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The Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
O God, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant us, we beseech thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen. (Proper 27)
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The Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
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Scripture citation(s): Matthew 22:21
A Sermon by
Fr. Spurlock
on
Matthew 22:21
✛
Caesar is not Lord of our Souls
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I have here in my hand a coin; it is one, thin dime, the smallest United States coin in circulation. But like all US coins it bears an inscription that reads, In God We Trust.
The inclusion of this motto on our currency is attributed to an increased religious sentiment that emerged during our Civil War. The Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, received many appeals from devout persons to recognize the deity on US currency. According to treasury documents, the first such appeal came from a Pennsylvania minister who wrote to Chase suggesting that, “one fact touching our currency has hitherto been seriously overlooked. I mean the recognition of the Almighty God in some form on our coins.”
As a result of these appeals, and supported by Chase’s efforts, and approved by an act of Congress in 1864, a two-cent coin was put in circulation containing the words, In God We Trust. Later, in 1956, another act of Congress declared those words to be the motto of the United States of America.
So, this nation has a motto, that is, a short expression of a guiding principle, that says we render unto God our trust, and we imprint this guiding principle on our treasure.
Once a long time ago, in response to a question about whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus asked that a certain coin in circulation in his time and place be brought to him. And he held up this coin in front of the people, and asked them to take note of whose image was on the coin, and what was the superscription imprinted on it.
The image was that of the emperor, Tiberius Caesar, along with a superscription that read, Ti[berivs] Caesar Divi Avg[vsti] F[ilivs] Avgvstvs. “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, son of the Divine Augustus.” In other words, the superscription declared, Tiberius, the son of a god.
Note the irony of the situation in which Jesus finds himself. Jesus Christ is the son of the living God, he is sitting in his father’s house, and he is holding a coin engraved with the face of a man who lives far away in Rome, but who claims to be who Jesus is, the son of God. An officer of the state is claiming to be the son of God, and the son of God is being pushed to answer a question about the legality of paying taxes.
We, as citizens of the United States, have a long tradition of respecting boundaries between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar. We often think it is best that these two kingdoms, the Church and the State remain separate. We don’t mind at all when we see Christian virtues take root in the state, but that doesn’t mean we want the clergy walking the halls of power or proposing tax schemes for the next fiscal year, much less does it mean that statesmen or politicians should preach in our churches or define Christian doctrine. Caesar is not lord of our souls, and it is a great trespass when the two are confused.
But things were different for the people of Israel. For them the question about the lawfulness of paying taxes to Caesar was a theological question as much as it was a legal or political one. Caesar made claims to being a god, and that assertion was established in civil law, and was engraved on their money. But Jews felt themselves subject to a higher authority than Roman law, and that authority began with an assertion that there was only one God, and that Israel would have no other gods beside Him, and that guiding principle was engraved on two tablets of stone, and the Lord desired them to be engraved in the flesh of their hearts.
When Jesus was asked if it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, he answered with words that I am sure you all know very well, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s: and unto God the things that are God’s.” Mt 22.21
The brilliance of this answer is how Jesus threads the damned if you do, damned if you don’t nature of the question. For the Jew, to pay taxes to Caesar was to pay tribute to an idol, making one an idolater and blasphemer under the Law of Moses. To not pay taxes to Caesar meant to withhold tribute to the State, making one a traitor under Roman law. Jesus’ answer to render unto Caesar the things that are his, at once asserts that the coin in his hand has Caesar’s image on it, and his name, and Caesar caused the coin to be struck in the first place, so what is the harm in returning to Caesar what already belongs to him.
But Jesus goes on to say, render unto God the things that are God’s. What are those things, we might ask. God made the heavens and the earth, the dry land and the sea, and all that dwell therein. The Lord causes nations to rise, and he can scatter them to the winds if it suits his purposes. What doesn’t belong to God? Whose image is stamped on our souls? Is it not God’s image? And was it not God who gave us the power to live, and to think, and to love? God caused you to be made, and his image is engraved on your very being, so what harm can come from returning to God the things that belong to God already, our life, our thoughts, our love.
We, as a nation, impress upon our treasure the guiding principle that we trust in God. But we must also remember that God has made us a living treasure, and has impressed his life, words, and love on our hearts. Good citizens of his kingdom make excellent citizens of earthly nations. Our nation becomes a blessing to the world, when we render our trust and our very lives to God.
