Introduction
Today is harvest. In front of me you see a selection of produce. It used to be traditional at harvest to bring in a sample of crops to church and then it was given away to those who needed it. Rather than do that anymore, we give the offering for the day to charity. Back in the OT people used to bring the first of there crops and offer them to God, which is I guess where this came from. But if we don’t give our crops to God anymore, as most of us don’t have them, although I guess David could give his first tomato to the church, that’d probably be enough for tomato sauce for one chip for the youth club, but if we don’t bring crops any more “What does God want from us?”
It’s a good question really, especially these days. People who don’t usually come to church, can ask the question, wondering what it is they’re letting themselves get in for. People who already come to church, who hear sermons and Bible studies week in and week out, sometimes get to the point where you just want it laid on the line. What does God want from me? Other people are most questioning, God has saved them, they’re grateful, God is moving in their lives, is speaking to them but they’re unsure of what to do next and so they too ask the question what does God want from me. Other’s ask it in a more philosophical sense, what claims does God make on my life and what does he have right to ask. In Star Trek V, Captain Kirk posed a similar question when confronting a alien being who was masquerading as God and wanted the Starship Enterprise. He asked, “What does God need with a Starship?” Perhaps we might be tempted to ask “What does god need with me?” But however we ask the question or whatever permutation we come up with, it remains a very good question. What does God want from us?
Many different people throw up different answers. For some, it’s too search inside yourself and find him. For many in my home country in Scotland it would seem to be, turn up at church twice a year for communion, don’t go out of your way to hurt somebody else and do a wee bit for charity. Other’s might be a wee bit more demanding and say turn up every week at church. Some might say, he demands 10% of your income and then debate whether this is before or after tax. The events of the past few years and the last few weeks, reminds us for some God requires them to strap explosives to themselves and blow people up. Although to be fair what the Muslim faith actual requires is not that heavy, abstain from a few things, pray at the appointed time and make a pilgrimage once in your life for those who are able. But what do we say as a Church, or more interestingly what did Jesus say, God wants from us?
The story
Jesus answers the question in the story we read from the Bible earlier. It’s a rather odd little story, where the Pharisees and Herodians come up to Jesus and after some good old flattery ask him a question. “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar.” Now, what is at dispute here is not taxation policy. The Pharisees and Herodians were not really interested in what Jesus had to say about the issue. What they were interested in was trapping Jesus. This was a trick question, along the same lines as the more modern. “Have you stopped beating your wife?” If you answer no, then the response is “So you still beat her up”, while if the answer is yes, then the response is “Ah, so you admit to beating her up in the past.” This question was one like, although less joky because it’s not one that you can laugh off and point to the problem, because the issues concerned were very real.
Israel at the time, was under the control of the Romans. Now no-one likes an occupying power, especially one that was known to be brutal and kept a legion of troops near by to stomp on any trouble, but this was not just a question of political freedom, it was also a religious matter. The Jews believed that they were the chosen of God and they longed for the day when God would kick out the Romans and put his anointed king, the Messiah on the throne, while all the other nations in the world became subject to them.
So if Jesus says “yes, you should pay the tax” then he would alienate the crowd and set himself against them. How could he claim to speak for God, or claim to be the anointed king, the Messiah if he was for a Roman tax. It would give the Pharisees as easy way out to say, look this Jesus is no better than the collaborating tax collectors and sinners he hangs out with, we’re the ones that stand for real freedom from Rome and what God wants, not him. But on the other hand, if he actually says “no, don’t pay the tax” then they can report him to the Romans as a rebel and inciting revolt, both of which were capital crimes. Either way Jesus opposition to them was at an end, either because the people weren’t following him or because the Romans had executed him. It looked like a full proof plan, except of course they hadn’t counted on the brilliance of Jesus reply.
Jesus answer really was a masterpiece of brilliance, he starts by asking them to give him a coin and then asks them whose picture and inscription where on the coin. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a first century Roman coin. Now it would be really nice if I could bring one out this morning, but as the prices for them start at several hundred pounds that isn’t going to happen. So instead I have this picture of Roman coin from the 1st century during the reign of Tiberius the Roman Emperor at the time of Jesus. You’ll notice that on the coin there is a picture of Tiberius. Now while most people know that Jews were forbidden to make idols in the Old Testament, what most people don’t know is that they were also forbidden to make any images or at least ones of humans. Some debated whether images of flowers and animals were ok but certainly not humans. For instance when Herod made coins had put a reed on them and not his own face, not because he was an observant Jew but because he wanted to win favour with them and didn’t want to spark a revolt. Then there is the inscription, you can see it on the coin and if anyone knows Latin you could probably read it. I have to admit I don’t speak Latin but I am reliably told what was written in these coins. On one side it says ‘Augustus Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus’ and on the other side its says ‘High Priest’. As you can imagine this made the coins really popular with Jews, not only having a forbidden image, but claiming to be Son of God. Some Jews wouldn’t even accept, keep or use such coins because of the blasphemy on them, making sure all transactions took place with Jewish coins.
So here was Jesus first brilliant move, he asked them to show him a coin. Now Jesus wasn’t exactly saying that he himself would never touch the stuff, but he is making a point, these Pharisees who make such a point of keeping themselves pure, obeying the law and even going through priestly purification rituals that were not required in Scripture for ordinary Jews, were able to get one of these blasphemous coins. Jesus was making the point that they paid tax and had the coins they were trying to use to discredit Jesus for endorsing. At least on this occasion, Jesus doesn’t produce the coin, but his opponents do. Round one goes to Jesus.
But then we get to Jesus answer itself “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” This is a master stroke to, he answers with a reply that avoided both traps the Pharisees and Herodians were trying to lay for him. Firstly, it can be taken as way of saying ‘yes, pay the tax’ so he’s not in trouble with the Romans, but by drawing attention to the blasphemous image and inscription, he is not saying ‘yes, submit to your Roman masters’. In fact the response has the flavour of “send this filthy stuff back where it came from.” It is contemptuous with out opening Jesus to the charge of sedition. It’s opposing the Pagan Romans and their blasphemous claims but they can’t charge him with anything, after all he didn’t “tell people not to pay the tax”. Round two goes to Jesus.
But then his answer also echoes a well known Jewish cry of independence. Around two hundred years ago, the Jews had successfully revolted against Syrian oppressors in what became known as the Maccabean revolt. One of the slogans that was used at the time to inspire the troops, rather like Mel Gibson’s cry of ‘Freedom!!!’ in Braveheart, was this “pay back the Gentiles what they deserve – and obey the commands of the law!”, or “pay the Gentiles in their own coin”. To those familiar with such sayings, Jesus answer “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” has many echoes here. It could be a coded revolutionary slogan, after all when God has what is God’s then he will depose those who style themselves “son of god”. Yet again it doesn’t open level Jesus open to a charge against Rome, after all he literally did say “pay the tax”. Round three to Jesus.
Finally, he was saying that if a coin with the image of Caesar was to be given to Caesar surely what bears the image of God should be given to God. What bears the image of God. Well according to Genesis, humans do. When God was he created he created humans in his image. It mentions it four times in Genesis that humans are made in the image of God. In context he’s not saying “continue to give to God what is God’s” but rather “give to God what is God’s and what you are not giving him already”. Again this could have multiple meanings. Here is Jesus standing in the courtyards of the temple, saying, coming temple and giving the required sacrifice, isn’t enough he wants all of you. Religious observance coupled with a life that ignores God is not enough. It could also be more pointedly directed at the Pharisees and Herodians, who had come to question him, saying be more concerned about whether you are giving to God what he requires than worrying about taxes to Rome. Remember, asking them to produce a coin might have been a hint that they were not as pious as they pretended. Round four to Jesus, ding ding your out, as we used to say when we won an argument as kids. And at this point, it pretty much is a knock out and the Pharisees and Herodians knowing they have been defeated take a back seat and let somebody else take a swing at Jesus.
What this passage is not about, is how some have read it that we can compartmentalise life into the secular and the sacred. After all Jesus is really saying that as we bear the image of God, we should give our lives to God, all of it, completely.
Us
So how does this little story help us answer the question “What does God want with us”? On one level we could just answer, everything and for some that is the answer they need to hear. Others ask, well what does that mean.
Firstly, it means not compartmentalising life. It’s very easy to split our lives up into different bits that don’t affect one another, so religion is one thing, work another, family another and so on. God says no. I have heard reports of a famous Christian who runs a bus company with some rather questionable ethics who states that the sermon on the mount is all very well for your personal life, but he couldn’t run a business that way. Or you get some people who when they cross the threshold of the church, their languages changes, there are things they would never dream of doing in church, yet they do them all the time when they’re not in church, as if God is somehow confined to the church and is not aware or doesn’t care about what goes on outside the church doors. When Jesus said give to God what is God’s, he was talking about humans bearing the image of God. That means all of us. Our work life, our private life, our family life, our religious life, our sex life. The whole lot belongs to God. It doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself or do things for your pleasure. It does mean that your ethics apply right across the board. If it’s not acceptable in Church, then its probably not acceptable out of Church either. If God doesn’t want you acting a certain way, with your neighbour, then he doesn’t want your business acting that way with a client or competitor either. What God says doesn’t just apply to the religious bit of you, but to all of you. It means that God makes a difference in your family life, in the way you relate to your husband, wife and kids. It means God makes a difference in your work, in the way you relate to your workmates, your boss, your employees, those above you, those under you, those you sell to, those you are in competition with. It means God makes a different when you are with your friends.
Secondly, it means opposing those who are opposed to God, but doing it God’s way. As we saw the way Jesus phrased his reply, the way he called attention to the image and inscription on the coin, showed that while he was willing to pay at the tax for the moment, he wasn’t approving of the claims of Caesar either. In fact the two titles on the coin, Son of God and High Priest, actually really applied to Jesus, not Caesar. In the years to come this challenge of who had the right to be called Son of God, Jesus or the Roman Emperor would lead to a great persecution of the Church, as they refused to give to Caesar what was God’s. Perhaps this is one reason why the gospel writers all included this story in the gospels. For the non-Jewish Christians that followed in the couple of hundred years after Jesus death, it wasn’t a question of whether they should pay the tax, but whether the worship, honour and titles that belonged to God should be given to Caesar. Jesus answer was obviously no. But the way Jesus phrases the issues, showed the way he expected his followers to deal with their issues. Jesus didn’t stand up and say don’t pay the tax. He didn’t tell them to grab swords and slaughter the Romans for making such Blasphemous claims. He had other methods in mind. His followers in the centuries to come, would oppose Caesar’s claim and refuse to give what was God’s to Caesar, but they were going to do it Jesus way. They weren’t going to rise up and fight the Romans and demand that he take his blasphemy off the coins. They were just not going to be part of worshipping him. We face the same challenges today. OK, Tony Blair isn’t going around calling himself the Son of God, but there are issues in our world today where people need to take a stand and say this is wrong. When people are exploited, taken advantage of and abused. We need to be willing to oppose evil. But we need to be willing to do it God’s way.
Lastly, it means not giving to others what belongs to God. In ancient times as I mentioned it means not worshipping Caesar as God or a Son of God, because worship belongs to God. In modern times, we don’t worship, bow down or kill animals as sacrifices as they did in ancient times, but we do put other things in God’s place, we let other things become our top priority, the thing we care most about, we let others become the one we would rather please than God. As our creator, as the one who gave everything he had for us, as the sovereign ruler of the universe, as the one who loves us and wants the very best for us, he has a right to be our top priority and the number one. Give to God what is God’s.
But what sort of change does it mean? How should it change your family life, your work life, your business life etc. What is God’s way of opposition to evil? Well you have two ways of finding out. One is to get a Bible and start reading it. The other is to come back tonight when we will begin to look at some of those issues beginning with Luke 6 and then keep coming back as we journey through the Bible together and discover what God wants us to do in our lives. Tonight we look at where Jesus says turn the other cheek and ask he didn’t really mean us to live like that, did he?
