“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21).
For the Roman Emperor, a coin, a medium of exchange, was an opportunity for propaganda. Pick it up, and you saw the image of the ruler and his title. Before the time of the emperors, Roman coins often had the image and name of a god, or depicted a mythological scene. But starting with Julius Caesar, the emperors began to exploit coinage as another opportunity to get their message across, by affixing their own name and image on the currency. Putting the Emperor’s face on a coin itself suggested a sort of divine status. Sometimes the claim was explicit. Putting the title “lord” or “emperor” on the medium of exchange staked out definite territory. The Emperor himself, and no one else, was the source of blessing and prosperity.
This practice was a stumbling block to faithful Jews, for whom idolatry, the making of images, was a pressing problem. The second commandment had prohibited this kind of imagery: “Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them” (Ex. 20:4-5). This commandment was linked to the first, “I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods but me” (Ex. 20:2-3). The prohibition of idolatry stood right at the head, front and center, of the commandments that God gave to Israel.
This gives us a little more context for our Gospel reading today. The problem with taxes is not taxes: it’s what they represent. The bright and shiny image on the coin is a piece of propaganda, an invitation to worship the Emperor and to acknowledge him as the source of blessing and prosperity. It’s a bit like the devil’s invitation in the wilderness for Jesus to fall down and worship him (Matt. 4:9). There’s something more here than the expression of colossal egotism, of profound narcissism. At its heart it’s idolatry.
When Jesus invites the disciples to look at the image on the coin, what they see there is a political-theological nexus of belief that runs roughshod over their own loyalty to God. Who, after all, is in charge of the universe: God or the Emperor? Well of course, God is the source of all life. For Jesus and his followers, the image on the coin is an incitement to idolatry: to follow the bright and shiny image into active disobedience to God.
We live in politically polarized times, marked by hyper-partisanship, and enmity toward our political opponents. Our “tribe” is opposed to their “tribe.” There are many bright and shiny images, tokens of allegiance, that might tempt us. This may not be the worst aspect of modern life, however, bad as that kind of hatred is.
What’s more alarming is that, with the eclipse of faith, people have begun to invest politics with the ultimate meaning that ought to belong to faith in God. Even when Christian faith remains, it’s often hijacked into the uncritical service of political agendas that are opposed to Christian values. We mistake the bright shiny image as the source of our righteousness. This is also a kind of idolatry, a placing of partisanship above our commitment to Christ.
Jesus’ reply to the question about taxes offers a different way to proceed. “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt. 22:21). Politics has its place in the grand scheme of things: there are things that are owed to political authorities. We have responsibilities and rights as citizens of the earthly city. It is right and proper to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, especially when Caesar’s face is on the coin.
But this affirmation is balanced by the other, which is to give to God the things that are God’s. The two are not the same. In fact, one completely overbalances the other. What we owe to God is the whole of our lives. Jesus is the source of grace, the gift of God that creates the margin on which we live. He is the one who has risen from the dead. The image on the coin cannot eclipse the covenant loyalty we owe to God. He is the one who has made us in his image.
Those being confirmed today are reminding us of this truth. The baptismal covenant in which we all join this morning is the pledge of our ultimate loyalty as members of the Church. It’s inspiring to see and hear from people who are willing to make this commitment, and are open to the grace of God that will allow them to follow through. We live in a divided world where there are many temptations to put our faith in something else apart from God. Your witness today is helping to remind us that we must put our faith in Christ.