Civic Duty Archives - Renewed Heart Ministries

Render to Caesar the Things that Are Caesar’s

Posted on October 20, 2023 by Herb Montgomery

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Season 1, Episode 35: Matthew 22:15-22. Lectionary A, Proper 24

Each week, we’ll be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

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Season 1, Episode 35: Matthew 22:15-22. Lectionary A, Proper 24

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Render to Caesar the Things that Are Caesar’s

Herb Montgomery | October 20, 2023

To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here.

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There are times when those teachings call me to lean more deeply into my civic duties because of the demands of love of neighbor and the belief that every person is the object of Divine love. As Dr. Emilie Townes so poignantly says, “If you begin with the idea that God loves everyone, justice isn’t very far behind.” And there are times when the state demands of me actions that opposes my commitment to justice. In moments like these, this story’s wisdom is helpful in navigating a life-giving pathway forward.

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Our reading this week is from the Gospel of Matthew:

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away. (Matthew 22:15-22)

Jesus’ saying in our reading this week appears in all three synoptic gospels and in the gospel of Thomas. It’s one of the sayings of Jesus that’s most misunderstood today, especially by the Christian Right.

If we are going to arrive at a life-giving interpretation of this story, we’re going to have to back up some and consider some historical context.

Archeologists tell us that the most circulated coin in Jesus’ day was a small coin with Tiberius Caesar’s image on one side and a seated woman holding an olive branch and a scepter. On the side with Ceasar’s image were the words, “TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AUGUSTUS”: Tiberius is both Caesar Augustus (emperor), and the son of the Divine Augustus.

Augustus, Tiberius’ father, had been declared divine by the Roman Senate in 14 C.E. upon his death. During his life, Augustus had circulated coins that referred to him as the son of God. After Julius Caesar’s death, a star (really a comet), had appeared at the summer games dedicated to his honor. Many Romans interpreted this as a symbol of Julius Caesar’s soul ascending to the heavens to dwell with the gods. A year and half later, the Roman Senate declared Julius divine and the star that appeared in the summer began being referred to as the “Julian star.” (I find it fascinating that when Jesus is born, Matthew’s gospel describes a new star appearing in the heavens.)

Because of this tradition, Augustus had coins minted and circulated that had his image with the words “Augustus Ceasar” on one side and, on the back, the Julian Star with the words “Divine Julius,” indicating that Augustus was the Son of God. Each succeeding Caesar after Julius and Augustus also described himself as the Divine Son of God (“God” being the previous Caesar), all the way to Tiberius in Jesus’ time.

As we’ve said, on the back of the coin most likely held up in our story this week was the image of a woman holding both a scepter and an olive branch to symbolize of both the rule and the peace of Rome (or Pax Romana). The woman is most often identified as Tiberius’ mother Livia, the mother.

This gives our story this week a bit more context. When Jesus held up the coin and asked whose “image” was on the coin, there were two images, one of Tiberius Caesar claiming he was the Divine Son of God and the image of his mother Livia, the mother of the Son of God. Keep this imagery and its claims in mind for a moment.

In our reading, Jesus doesn’t tell his followers to pay the Roman tax, nor does Jesus tell them not to pay the tax. What Jesus does tell them, holding this coin with its imagery and claims, is to know the difference between their obligations to Caesar and their obligations to the God of the Torah.

Now, consider those coin images and their claims again. Jesus’ Jewish listeners that day would have heard his reply and remembered the words of the Torah itself:

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” (Exodus 20:2-5)

On the surface, the words “give to Caesar Caesar’s due” would have sounded like an affirmation of paying taxes to Rome and thus kept Jesus out of trouble with the Romans. But to his Jewish listeners who knew the words of the Torah the following words “given to God what is God’s” would have held a much deeper, subversive message.

According to the Torah, someone could not both honor Caesar’s divine claims and honor the God of the Torah. These two claims were diametrically opposed to each other such that one could not honor one without violating the other. You could not serve both the God of the Torah and Caesar as God. The question that had been given to Jesus was an effort to entrap him before the Romans, yet his response had turned the trap around, indicting the elites and powerful who the poor viewed as serving Rome through their positions in the Temple State.

Honestly, I love how slick this story is in the end. The people questioning Jesus sought to render him guilty of violating the Pax Romana before Rome, and instead, they end up being rendered guilty of infidelity to the God of the Torah in the eyes of the people.

How might we apply the lessons of our story in our context today?

I live in the United States. There are times when the claims of my citizenship here are in perfect harmony with the teachings I believe are in the Jesus story. There are times when those teachings call me to lean more deeply into my civic duties because of the demands of love of neighbor and the belief that every person is the object of Divine love. As Dr. Emilie Townes so poignantly says, “If you begin with the idea that God loves everyone, justice isn’t very far behind.”

And there are times when the state demands of me actions that oppose the teaching I perceive in the Jesus story. I think of times when I’m asked to pledge allegiance to and support the American military-industrial complex. I think of the times when I’m asked to pledge allegiance to the economic exploitative and poverty-creating elements of a global capitalism. I think of when I’m called to pledge allegiance to American policies that still systemically hurt those made vulnerable. I think of the systemic racism and misogyny still baked into how we do things.

Being a Jesus follower who is also an American is complicated. Sometimes I’m proud of this nation and happy to participate in its society and fulfill civic duties. At other times I’m ashamed of our national actions and I participate in our society by speaking out and by obstruction. As someone who both loves the Jesus of the Jesus story and many of America’s democratic aspirations, even when I speak out, it’s because of love. Love of neighbor is my highest call. But I also love this nation, or rather, I love the ideals this nation claims to aspire to. If a human society actually could live up to these high ideals, they would not contradict the ethics and values I read in the Jesus story. What I read in the Jesus story would lead me to lean into those high ideals and my civic duties if those ideals could be realized. And that’s the big “if.”

The values of the Jesus story call me to continually choose to work toward making our world a safe, compassionate, home for everyone. Wherever people are working to make American society a safe, compassionate home for everyone, I can come alongside them and participate in the work. Where they are working to make American society unsafe, lacking in compassion, and unjust, I can come alongside those working to oppose them. My allegiance is to love and justice and compassion first and foremost. My allegiance to America is contingent upon its fidelity to these values. I don’t give my country a blank check when it comes to my allegiance. When I oppose spaces that contradict the values I am most deeply committed to, I oppose them out of love for what we as a society could be if we leaned more deeply into the just demands of love of neighbor.

This is what the gospel teaching render to Caesar those things that are Caesar’s and to God those things that are God’s means for me in my context today. It means to know the difference between the obligations of my civic duties as an American and to understand my higher commitments to love, justice and compassion. It means to hold the former wholly dependent on my fidelity to the latter.

HeartGroup Application

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s eSight/Podcast episode with your HeartGroup.

2. How are your own civic responsibilities contingent on your commitments to love, compassion, and justice? Share and discuss with your group.

3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?

Thanks for checking in with us, today.

I want to say a special thank you to all of our supporters out there. And if you would like to join them in supporting Renewed Heart Ministries’ work you can do so by going to renewedheartministries.com and clicking donate.

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You can watch our new YouTube show called “Just Talking” each week. Todd Leonard and I take a moment to talk about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking. Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.

And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.

My new book, Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels is now also available at renewedheartministries.com

Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.

I love each of you dearly,

I’ll see you next week.

Now Available at Renewed Heart Ministries!

Herb’s new book Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels, is available at renewedheartministries.com.

Get your copy today at renewedheartministries.com