Giving God What Is God’s
Today is “Tax Day.” Another opportunity to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Sometimes folks bristle at doing so, but it is an obligation for those of us who live in a free society.
Those words I quoted above come from a passage where the Pharisees, those who prided themselves in keeping the Law, were trying to trap Jesus in a contradiction. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? (Matthew 22:17) That is a kind of like asking a guy, “Have you stopped beating your wife?” Answering either YES or NO will get you into trouble. And that is why the Pharisees asked Jesus this question. It did not lend itself to discussion–all that was expected was a YES or a NO. If Jesus answered NO, he would be in conflict with the Roman government. A YES answer would not be acceptable to the Jews either, because they expected the Messiah to deliver them from the Roman government. To their way of thinking, no true Messiah would recognize the authority of Caesar. To say that you should pay taxes to Caesar would discredit Jesus to the Jews. The Pharisees were no doubt proud of themselves, thinking they had at last trapped Jesus.
Of course, Jesus knew their intentions. He exposed the Pharisees for the hypocrites that they were. In asking them to bring a coin, He shows how they had compromised themselves and were in conflict with their own laws. Coins bore the image of Caesar, and Caesar was worshiped as a God by the Romans. By having coins in their possession thy broke the law against graven images in the First Commandment. Yet they used these coins, proving themselves to be less righteous than they said they were.
The fact that these coins bore the image of Caesar also provides the basis for the answer Jesus gives. If it has his picture, it must be his, so give it to him. Let Caesar have the coins. But our Lord didn’t leave it at that. He also instructed them to give God what belongs to Him. (Matthew 22:21) And what did He mean? What do you think He meant? Doesn’t everything belong to God? Of course it does! By making this statement. Jesus is declaring that you should offer your very self to God as a living sacrifice. You belong to God. Not only did God create you in His own image, but He redeemed you by the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You have been bought and paid for. You belong to God, so Give God What is God’s!
This is the heart and substance of following Jesus. If you live your life cognizant of the fact that you belong to God and strive to live as His Child, you are being a faithful steward. That is what our lives as believers in Jesus are to be. It is our response to knowing we have been redeemed from sin and death by what Jesus did for us in dying and rising again.
