Mtr Kelli Joyce

They asked him, ‘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.’

Dear friends in Christ,

The question of how we, as children of God and followers of Christ, should relate to the government is even older than Christianity itself. Jesus’ enemies want him killed, but haven’t yet found a way to do it themselves, so they’re trying to get Jesus in trouble with Rome directly. Jesus has not historically been known to them to defer to purported authorities. “Teacher,” they say, disingenuously, “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.” Should we pay taxes to Rome?

Jesus doesn’t give them a simple yes or no answer - he usually doesn’t, in the Bible. Instead, he gives them (and us) a framework, leaving us with the responsibility of applying it to our lives, and depriving his enemies of anything incriminating to take to the governor. “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give God the things that are God’s.”

The world invents systems of value and power and control, and as far as Jesus is concerned, the world can keep them. We shouldn’t hoard earthly wealth and power for ourselves. But the things that really matter - our time, our relationships, our hearts - belong to God. And we must not give those over to the government, or to any other earthly power, because we owe them to God. (Who, as it turns out, will take much better care of them than any emperor or government ever could. Thanks be to God.)

Mtr. Kelli