Wednesday, August 26, 2020

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 20:20-26 comments: government, money, and God




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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