Apr 15 - Matthew 22:21

Render therefore unto Caesar

the things which are Caesar's;

and unto God

the things that are God's.

Matthew 22:21

Sorry to remind you, but it is tax day. Here’s what Jesus had to say about taxes …

First, the context was important. In the midst of the bustling streets of Jerusalem, Jesus was asked by the religious leaders whether we should pay taxes to the Romans or not.

It seemed like the perfect question with which to trap Jesus – which was clearly the Pharisees’ malicious intent.

•      If Jesus said, “No,” he risk being charged as a traitor by the Romans, for inciting an insurrection.
•      If, on the other hand, Jesus said, “Yes,” it would show that he was opposed to God – favoring an earthly king rather than heaven’s King. (Saying “yes” would also alienate the average Jew who was looking for a Jewish Messiah to save them from Roman tyranny.)

Jesus didn’t play their game. He famously responded, “render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”

The question is, “What rightfully belongs to God?” The answer is everything.

So … “what rightly belongs to the government?” Ah, that’s a tougher answer.

In the days of Solomon, this king wanted to do something magnificent for the Lord. He was going to build the Temple in Jerusalem. It was grand and glorious. God was honored in this place! But the tax burden eventually wound up dividing the kingdom. As it says in 1 Kings 12 …

2 When Jeroboam … heard [that Rehoboam was made king, following the death of his father Solomon] 3 … Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 "Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you."

6 King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive … 7 They answered him, "If you will be a servant to this people today … then they will be your servants forever."

8 But he disregarded the advice that the older men gave him, and consulted with the young men .... 10 The young men … said ..., "Thus you should say to this people … 11 “I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.' "

Ouch.

When government is a servant to the people (see verse 7), then it is god-honoring. When taxes become a heavy yoke, governments flirt with their own destruction – maybe not in their own time (Solomon didn’t live to see the consequences of his taxation), but certainly in the coming generations.

What does Caesar have a right to? In America – in a Republic or Democracy – the government has the right to extract whatever we as citizens choose (whether at any moment you vote for the ruling side or not).

But that’s not the big question. The real question is how much are rendering to God. It’s really a matter of the heart. It’s all his anyway.

In Christ’s Love,

A dwarf

(therefore, I sing,

“I owe. I owe. So …

off to work I go!”)