Luke 20:20-26

Posted by DJL on Nov 27, 2013 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.” He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent.

The plot thickens.

Stymied in an earlier attempt to trap Jesus, and then overhearing his accusing parable, Jesus’ opponents try to trap him once again. This time the question is about taxes, a subject that was even more contentious then than it is now. For the tax in question actually supported the Roman occupation, so it was incredibly unpopular. Which meant that if Jesus affirmed the tax he would lose favor the people, but if he denounced it he would put himself at odds with the Empire. A precarious situation indeed!

Jesus, however, comes at it from another angle altogether, asking his opponents to show him a denarius. The very fact that they have a denarius so readily available is rather telling…and damning. We are in the Temple, after all, where no foreign money was accepted, yet they have on them a coin bearing an image of the Emperor Tiberius and identifying him as “son of the Divine Augustus.” Yet perhaps eager to advance their plot against Jesus, his opponents quickly proffer a coin and acknowledge that it is, indeed, Caesar’s image on the coin.

This sets the background for Jesus’ response: “give, therefore, to the emperor, the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Suddenly the tables are turned, as all in attendance confess that everything belongs to the holy One of Israel, the one who made humanity in the “image” of God (recall Genesis 1). With just a few words, Jesus reveals the truth about his would-be accusers and simultaneously calls them to a higher standard of faithfulness than they’d imagined.

Might he also be doing that to us? Often we read this passage simply as affirming our political leanings, conservatives arguing that Jesus supports traditional divisions between church and state or liberals insisting that Jesus stands against complicity with oppressive forces. But no matter how hard we try to press Jesus’ statement into service for our political convictions, it defies definitive interpretation and remains illusive, even ambiguous.

I wonder if that might be by design. For while our relationship to government authority (including the matter of taxes) differs significantly from that of first-century Jews, there is at least one way in which we are similar: there is no way to flee participation, and perhaps even complicity, with the “powers that be.” This is neither to assume that such participation is always bad – read Romans 13 – or that it is always either good or inevitable. There are times Christians cooperate with civil authority and times we resist, and telling the difference often takes more than a modicum of wisdom.

But whatever alliances we may make with the powers of this world, these alliances are always temporary, dictated perhaps by the demands of the circumstances but ultimately directed by our relationship with the One who created us and whose image we bear. This means that following Jesus’ counsel is always a matter of discernment, prayer, and confession, as we will frequently fail and always struggle to discern what God-fearing participation with government requires.

I wish it was easier. I wish that Jesus had given us clear-cut instructions. But perhaps discipleship involves more than rote obedience. Perhaps part of discipleship is struggling to follow our Lord even when the way is not clear, doing our level best each day in the world and then returning to the community to hear words of encouragement, forgiveness, and grace.

Prayer: Dear God, grant us wisdom to discern your will for our lives in the world, courage to follow what we perceive, humility to recognize that we may not always see the way clearly, and forgiveness when we err or fail. In Jesus’ name, Amen.