Simple coin?
Hardly.
The situation depicted in the passage we just heard is filled with trouble. It's ripe with false humility, political maneuvering, and some of the most sinister motives we can imagine. And the question comes to Jesus from an unlikely alliance, from a surprising conspiracy of members from two groups who held positions very much in opposition to one another.
On one side of the conspiracy were some disciples of the Herodians. The Herodians were supporters Herod Antipas, the Jewish King who was placed into power by the Romans. The Romans were the occupiers and oppressors of first-century Palestine, certainly not favored by many of the Jews who lived in the region. But the Herodians were supporters of the Roman puppet king, and by extension, supporters of Roman rule itself. They were on one side of this conspiracy.
And on the other side of the conspiracy were some disciples of the Pharisees, members of a group mentioned many more times in the gospels. The Pharisees were a sect of Jewish leaders who were experts on the Scriptural law, leaders who encouraged the people to devote both spiritual and mundane aspects of their lives to God's commandments in the Torah. They sought for God's law to reign supreme, to reign over the laws of their foreign invaders and occupiers. So unlike the Herodians, the Pharisees were opposed to Roman rule.
An unlikely alliance. A surprising conspiracy, for sure.
We can't know what sort of conversations took place behind closed doors to bring some members of these groups together. We can't know what sort of negotiations brought their question into existence. But we can assume that these unlikely allies came together because of they sought to entrap a common enemy. They came together to entrap Jesus, whose teachings about the Kingdom of God threatened their hold on power.
Simple question?
Simple coin?
Hardly.
After showering Jesus with some false praise, the question comes. "Tell us then, Jesus, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?"
Often, human beings desire for others to agree with them so that they can feel bolstered in their own positions, but not in this case. That wasn't the ultimate motive here. In this case, each part of the alliance hoped that Jesus would choose a side, so that the other side might attack him, so that the other side might enlist other leaders in power to put him to death. Sinister, indeed.
A trap question. "Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?" If Jesus were to give some form of a 'yes' answer to that question, his life would be in danger from some who were firmly against Rome's occupation. But if Jesus were to give some form of a 'no' answer to that question, he could be tried and killed for sedition like other public figures who had encouraged revolt. It was a trap question, and in their unlikely alliance, some disciples of the Herodians and Pharisees thought they had put Jesus in a situation where they were sure to win, and he was sure to lose.
But Jesus gives words that transcend their sinister motives, words that transcend the question itself. He brings their motives in the open. "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?" he says. Then he transforms this trap into a teaching moment. "Show me the coin used for paying the tax. Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" Now the members of this unlikely alliance are on the answering end of their own question. "Caesar's," they reply simply. Then the game-changing statement comes. Jesus says, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." These disciples of the Herodians and the Pharisees leave him amazed at his answer.
Jesus transcended their question, and he did it with a theological conviction that is at once so much larger and far beyond the trappings of human beings, while also being a conviction so near to what it means to be human beings. Jesus transcends this question and puts questions of identity to us.
The coin was not a simple coin. The coin Jesus requested to see was a denarius, a Roman coin used for commerce, a Roman coin used for taxation. This coin was not simple because it made big claims. It made claims that the Jews - certainly the Pharisees - believed to be inherently blasphemous. The coin had had an engraved image of Tiberius Caesar on it, and that image was accompanied by an inscription which read: "Tiberius Caesar, august and divine son of Augustus, high priest." The inscription claimed that Tiberius Caesar was divine - that Tiberius Caesar was a god - so for the Jews, the Roman denarius made claims that were both oppressive and blasphemous.* What would it be like to carry such a coin as your currency? What happens when such a coin is necessary for bread? What happens when this coin is used for taxation, reminding you that you and your nation are oppressed by a ruler who makes false claims of ultimacy about himself?
Jesus says, "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's." These coins inscripted with a false claim of ultimacy belong to the one the making such false claims. But human beings are not made from false claims of ultimacy and power - whether Caesar's claim or any false claim of ultimacy and power. And upon that conviction, Jesus transcends this entrapping question with a claim near and immanent to who God is, and who we are called to be in relation to God. "So give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." These physical coins belong to Caesar and his false claims, but human beings belong to God's care and to God's call. That claim is a true claim of ultimacy upon the entirety of our lives.
'Whose image is this? And whose inscription is this?" Jesus asks. When it comes to a denarius, those questions involve Caesar, but when it comes to you and me - when it comes to all that God has lovingly created- the answer is far different. Jesus' conviction is based upon the Jewish scriptures, that in the beginning, God created humankind in God's image. You and I are God's creation. We bear God's image. We don't belong to oppression! We don't belong to false claims of ultimacy! You and I belong fully to God, to God's care and to God's call. That's who we are. That's whose we are.
We live in a different time and place than first-century Palestine, but we too have false claims of ultimacy surrounding us all the time. Who are we? Whose are we?
We don't belong to the news media - though many different forms of media try define who we are.
We don't belong to the images in magazines - though many images try to tell us how we should look.
We don't belong to a political camp - though many camps along the political continuum try to claim us.
We don't belong to our checkbooks or our credit cards- though our finances often overtake our lives.
We do not belong to any false claims of ultimacy.
Instead, we belong to God, our Creator. Jesus proclaims this message to us - Jesus, the one whom we proclaim to be God in the flesh, with and for us. And even now in this very moment, the Holy Sprit breathes that claim anew to us, proclaiming it again. You and I are made in God's image. We belong to fully God's care and to God's call.
So what does that mean for us? Among other things, means that we are called anew in this moment to live as though that conviction and that proclamation is actually true. We're invited to live as the ones we are created and called to be.
We belong to God's care. We are invited to live in the truth that God cares for us. We can rest in it. We can put our weight on it, trusting it. And since God cares for our neighbors too, we can even embody that love and care, bringing it to the members of this church and taking it beyond these walls toward others.
We belong to God's call. We are invited to live in the truth that God calls us - individually and collectively - to give all of ourselves to God's mission and vision. We can work upon it. We can put our weight on it, trusting it. And since God calls our neighbors too, we can even invite them into this call upon their lives, bringing that proclamation to the members of this church and taking it beyond these walls toward others.
In love, in passion, in vision, in service, in word, and in deed, we can look at God's care for us - how God has given all - and we can look to God's call for us, inviting us to give all of ourselves to such a great love.
All. A bit later in the chapter we read from today, Jesus will be questioned again. "Teacher, what is the greatest commandment?" he will be asked. And Jesus will reply, "'You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love with all your heart and all your soul, and with all your mind. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That is a call for us to hear anew today.
I want to close with a story, and some challenging questions for us all to consider.
When I read or hear this passage, I always associate it with a story that I heard in several sermons growing up in my home church Indiana. ** The story involves Charlemagne, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the 9th century. When Charlemagne wanted to take his soldiers into war, he desired to have them baptized into Christian baptism because he was concerned for their souls. But he also feared that their baptism as Christians would render them incapable of fighting in his wars. So the baptisms took place in this way: Charlemagne had his soldiers walk into the river for baptism, but when they were immersed in the water, they held their swords in the air above their heads. Their bodies were immersed in the water, but their swords were not. Their swords were lifted above them so that the waters of baptism could not touch them.
Though they were human beings made in the image of God - formed and fashioned to live in God's care and God's call - Charlemagne and his soldiers attempted to keep an aspect of their lives away from God.
So often, we do that too. And so I close with some questions for us to consider and an invitation for us to practice this day and in the week ahead of us. What aspects of our lives are we in effect holding above the waters of baptism? Though God gives all and seeks all of us, what do we keep from God? What would be we holding in the air these days? Our resentments? Our addictions or compulsions? Our apathy? Our cynicism? What are we keeping unchanged by God? How about our wallets? Some of us truly struggle with greed. And some of us truly struggle with fears that we will not have enough to make it. Whatever our situation, God seeks to care for us in our finances and to call us in and through our finances. What else? An unhealthy relationship? A reputation? A fear that we can't really be forgiven? A painful truth that we've never told anyone? What is it? How is God calling us to bring these aspects of ourselves into the waters of our baptismal identity, more intentionally into our relationship with God and into our relationship with God's people?
This week, I invite all of us to consider those aspects and to give them to the care of God and to the call of God. "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's but to God what is God's." That means give us. That means our very lives. Let's give it a try this week. Amen.
* I am grateful for the insights of Richard E. Spalding in Feasting on the Word, Year A, Volume 3, pg. 192. His commentary on this passage included the information about the image and inscription on the denarius.
**I heard this story several times in the sermons of Rev. David Nelson Roth at St. John United Presbyterian Church in New Albany, IN. I have also found this story in other sermons online. But I have unfortunately, not found a primary source.
On Sunday, October 30th, Pasadena Presbyterian Church had a huge celebration. And for good reason! This year we are celebrating 10 Years of Korean Ministry at PPC.
