Coins are an item that have always interested, even fascinated, people – for their spending power, definitely, but also because they are interesting to look at and contain images and historic inferences that can be fascinating.
On my first visit to the UK, long ago, coins were both interesting and confusing. This was before the Brits adopted the decimal system. The challenge when shopping was to convert in my head the value of British money to the value of US money. That gave me some idea if the prices of goods were reasonable. Eventually it became clear to me that the sixpence, about the size an appearance of our dime, was also just about equal to a dime, and the shilling, about the size and appearance of a quarter, was also about equal to twenty-five American cents. What a relief!
Aside from the challenge of using the coins, came the fun of seeking old ones. One gal in the group I was with actually found a coin with Queen Victoria on it. The Queen had ribbons in her hair, which depicted her as a very young woman. The coin was, thus, very old, as images of the monarch are updated on the money as he or she ages. British coins in all Commonwealth countries depict the monarch on their face, and, interestingly, they are modeled after ancient Roman coinage – which did the same thing.
In the days of imperial Rome, back before photography and television and modern travel, coins and sculpture were the only ways that most of the residents of the empire had to see what their emperor looked like. These coins also played an essential role in the empire’s sophisticated economy. They were essential to trade and taxation.
And so we come to today’s Gospel reading where Jesus stymies His opponents by making reference to the Roman coin He holds in His hand.
The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what He said.
In our Gospel today, two groups are out to get Jesus. First, we have the Pharisees, devout Jews who are scrupulous in their observance of God’s law as they understand it. This is probably the religious movement with which Jesus felt the greatest connection. He may have been viewed, at least initially, as a Pharisee although an eccentric one. So there is special irony in certain other Pharisees plotting to entrap Him.
The other group is the Herodians, Jews who support the local puppet ruler, Herod Antipas, or the entire family to which he belongs. Little is known about the Herodians as a group, except that Herod and his family were unpopular with the people, and so their supporters must have been unpopular as well.
The Herodians were probably unpopular because they were seen as Roman collaborators. On the other hand, the Pharisees were a grassroots movement generally respected by the people. Pharisees and Herodians differed on several issues, such as whether or not the Jews should pay taxes to the occupying power. It is remarkable, therefore, to witness representatives of these opposite social forces working together. Evidently both groups felt threatened by the Rabbi from Nazareth.
And so they approached Jesus over one of the hot issues of the day. Their language is so respectful it sounds suspicious. Listen to them try to butter Him up!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.
Such fair words, such foul intentions! True, Jesus does not regard people with partiality; He pays no attention to a person’s status; He treats everyone with the same respect no matter who they are. But this is His crime in their eyes! He refuses to kowtow to any of these partisans and their narrow views of reality. It is for this reason that they are doing all they can to entrap Him and destroy Him.
After so sickly-sweet an introduction, they ask their question: Is it lawful or not to pay taxes to the emperor?
They intend to force Jesus to side with one group or another: either with the revolutionaries working to drive out the Romans, or with the collaborators who profit from the occupation. If He disallows payment, He leaves Himself open to charges of sedition. If He encourages payment, He loses credibility and the people’s respect.
Jesus recognizes their malice immediately and challenges them. Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? The Devil had tested Jesus during His forty-day fast in the wilderness. Now it is people who attempt to entrap Him. He calls them what they are: hypocrites. What He points to is not mere pretense, but evil. They have put themselves opposite to the purposes of God.
Jesus then asks to see the coin used to pay the tax. He is handed a denarius. A denarius is a silver coin, a day’s wages for an ordinary laborer. The particular denarius shown to Jesus probably depicted the reigning emperor, Tiberius. One type of denarius of this emperor is extremely common, and has been found in every part of what was once the Roman Empire. The Latin inscription on this coin is translated as follows: “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus and Augustus.” The Romans often claimed divinity for their emperors. Here, the current one, Tiberius, is depicted as heir to his divine predecessor. The Romans gloried in these titles; the Jews were scandalized by them.
Jesus now asks what seems an unnecessary question. Whose head is this, and whose title? The answer is simple: the emperor’s.
Jesus then gives His famous response. He lifts the tax controversy to a different level, well above the deadlock between revolutionary and collaborator. Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s. In other words, you can pay him this coin and others like it, for after all, his name and portrait appear on them. He has a just claim to property of this kind.
And give to God the things that are God’s.
What belongs to God? Think about it! If the emperor claims a coin that bears his image, then certainly God claims whatever bears His image. But what bears the image of God? The Pharisees and Herodians are familiar with the Scriptures. They know the Genesis account of how God makes humanity in the Divine Image.
It is right to pay the emperor taxes using coins with his image. But it is an even greater responsibility to give God what bears His image, namely oneself.
So Jesus shifts the encounter from an attempt to entrap Him in a wearisome controversy to an unavoidable recognition, on the part of each person present, that we are to return our lives to God. Each of us is made in the divine image. Each of us owes God final and complete loyalty. Tiberius may claim to be the son of divine Augustus. The truth is that each human is the child of the true King, Israel’s God. Struck speechless by this inescapable recognition, Herodians and Pharisees slip away as quietly as they can.
This drama does not answer all questions about what it means to be both a citizen in society and a Christian. It does not resolve every dilemma about obedience and taxation and resistance. But it does make clear what question we must ask ourselves: Do I give myself to God? Am I in right relationship with God?
If the answer to these last two questions is “yes”, then perhaps I can live justly in my other relationships, complex and challenging though they may be. If the answer is “no”, if I have somehow defrauded God, then everything else in my life will be out of line, and whatever my good intentions, I cannot live justly with others.
Our humanity is constituted so that unless we do right by our most important relationship, we cannot do right by the rest. But if that most important relationship is somehow healed and made whole, repaired by the One who established it, then all our other relationships have a hope of being set right as well.
How do we know when our relationship with God is off kilter? We need only look to see how much love we put into our relationships with others.
There is a warning in Matthew chapter 5 that reads:
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
We are all interested in coin of the realm, for what we can get with it, for the security it represents in our lives. We need to be even more concerned with the coinage of heaven – with our primary relationship, our connection to God. As we struggle with economic concerns or worries, as we delight in the coins of Caesar, let us remember God delights in us.
We argue that we cannot be the pure coins God minted us to be, for we fell from grace. But there is hope for us, because Jesus, at the cost of His life and by the power of His resurrection, set us right and that thereby we have the hope of living justly, lovingly, in our other relationship with Him, with God, and with each other.
We are the people called into closer relationship with God. This we do by being people of patience, of humility, of kindness, and caring, and prayer - by clearing our minds and hearts of the noise of the world, and making within us an empty, silent place for God to fill. The world should know us and recognize us, not by how loudly we present ourselves and our message, not by how rich we are with Caesar’s coins, but by our gentleness, our humility, and our by our love.
We have a choice to make, between the world and our baptismal vows. Will we love and covet all that is Caesar’s, or will we love and surrender everything to the Lord?
Let us pray:
Lord Jesus we come before you so often with our petitions, asking for what we want and what we need. Help us to offer to You that which is Yours. Take all that we are and all that we have and use us according to Your holy purpose. We give ourselves freely and totally to you. Come Lord Jesus and dwell in our hearts. We ask for Your love and mercy’s sake. Amen