Debates are good. We like them because they delineate the issues, clarify positions, and let’s face it, occasionally we watch because debaters tangle and tackle each other. And at the end, we get to decide the winner. Better yet, when Jesus enters the arena, the stakes get real high.

Background Drama

By this time, Jesus had been challenged on all sides. The priests of the Temple and their religious lawyers had not fared well that week. Yes, they were angry what about Jesus had done a couple days ago. Singlehandedly, he had kicked to the curb the moneychangers in the Temple courts.  This was a lucrative system they had going because people couldn’t purchase clean, unblemished animals for their Temple sacrifices with Roman currency. So for a profit, of course, money was exchanged for Jewish shekels, and the Temple got a kick back along with it. You’d think Jesus would at least work with the system here, but instead he disrupted policy and practice that held everything together.

Having been creamed to their faces more than once, the priests sent their proxies to not only discredit Jesus this time, but to turn either the Roman rule or the common crowd against him. They didn’t care who would do their dirty work for them. Furthermore, they employed both their own followers and supporters of Herod to get it started.

Smart Set-up

First, you lower defenses and the best way to do that is suck up. They address him as Teacher/Rabbi, say he teaches about God without worry about where it lands, how he’s impartial and doesn’t play favorites. Make Jesus think his integrity is his greatest strength. Get him talking and let him trip himself up.

Then they put it out there: “Is it right to pay taxes to the Roman government or not?” It was a question full of guile, crafted carefully. They figured either way they had him. Get him on record as saying people should pay their taxes and stand back while an angry mob finishes him off, maybe even get a good riot going in the Temple courtyard.

Specifically, this despised tax was a poll tax. The Romans used it to build the empire, not just famous roads leading to Rome, but also imperial palaces and governmental structures that made them look good. The worst thing though was how it was collected along routes of commerce, so it effectively took from their pockets hard-earned money right off the top. Everywhere you went, you were paying taxes. People hated it for how it subsidized their oppressors, and if Jesus in any way supported it, he’d lose his base among the populace.

Then again, if Jesus said don’t pay it, while the crowd would love him, he'd be dead meat. Just watch the Roman guard move in, arrest him for treason, and that would be the end of it. You can just imagine how the whole place froze waiting for his response.

Slippery as Ice

Jesus likely went just as cold. He zeroed in on his inquisitors’ intentions, calling them out for the hypocrites they were, doing what they could to protect their own power and position, not honoring God. With all pretense removed on both sides, he requested they show him the Roman coin used to pay the tax. Someone pulled out a denarius.

Not smart. Not smart at all. Among the ridiculous number of laws good Jews were required to keep every day, one was no Roman money was permitted in the Temple walls. That’s why the moneychangers were deemed necessary. The issue lay with the image of Caesar stamped on the coin and its inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, Pontificus Maximus.” In short, this very coin declared Caesar was a god and a high priest. It smacked right up against Commandments One and Two, worship no other gods and don’t make graven images (idols) of any kind of god. And these guys had one in their very own pockets? Once again, Jesus was turning tables on these phony holies.

With the offensive coin in hand, the face of Caesar before them, and the Temple walls towering above them, Jesus gives them an answer. ““Well, then,” he said, “give it to Caesar if it is his, and give God everything that belongs to God.” The posse sent to get him slinks off, caught in their own trap.

The Original Atta Boy

You have to give it to him. Jesus is supreme master at this sort of thing. Media today would love how his statements could be pulled for prime time, clipped for just the right ad and purpose. So he says, Caesar and God both get what’s theirs, and you’re good to go.

Just what is needed in this world today, good old-fashioned compromise. Keep it clear and clean and get on with it.

There’s a saying though about the mess in the message, and this one is knee deep. You’d like to think Jesus successfully waded through being enmeshed in political mire and religious positions. Yes, he got out of this one. And he did it by laying it right in our laps.

Whew! Politics and religion. That’s a big one. Step carefully here, and this debate will last for centuries (ok, it has already.) But is Jesus really taking the middle road here, or do his words say something more?

The Apparent Upshot

First, pay the d**n tax. In our society today, it’s a good idea. You can stand on the grounds that government supports law and order, infrastructure, and plays a big part in economic welfare, both for those who have jobs and those who don’t. Again, just stay on this footing, and you’ll stay out of trouble. And…

Give to God what is God’s. It’s a spiritual principle that you can’t outgive God. People of faith see God’s provision in life itself and in grace available by love of Jesus. So return to God a portion of the blessings you’ve received, usually measured at ten per cent.

Nice. We like it when something dissipates the tension in the topic. Settle in there and move on.

Except Jesus’ words don’t relax so fast.

The Internal Debate

He said, “give God everything that belongs to God.” Everything. Where does that begin? At the beginning, of course.

“So God created people in his own image.” (Genesis 1:27) More so than the stamp of Caesar on an ancient coin, God’s divine image is on the human soul. In the everything of life, all that is done, all allegiance given, comes from that core. And when the reach of Caesar steps into places of God’s righteousness (think issues of justice, equality, oppressive practices, sacred moments and places), what is required in the conflict?

Now, that’s a debate. That’s “everything.” Though Jesus’ antagonists walked away from this one, in three or four days they would get what they wanted. It could be said at times Jesus was preaching as much to himself as to anyone else. His very life would be given for God’s purposes in love to be given to the world. Everything meant no less than a cross, and that became every thing for the world. The cross changed everything, even an empty grave as death became new life. No emperor or religious authority could fully eliminate him and what was to come. Everything follows that.

What gets held back reflects a personal god, something like a stamped coin held tightly in a deep pocket. Debate within yourself what that could be.

Matthew 22:15-22 

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