“The Things of God”
“Render
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
Today we
have this wonderful saying of Jesus in answer to the Pharisees’ disciples and
the Herodians. By it, he confounds and outfoxes
them. He once again beats them at their
game. They sought to entangle him in his
words, get him in hot water with either the crowds or the Roman overlords. They wanted him out of the way, but it would
take more than just a contest of words to do so. The Eternal, Creative, Living Word made Flesh
will not be entangled by humans using their own scrawny and puny words against
him.
But even
more, with this answer he also teaches a timeless and universal truth for the
benefit of his church. A short saying in
which is compacted a treasure trove of guidance and instruction, for life in
this world, and for life in the kingdom of God.
And so it is especially upon this sentence we concentrate today: “Render unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
Caesar. The top dog, at least in terms of the
world. The Romans had been in charge of
the place for about 100 years at this point, and the Jews didn’t like it one
little bit. The Romans were pagans. The Romans were cruel. They crucified people. They taxed their subjects and appointed
locals to do their dirty taxing. And I’m
sure the Jewish people had a much longer laundry list of complaints against
Rome. Here’s another one – Caesar
claimed to me divine! A son of the gods! He even had his face stamped on the denarius
with these words included: 'Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine August' and on
the other side 'Pontifex Maximus' which title 'high priest' . . . making him
both the highest civil and the highest religious ruler of the land.
Who would
want to pay taxes to such an outfit? Who
would want their hard earned money taken from them, at the point of a sword if
necessary, to do whatever corrupt and pagan things Romans do with money? And what good Jew would want to lend any
credence to the idea that the man on the throne in Rome was divine, or a high
priest. No, they rather found the whole
idea repugnant.
Render
unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, Jesus says.
His face is on it. So give it to
him. And with such a short turn of
phrase, Jesus both shows honor to the office and implies condemnation of the
man. He teaches the proper use of money,
and shows us what it is truly worth – nothing.
He despises it.
Now don’t
get me wrong, and certainly let’s not get Jesus wrong. He is saying to pay your taxes. And more than that, he’s telling you to give
to the government whatever is due. As
Paul says in Romans, in a slightly longer fashion: “Pay
to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom
revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.”
(Romans 13:7)
And taken in the context of all that Jesus teaches about
money and earthly goods – he warns us about making them into our gods. He calls it all “mammon”. He tells us the love of money is the root of
all kinds of evil. And the rich man has
great difficulty to enter the kingdom.
He tells parables about foolish and wicked rich men. And he tells us “blessed are the poor”.
And Jesus isn’t teaching us that money is in itself a bad
thing either – it’s all in the use of it.
He rather commends the poor widow for her offering of two coins – that
she gave more than all the primping and preening Pharisees who loved it when
everyone heard all their coins clanging in the offering box. The gifts and offerings of the faithful are
commended by God. The Lord loves a
cheerful giver.
Jesus calls us first today to render unto Caesar. That is, to check and see if we truly honor
and obey the authorities he places over us.
But it’s far more than paying taxes.
It goes to obedience to the representatives of God – despite them being
sinful human beings themselves. If we
can render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, then we can respect our own parents, our
boss, our leaders, We can even love and cherish them. A hard pill to swallow for many of us.
And so his words of rebuke to his opponents are also words of
conviction and correction and a principle of guidance for us. They also accuse us, for we don’t render to
Caesar as we should.
But perhaps the more weighty part of Jesus’ equation is,
“Render to God what is God’s”. And that
screams a question to begging for answer, “What then, are the things of
God? What belongs to God? What do we owe God?” And the answer, of
course, is “Everything”.
Whatever belongs to Caesar, first of all and last of all,
belongs to God. Caesar is God’s
Caesar. We honor the earthly authorities
precisely for this reason. But while the
unbeliever is bound, in his mind, only to the powers-that-be of this world, Christians
also have a conscience captive to the Word of God. We are subject to both tables of the
law. We are governed by all the
commandments. We must love our neighbor
AND our God fully and perfectly.
So what are the things of God? What we owe him, what he is due. Oh how we’ve failed and what a debt we’ve
accrued!
We must acknowledge that the earth is the Lord’s and
everything in it. And he would demand of
us not just a token portion, but our whole life. “Take my life and let it be” we sing. We are his creation. We belong to him. You are not your own, you were bought with a
price, therefore honor God in your body. But we act rather as if we belong to
ourselves. It’s my life, I’ll do what I
want. It’s my body. It’s my time.
Mine, not God’s. My things, not
God’s things on loan to me.
And if the denarius is marked with the image of Caesar, and
that coin belongs to him. You are marked
and made in the image of God – for in the image of God he created them, male
and female. And so you belong to your
creator and maker. Job (1:21) said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" As
such, he is the Lord of your life, and he alone numbers it’s days.
Yes, you are made in the image of God. Ah, but you’re a broken image. Marred by your sins. Blurred and unrecognizable. Just like me. You
need a re-print, a re-minting, a renewal of heart and mind, a death and
resurrection. And Jesus Christ does just
that.
Jesus himself is “the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation.” (Col. 1:15). Such as the Father is, such is the
Son. And the God-man came, first of all,
to restore the broken image of Adam in a life of perfect righteousness. But fix your eyes on Jesus, and on the image
of Christ crucified, if you really want to see the things of God. Behold the cross, where the Lamb of God takes
away the sins of the world, and of you.
The blood of Jesus upon us and on our children, which washes our robes
to make them clean. The baptism of
Jesus, by which we are buried and raised with Christ anew. These are the things of God, that he gives to
you by grace.
And what do we render unto God that is God’s, what does God
want from us more than anything and everything?
Our faith. The cattle on a
thousand hills are his. He doesn’t need
your offerings, you good works, your inward or outward piety. He wants your fear, love and trust. He wants you to receive what he wants to give
you. The things of God, in this way, he
renders unto you.
This world would teach us to hold on to what is ours. It is a world of rights and property and
wages and laws. From an early age we
learn to keep score, to keep our possessions, what’s mine is mine and what’s
yours is yours. And there is some good
in that. It preserves order. It curbs sin.
But the things of God are so much more. The things of Christ are free. They are given freely. They are grace, mercy, love, kindness. They are received by us but to be given just
as freely. So that when we love our neighbor,
we might also see in him, the image of God.
So that when we visit, feed, clothe and care for the brother, inasmuch
as we do it to the least of these, we do it unto Christ.
On my heart imprint your image,
Blessed Jesus, King of grace;
That life’s riches, cares and pleasures
Never may Your work erase;
Let the clear inscription be:
Jesus, crucified for me,
Is my life, my hope’s foundation,
And my glory and salvation.
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