Give to God What is God's

So what does it mean to give to Caesar what is Caesar's? Well of course I'd like to talk about that. Someone once said there are two things that you cannot avoid in life: death and taxes. I'd like to add a third. There are three inevitable realities: death, taxes and dealing with difficult people. And that's what Jesus is really dealing with here; talking about taxes he is really dealing with difficult people. There's a wonderful lesson for us today.

The gospel begins with Matthew setting the stage like a wonderful writer (and almost playwright). He tells us that the Pharisees went off and began to plot how they might trap Jesus in speech. Matthew wants us to understand from the start, the evil intention of the question. The source of where it’s coming from. It wasn't about their sincere searching for wisdom or truth, but rather, searching for a trap for Jesus. And so we're told then, as the plot unfolds, that they sent their disciples, accompanied by Herodian sympathizers, now this is an odd linking of two groups of people.

The Pharisees, you might know, are a religious group of people who are very interested in upholding the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, the law of the Lord. On the other hand, the Herodian's were a political group of people, interested in supporting the reign of Herod Antipas in Galilee who was in jurisdiction by the power of Rome. So these are two groups on opposite poles of this tax. The Pharisees would've been totally against paying the tax for religious reasons which I'll mention later. Whereas the Herodian's would've supported the tax insofar as they supported the Roman rule and the tax that would've supported their government in their land. One of the few things these two groups would've held in common was a common disdain for Jesus. And they begin by saying, "Teacher," as they approached Jesus. "Teacher, we know you

are a truthful man and teach God's ways sincerely. You court no one's favor and do not act out of human respect." So the Pharisees begin with complimenting Jesus but Jesus looks and sees right through this as empty flattery, knowing they are plotting to trap him in some way.

And so they pursue this saying, "Give us your opinion then, in this case is it lawful to pay tax to the Emperor or not?" This is a real trap because, first of all, to give a little background, this tax that they are asking about was called a poll tax or head tax. It was required of every single man, woman and slave who lived in the Roman occupied territory, which of course Palestine was. Anyone within the ages of 12 to 65 had to pay an annual head or poll tax of a denarius which was a full days' labor. And they had to pay it in Roman currency, which was very resented by most devout Jews as a symbol of oppression. Here was the trap itself. If Jesus said, "No don't pay the tax." He could have been charged with rebellion or sedition and could have been arrested by the Roman soldiers and officials.

If, on the other hand, he said, "Yes, pay the tax." He could have been charged by the religious leaders with blasphemy because this was a violation against the basic beliefs of Jews regarding idolatry. So, Jesus we're told, recognized their bad faith and said to them, "Why are you trying to trip me up? You hypocrites.” Boy that's a strong word and I like to just look at that a moment. You might know, the word hypocrite is a Greek word that originated on the Greek stage or theater. It was the word that referred to that actor who put on a mask, a face, perhaps sunglasses and presented another character other than him or herself. And so this is what a hypocrite is, someone who puts on a false front and presents someone other than their true self. This is what Jesus saw through and his words, "You hypocrites…" It's as though he's ripping off their mask and having them face themselves and who they truly are, what their true intentions were. Quit hiding behind their questions. And you know, we can do that even with religion. We could hide behind our religion. We could even hide behind our certain beliefs. We could hide behind certain practices, however lofty or pious they appear, but only our true self can come before Jesus. And as we come before Jesus he will bring out the true self. Thomas Merton once said, "The greatest enemy of the spiritual life is illusions. That false sense of God, that false sense of self. And so Jesus wants to tear apart, breakthrough, to that inner person that is always human and humble. And this is what he's trying to breakthrough with these characters, these actors, the Pharisees and Herodians.

So Jesus does this in the most ingenious way. He says, "Show me the coin used for the tax." And then they handed him a small Roman coin. By the mere fact that Jesus has these Pharisees produce the coin reveals that despite their abhorrence for this tax, which carried the graven image of the Emperor, they show and reveal that they've already compromised themselves and their credibility, by the mere fact they're carrying this coin. Jesus didn't have it. He's trying to bring out their true self and the duplicity, if you will, of their own selves. So while they intended to lay a trap for Jesus, they walked into a trap themselves.

Jesus, then, takes the point further and asked them, "Whose head is this and whose inscription?" The question was so simple but it's to make a point that's more profound. They say, "Caesar's." At the time of Jesus, in fact the denarius that we speak of, that was used for this poll tax, bore the image of the Emperor Tiberius who ruled between 14 and 37 AD (or CE as it's sometimes

referred to as the common era) and the inscription on this coin read, and I quote: "Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, High Priest."

You understand that this reference to the Emperor's divinity was considered blasphemy to the Jews, for only one was divine and the very first and greatest commandment is that thou shalt have no other gods before me. So the fact that this coin possessed the image of a false god and was given to pay tribute to him, was such a point of consternation and tension with the Jews. Then Jesus responds to their question, "Should we pay this tax are not?" by, if you will, sidestepping the question he says, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's," thereby avoiding the trap of either supporting or resisting the Roman government. You see, in fact, Jesus does say in so many words they should pay the tax on the grounds that since the coin belonged to the Emperor then give to the Emperor what is his.

At the same time, Jesus takes the question and turns it to a more important matter, moving beyond political issues to a more important spiritual matter when he says, "Give to God what is God's." In other words, we are obligated more than any other responsibility, to be diligent about our spiritual responsibilities. For Jesus that's what matters most. It is a spirituality that encompasses all of politics and all of economics. You understand? It goes far above and beyond what our civic responsibility might be and takes it to eternity; all encompassing, pervading, giving to God what is God's. What does that leave out?

Now, I want to add that sometimes this text "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and Give to God what is God's" is misinterpreted. Often it's used to support one's personal belief about church and state. Some people refer to it as an argument, adhering to the separation of church and state. Other people refer to it indicating our personal civic or political responsibilities. But clearly in this strict context Jesus is not supporting any kind of political philosophy. He is addressing an overall spirituality that encompasses all of life. So the question I would like for us to address is just that most important spiritual matter, what belongs to God? How can we give to God what is God's?

I'd recommend my own reflection of that question, that we might consider the Christian definition of stewardship as a way of acknowledging God's ownership of all of life. A steward, I might begin by defining, is a person who manages the affairs of a household or business for their owner. So a Christian steward recognizes God is the owner of all that we are and all that we have. We could even say in the same image of a coin, on each one of us is stamped the image of our Creator, insofar as we have been created in His image and likeness and therefore belong entirely to Him. Our life is not ours alone. It is, as Christian stewardship would remind us, all is given to us, as it were, on loan to use, to manage, to develop, in order to give over to God what is God's.

So how can we see all that we are and all that we have in terms of Christian stewardship or giving to God what is God's?

I'd like to give a little history of how Jesus and his Jewish people solve this very, very important point of spirituality. Israel recognized God's ownership and practiced stewardship by giving to God the first fruits of their harvest, or the first and best lamb of their flock. Once they worked

beyond the herding of the sheep or cultivating the land into other jobs and labor, then they developed the great tradition of tithing in which they gave to God 10% of their income off the top. They gave to God their first and their best, not just the leftovers. I like to take that word leftovers because many of us so often serve God leftovers, insofar as we give to God what's left over in our day, in our time, with our schedule, after we've done everything we thought we needed to do or wanted to do. Then we give God some of our left over time and energy. We give to God oftentimes what is left over once we've spent what's in our wallet or purse and paying all our bills and doing all the things or buying all the things that we wanted. And I would recommend rather than give to God leftovers, we should give everything over to Him and see how God goes over in allocating, or budgeting if you will, all of these areas of our life.

Let me give this example to help bring the point home. It was a time when I was at St. Clare’s Church in College Hill and we were looking at the question of stewardship and I was very impressed with our neighboring parish, College of Presbyterian Church. So we went next door to our brothers and spoke to their business manager and he taught me a lesson I have never forgotten. He said, "You know so many of us are asking the wrong question. We should not ask myself how much of my time or my money do I give to God. Rather, the question to be raised is, ‘How much of God's time and God's money should I give to Him, to my family, to my responsibilities, and all that God has given to me.’"

Clearly, giving to our families is the primary way of giving to God. Giving to others who we're responsible for is a way of giving to God, but that we allow God to lead the way. And [we must] not presume too much. You know it's easy, as they say, to give to Caesar what is Caesar's because the IRS is going to come around and tell us what we owe them. But God doesn't [come around], except if we're listening and my suggestion is, in the Biblical tradition, we are invited, like the chosen people of old, to tithe all that we are. [We are invited] to give 10% of our time, which usually is far more precious than money for many of us; 10% of our treasure, and 10% of our talent. All that we are, all that we have. How do we give to God 10% of all that we have and all that we are?

I think it's very difficult to tithe but it is a way of not taking off the bottom, but taking off the top: the first fruits, not the last leftovers, and I would suggest this little exercise. I would guess that most of us will never write a book about ourselves, except for our checkbook and our appointment book. And if you look into these books they reveal an awful lot about ourselves. Let's first take our checkbook. Imagine this, I recommend it to you, opening your checkbook, looking at your reserve, your income, and asking God to help you to budget your money according to His wisdom. And given your responsibilities in life, imagine even, as that is like a pie, you know different pieces, there's only so much to go around. Imagine then giving to God a blank check and asking Him to fill in the amount that He would want you to give to your parish church, or to your favorite charity. Imagine what would happen. Can you imagine people doing that?

A good guide, what I believe the Lord has led me and many others to try to do, is to give 5% of your income to your church family community and 5% of your income to your favorite charity. And I called you to more than contributions, I called you to commitment to giving to God where you believe God is calling you to give. For many of us, it's first to get ourselves out of debt. I

was alarmed when somebody who is familiar with banking said how many people today are in debt. It was something like half the people. I'm not talking about just mortgage debt, I'm talking primarily credit card debt. It's enormous and would God want us there? Have we overspent our budget? I believe God's call is to a simpler lifestyle. Or as you've heard it said, "Live more simply so that others could simply live." And our government is the worst example. We so overspend; we don't have it to spend. So I think lots of things will be called into question when we hand over our finances and ask God to be our financial advisor. I think this gospel invites us to do that. Give to God what is God's and our treasure is one of those gifts of God.

But not just our treasure. I don't want to just limit our attention to the financial matters. Even more, I would encourage us to look at our time, at your appointment book or calendar, and ask God to help you budget your time, especially in terms of priority. What matters most? What comes first? I believe God may re-arrange much of our time. A lot of our time is not free to juggle, but many of us, I think, over spend. [We] over extend ourselves, and we're never meant to go there, to do that. Perhaps we're drawing too much on reserves that are not there and God never wanted it. We have to be very prudential, if you will, about how God is advising us to allocate our time and energy. Giving to our family, quality time, and to ourselves.

Unless we give some precious time to ourselves for her own mental, and physical, and spiritual health, we will be no good for anybody else. And I commit this error. I sat yesterday because I was falling a little behind in this presentation, I gave up time of going to exercise. I should've asked myself, "Is this what God wants?" I so often operate on automatic pilot, rather than acting out what God is leading me to do. We can act out of compulsion, or bad habits, or you know many of these things drive us, we say, "I gotta get this done." Well who's speaking then? Who's saying you gotta? Is God saying you gotta do this, do that? I'm just raising the question for us to ask ourselves. All of this is what this gospel seems to call for. And what about our talent? What is the talent that needs to be nurtured and developed? Needs to be honored and shared? What is this mission that has to go beyond my little world of just my family? I really believe the greatest problem that I face myself is, I get so caught up in my little world. Each of us has all we can handle right?

But do we forget about the greater matters of justice that involve the wider, bigger world? What about foreign missions? What about people who are poor in our community? What about others, the neglected ones, even among our relatives who don't hear from us or see us so often? Where is God leading us? Would we take the time today to ask the question: What does it mean to give to God what is God's but to give over every arena and area of our life and have God go through it with us to allocate this, if you will, you can picture this pie, God will never ask more of us than what we have to give. Never. And I doubt that you would be ready to tithe if you are severely in debt. You know what I'm saying? God would say, "Pay off your debt. Get free from under that burden so you can freely give." But he would call us to some radical change.

So what I'm saying, is let's bring it all to God. Let's bring it all out. Let's not hide behind anything. Give to God what is God's and trust, that He will never overdraw his account with you. Trust that He will never ask more of you than what you have to give. And what He will ask you to give will in fact be for your best eternal investments. And that's where we can end is that when we give to God wisely, responsibly, and yes generously, we will receive the greatest return of

blessings. Look around you, the happiest and the holiest people are people who have spent their lives giving to others and to God, and yes, appropriately to themselves. Give to God what is God's and God will give to you all that is His as well. Amen.