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April 15th is one of the least popular days of the year. It’s no secret why this is true since April 15th is tax day. Although it’s said that paying taxes, along with death, is one of the two constants in life, no one likes paying taxes. This is especially true when the taxing authority belongs to an oppressive occupying power that uses your tax dollars to pay the troops that impose the will of the occupiers on you. That was, of course, the case for folks living under Roman rule in first-century Palestine. While we may not live under a foreign occupying power, it often feels like our tax dollars are used to support policies that we either oppose, or they don’t address our concerns.
This morning Matthew takes us to the Temple in Jerusalem during Holy Week. We find Jesus teaching the crowds who gathered to hear him speak. While the common people, many of whom had welcomed him into Jerusalem just a day or so earlier, were attracted to his message, not everyone was happy that this Galilean preacher had occupied the Temple. So, these opponents tried to trap Jesus with questions that might get him in trouble with either the religious and political authorities or the people.
The first group that attempted to trap Jesus with a no-win question included representatives of the Pharisees and the Herodians. They represented two very different sectors of first-century Jewish society. While the Pharisees tended to be wealthy members of society who tried to live pious lives, the Herodians were secularists allied with the imperial rulers. They wanted to know Jesus’ opinion on whether it was appropriate to pay taxes levied by the Roman authorities. In other words, should they pay taxes to Caesar? While Jesus’ inquisitors might have been strange bedfellows, they decided it was in their interest to partner with each other to trap Jesus in a no-win situation.
The reason it was a no-win situation is that if Jesus supported paying the tax, the people suffering under oppressive Roman rule would be unhappy with him. It would be similar to supporting the British imposition of the Stamp Act, which precipitated the American Revolution. On the other hand, if Jesus suggested the people shouldn’t pay their taxes, he would get in trouble with the Romans.
As you may know from reading the Gospels, Jesus always seemed to figure out how to get out of the traps his opponents set for him. That was true here. Jesus answered their question by focusing on the image that appeared on the coin used to pay the tax. Throughout history, coins have carried the images of a nation’s leaders and rulers. Although the United States Congress passed a law in 1866 that bans the presence of living people on US currency and securities, the Treasury Department recently decided to contravene that law by minting a gold coin with the President’s likeness on it. While I’m not sure that Jesus has an opinion on this recent decision by the Treasury Department, Jesus had an answer for his inquisitors that is rather interesting.
Jesus’ answer pointed attention away from the taxes themselves to a question about allegiance. While many of his followers hoped he would lead a revolt against the Romans and their Herodian allies, Jesus was realistic about what was politically and militarily possible. Nevertheless, his message was still subversive! That’s because when Jesus proclaimed the coming of the realm of God, he called into question the claim of all human authorities to the allegiance of the people.
To prove his point, Jesus asked his inquisitors to bring him a coin. He then asked them whose likeness or image was on the coin. They answered that it was Caesar’s image. Not only did the coin feature Tiberius’ head, but the coin also hailed the emperor as the son of God. Jesus then told them to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God. When he said this, they walked away dumbfounded. Now, there would be more attempts to entrap him, but he made it through round one without offending either the people or the Roman authorities. The question is, what did Jesus mean when he told them to give to God what belongs to God? Why did his response to their question stump his opponents?
Perhaps the best way to answer these questions is to go back to the first creation story in Genesis 1. In that poetic creation story, we’re told that humanity was created in the image of God, as male and female (Gen. 1:27). At the same time, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, God declares that there is but one God and that the people should not make images to represent God. The reason why the people are told not to create images of God is that God had already created an image, humanity. So, when Jesus tells the people to give to God what belongs to God, he was telling them to give themselves fully to God. In other words, because we are bearers of the divine image, our primary allegiance belongs to God and God alone. Any other allegiance, including to Caesar or the American government, comes second to that allegiance. As Theodore Wardlaw comments on this point:
We belong not to our possessions, but to God. We belong not to the partisan political claims we make in election seasons, but to God. We belong not to the demands of our vocations, but to God. We belong not to the charms of our secular world, but to God. Christians may have to pay the emperor the tax, but that does not mean a neat division of loyalties that ends up giving Caesar far more than his due. Instead, our greatest loyalty is to the one who made us and to whom, in body and soul, we ultimately belong. To give to God the things that are God’s is, first, to testify that all of creation belongs to God, and, second, to place in a subordinate context that which really belongs to the numerous “emperors” we wrongly crown in our lives. [Connections, Kindle p. 898]
Since Wardlaw mentions elections here, it is worth noting that a big election is sitting on the near horizon; it’s worth pondering what this question of allegiance means when we fill out our ballots, that is, if we’re planning on voting.
When it comes to asking how our primary allegiance to God influences our votes, we might want to ask how the views of a candidate fit with the teachings of Jesus when it comes to questions about health care, education, immigration, crime, war, capital punishment, or many other issues. Of course, Jesus didn’t speak to every issue facing us, and he lived in a land occupied by a foreign power that wasn’t interested in what the people thought or wanted, but I think he did leave us with some guidelines to follow. That’s because, when he proclaimed the coming of the realm of God, he was declaring that human realms, whether monarchies, dictatorships, or democracies, are not eternal. Not even the Roman Empire lasted for eternity. So, even if the coins belonged to Caesar, Caesar was not the son of God. Only God deserves our ultimate allegiance.
Although the lectionary invites us to consider only the first trap that Jesus faced, it’s worth dropping down to the third trap because I think it helps answer the first question. This third question, which was posed by a group of Pharisees, had to do with which commandment is the greatest and most important. Jesus answered their question by pointing to two commands found in Scripture, one of which he drew from Deuteronomy and the other from Leviticus. The first commandment calls on us to love God with our entire being. That means giving our lives totally to God (Deut. 6:4-5). The second commandment, which comes from Leviticus (Lev. 19:18), asks us to love our neighbors as we ourselves (Matt. 22:34-40). I believe these two commandments reveal what it means to give to God what belongs to God. As for what belongs to Caesar, they may be due their money, but that doesn’t mean that Caesar or any governing authority always reflects the will of God. As Michael Lee puts it:
To live out the gospel, one cannot avoid political commitments, but that does not mean claiming partisan politics or ideologies as God’s will. Rather, it is that constant challenge to seek God’s merciful will and to imitate Jesus’ example in order to render all things to God. [Connections, Kindle p. 898].
The best way to do this is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. We might even go further and follow another command of Jesus that involves loving our enemies. That isn’t easy to do, but it is one of Jesus’ teachings, which means it is God’s will for us. What is most important, at the end of the day, it is good to remember that all things belong to God, who is our creator. Everything flows from that commitment.
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
Congregational Church of Birmingham (UCC)
Northminster Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Troy, MI
October 18, 2026
Pentecost 21A
Image attribution: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aureus,_Auguste,_Lyon,_btv1b104440369.jpg
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