answers one way,
he’ll be shunned, maybe even stoned by his own people; if he answers another
way, he’ll be incarcerated, maybe even killed by the government.
Jesus has been preaching about the Kingdom of God… but Caesar is in charge
of this empire… there will be no king and no kingdom in this empire that
Caesar doesn’t personally prop up. Kingdom of God, indeed!
Jesus, when he entered Jerusalem, stormed into the Temple, noticed
exploitation, and responded with vehement opposition. He has offended the
priestly class, the lay scholars, and the government. That’s a lot of enemies
to have been made so quickly, and they are now working together to see which
group will do him in. That’s the context of today’s confrontation. And in that
context, Jesus fights back with a one-liner. Yes, this is a fight for his
life… not a gentle nudge for others to support good causes; this is a fight
and to lose it will mean losing his liberty and probably his life.
Jesus’ enemies say, sarcastically, “We know you are a person of integrity;
you’ll do only what you believe is right. So answer this question: Should we
pay our taxes or not?”
Jesus pauses for a moment, and says, “Do you have a coin?” And someone
quickly hands him a coin. This coin has an image on it — Caesar’s image:
Caesar, the divine son, the Lord of the empire. Here is a graven image of what
Jesus’ community would have thought to be not only an oppressor but also a
false deity. Such a coin could only be used by Jesus’ community for paying the
hated taxes. One shouldn’t be allowed to bring such an odious thing into the
Temple. On the contrary, one should stop at the moneychangers table and
exchange any such filthy lucre for more appropriate, non-idolatrous coinage.
So why does this religious leader have this coin with Caesar’s image on his
person? The moment he forks over the coin to Jesus, Jesus has exposed his
enemies for the hypocrites they are. Matthew’s readers would have gasped when
the coin is produced. But Jesus continues by saying, “Give to Caesar what is
Caesar, and to God what is God’s.”
But guess what? EVERYTHING is God’s. Caesar can’t take his wealth with him.
The imperial treasury can’t keep its money… it has to pay soldiers and build
roads. Caesar can’t keep his money; he’ll die and leave his money behind. In
the world of impermanence, only Ultimate Reality, only what is divine, only
God really has anything because everything that really exists comes from God,
is made out of God, and we experience it because of divine grace. A Course in
Miracles teaches, “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.” That’s another way of saying, “It’s All God’s.”
Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s? That means nothing.
Give to God what is God’s? That means everything.
When Jesus stands by his principles even in the face of death, he is giving
everything. When he says, in effect, give Caesar what is really Caesar’s,
which is nothing, Jesus is risking his life on the spot. He’s giving
everything for what he truly believes.
In the history of this country, in opposition to imperial taxes, there was
a revolt. Lives were risked, given, lost in a struggle for independence.
Today’s gospel reading is also about resisting oppression, and taking great
risks for sake of justice. This world is part of a divine process, that is,
it’s all God’s and so we may as well give God everything. As we often sing,
“We give thee but thine own, whate’er the gift may be; all that we have is
thine alone; a trust O God from thee.”
We aren’t challenged today to simply not cheat on our taxes or to give an
extra few bucks to the church. We are challenged to live our values; to be
fully committed to a life of hope, justice, compassion, and generosity. We are
challenged to give our best, all the time, as if our very lives were God’s. We
are challenged to worship, to work, to play, to share consistently as if all
that we are doing we are doing for, to, with, and as God! And once we can
trust God with our whole selves, we find in our experience of life that there
is not a spot where God is not. And THIS is the good news! Amen.