Matthew 22:15-22
In reading the gospel and studying it for this weekend’s sermon, I laughed internally and thought: the Holy Spirit strikes again! In our deep political division, in our non-stop political flyers and phone calls and text messages, in this season of voting which is no longer simply a day, there is perhaps no better scripture to read and ponder. For this story of Jesus’ encounter with the Pharisees and Herodians asks: How do Christians most faithfully engage the world, and more specifically, the government? Or in the words of the Pharisees and Herodians: Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?
For a couple chapters of the gospel of Matthew now, various groups of religious leaders and now civic leaders have listened to Jesus’ parables, parables that critique their power and positions. And now, the Pharisees, Jewish leaders who tend the law, pair up with the Herodians, supporters of King Herod, king of this portion of the Roman Empire. Together, the Pharisees and Herodians approach Jesus wishing to entrap him. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not? The political pressure is real. He cannot say no; that would mean imprisonment for dishonoring the emperor. He cannot say yes; that would mean dishonoring God—and in the presence of the Pharisees. Instead, Jesus asks to see the coin by which people pay the tax. Whose head is it and whose title? He asks. The emperor’s. And what the gospel writer Matthew assumes the reader knows is that stamped on the coin is a message naming Caesar “Son of God.” So, Jesus artfully dodges the question and says: Give to the emperor what is the emperor’s and to God what is God’s. The Pharisees and Herodians are amazed by his answer and leave him.
Jesus’ response leaves me scratching my head. What belongs to the government? And what belongs to God? In 16th century Germany, these questions led Martin Luther to write about the two kingdoms: God’s kingdom on the right and the temporal kingdom on the left. A spiritual kingdom wherein lie those baptized into the body of Christ, hearing God’s word, sharing the good news, serving the neighbor. And a temporal kingdom wherein leaders of state restrain violence and injustice and maintain peace and order. Poor Luther. This is perhaps his most misunderstood theological concept—well, this one or his view on free will. In the 500 years since he penned the doctrine of the two kingdoms, many have misunderstood Luther to say that God is active only in the spiritual realm, that only baptized Christians do the work of God, that God is head of the church, but God hands off power to kings and presidents, legislators and mayors for the care of society. Surely not! Luther would say if he were here today. God is not only Lord of heaven and earth but of both the spiritual and temporal realms. What belongs to the government, and what belongs to God? I think Luther would say this is a false dichotomy since everything belongs to God—even while we recognize two kingdoms, one where God works through the gospel to share grace and one where God works through the law to bring about a just society.
Indeed, it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor because the emperor himself works for God, to restrain violence and injustice, to maintain peace and order. Just as in the spiritual realm, God reigns in the temporal, at work in leaders and governments. And just as the church struggles to follow God, just as we put our pride before the care of others or fail to listen or fail to serve, so too do leaders of nations struggle to maintain integrity, to keep focused on governing instead of campaigning, to tell the truth. Whether in the spiritual or temporal, the work of the people is inconsistent, limited, broken by sin. But this is God’s world, through and through, and in God’s world, God reigns.
As ever, in these days, God is up to something. God is up to something in the church. God is up to something in the world. God is even up to something in the US government. The question is not: Is God the Lord of the US government? Rather, the question is: What does God’s reign in the US government look like? And the answer is not any different than any other day or time. God’s reign looks like love, like justice, like care for all people but especially those most vulnerable. God’s reign looks like truth and generosity and care for God’s creation. Whoever works for these values, and whichever legislation manifests these values, that is God’s mark.
Our question of the day is: Does your faith influence how you vote? Why or why not? Check the Facebook feed of worship on October 18 to read people’s reflections.
Friends, I hope your faith influences how you vote. I hope, when you consider the candidates and propositions on the ballot, you hold them up to the God you know in Jesus. I hope you are open to the Holy Spirit at work in you. Perhaps life would be easier if we could neatly categorize our choices into buckets of faith-centered choices on one hand and worldly choices on the other, but that is a false dichotomy. Luther’s two kingdoms doctrine teaches us that God is Lord everywhere, even in the ballot box. And today, while Jesus artfully dodges this most political question, the ironic truth of “Give to Cesar what is Cesar’s and to God what is God’s” is that everything is God’s. Thanks be to God! Amen.