Luke 20:20 ¶ And they
watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just
men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him
unto the power and authority of the governor. 21 And they asked him, saying, Master, we know
that thou sayest and teachest rightly, neither acceptest thou the person of
any, but teachest the way of God truly: 22
Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? 23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said
unto them, Why tempt ye me? 24 Shew me a
penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said,
Caesar’s. 25 And he said unto them,
Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the
things which be God’s. 26 And they could
not take hold of his words before the people: and they marvelled at his answer,
and held their peace.
There is another
incident with money that is worthy of mention first in talking about this
scene.
Matthew 17:24 ¶ And when
they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come
into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom
do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of
strangers? 26 Peter saith unto him, Of
strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them,
go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh
up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that
take, and give unto them for me and thee.
This is difficult for
us who constantly fuss and fume about paying our taxes to swallow. But, we as
Christians, are to pay necessary taxes. There is no call for us to overpay,
though. And we certainly should elect representatives who will honor our views
on how much taxes and what kind should be imposed. This world was not like
that, though. There was no representative government. Power was imposed from
the top down. Jesus teaches that our focus should be on His kingdom, not
holding onto the money the state creates.
Here, in the passage in
Luke 20, Jesus makes it quite clear that there is a distinction between what
the world imposes on us as its demands and what God requires. We can no more
say we have done what God commands by simply giving money or paying our tribute
than we can say we have honored our duty to the state by praying to God.
There are things which
define us as Christians and Caesar’s money is not one of them. The
responsibility that Caesar, our government in type, lays on us in the form of
demands on our money is in sharp contrast to what God wants from us.
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such
there is no law. 24 And they that are
Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Society is run on a
fraud that we buy into in order to live. Money today is a fiction of 1s and 0s
in a computer but as long as we all agree to play by the fiction things keep
moving. It is just like you and I thinking we own our homes. Just try not
paying your real estate taxes to see that Caesar, in truth, owns your dwelling
place.
God’s standards don’t
require anyone to go along with them for them to be real. When the whole world
of man turns against God He is still in control and we will still answer to
Him. God is not like our banking and economic system which suffered a collapse
of sorts in 1929 or our mortgage-lending system which came crashing down, in a
manner of speaking, in 2008. He does not need everyone’s agreement to be real
because we all answer to Him even if we pretend the judgment on us in this life
is simply bad luck or oppression by others rather than a visit from God.
Render unto
Caesar….Paul noted some things that we would do well to try to sort out in our
heads as Christians lest we waste our time on things that do not commend us to
God.
Romans 13:1 ¶ Let every
soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the
powers that be are ordained of God. 2
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God:
and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works,
but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is
good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4
For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that
which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the
minister of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only
for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6
For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers,
attending continually upon this very thing.
7 ¶ Render therefore to all their dues: tribute
to whom tribute is due; custom
to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one
another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Thou shalt not covet; and if there be
any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10
Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 ¶ And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep: for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. 12 The
night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and
envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for
the flesh, to fulfil
the lusts thereof.
That being said,
government would do well to exercise a light hand lest it force its subjects to
resist it. The more oppressive a government is the more it becomes necessary to
find ways around its rules, especially when that very government pretends to be
a representative one. But, we must remember to whom we belong, who bought us
with His own blood.
It was Augustus (Luke
2:1), the first emperor after the fall of the Roman republic, who realized that
there was a strong connection between his sovereignty and the production of
coinage. Julius Caesar, his adopted uncle, had previously instituted the
practice of placing his image on coinage, the first time in Roman history that
such a thing had been consistently practiced. As the emperor began to embody
the state and its policies the placing of the emperor’s image on coins became
an important part of the imperial cult, denoting the emperor as a living god.
These coins would have had the image of Tiberius Caesar, the reluctant emperor,
who spent part of his reign in a self-imposed exile on the island of Capri.
The back of his coin
had the words ‘Pontif Maxim’ or Supreme Pontiff, a title given to Popes in the
era in which we live but at that time denoting the Roman emperor as the head of
the pagan state religion of Rome. Christ would have been referring to a coin
with the image of a pagan high priest on it as well as the emperor of that part
of the world. We might think there is little connection between such a ruler
and a modern president or prime minister. I’ll let you consider that. But, remember,
in America the people as a group are supposed to be king. Even if it is not
that way in fact that is the principle. Our president is a hired manager of
sorts who works for a specific period of time. He is not a high priest of a
pagan religion and ruler of the world who will pass his reign to his
descendants. I’m saying that just to warn you not to take my typology in the
comments on this passage too far.
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