Bulletin

Living from the Liturgy

‘For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.’

+INJ+

‘The Pharisees plotted how to entangle Him in his words.’ They ask Him if it is lawful that the Jewish people pay taxes to the Romans.

If our Lord were to say no, then the Roman authorities would have arrested Him for the incitement of disorder. If He were to say yes, then He would be judged a heretic.

But Jesus is aware of their malice, and commands that the coin for the tax be brought over.

Coins have been struck the same way since the beginning of kingdom and empire. Upon the front is emblazoned the face of a king, a ruler, a magistrate, usually with the commendation of a few words; on the obverse is the symbol of a god which is said to watch over the people.

A denarius was brought before Jesus. Upon it is the face of Tiberius Caesar, the emperor of what was thought of as the whole of the civilized world. He had brought peace to the earth, and his judgments were swift, and harsh, and just.

Beneath his likeness, these words appear, ‘Tiberius Caesar, Divi Augusti,’ ‘Tiberius Caesar, of the god Augustus.’ These words are not to be lightly taken. This Tiberius Caesar bears the divinity of the Augusti, the Emperors, who themselves are no less than gods.

On the other side of the coin is an image of the goddess Pax, that is, ‘Peace,’ with the words ‘Pontifex Maximus,’ ‘The Highest Priest’ boldly pronounced. For peace, eternal peace to the Roman people, has been brought down upon their imperium by the mediation of the one Emperor; that god which seduces the gods away from division and war and strife, and by his just rulership, pacifies their wrath.

The coin is an idol, a graven image, even one of a god; and one that makes the claim that by this god does all earthly good flow forth. To trade and buy and sell with this coin is a confession, that all peaceful activities, all productive transactions, are only possible by the grace of deified Caesars.

Can then, the worshippers of the one true God, the God of Israel, bargain by such a coin, by such a god, in the name of such an idol? Or worse, can they sacrifice this very idol to the god whom the idol of the coin represents?

For taxation, even in our own age is nothing but this; a kind of eucharistic thanksgiving to the state. By the power of the American government, all our life is made possible and safe, all our business is made secure, all our provisions are guaranteed; and so as a sort of thank offering, we render a portion of the state’s benevolent gift to us back to the lords in Washington, D.C., that first granted it to us.

It is an act of worship: and if we do not pay, we provoke the wrath of the god of Washington, who shall be swift in punishment. If we do pay, all of us, then our welfare is promised, for the state will not disappoint those who beckon and beseech and trust it through their coin.

The Pharisees wait for this wandering prophet of God to say that to render an idolatrous coin to a false god is indeed sin; and so see Jesus be taken away by the strong arm of Tiberius.

The Pharisees wait for this leader of the people to say that one must always pay their taxes on time to the god of the land; and so see Jesus stoned for the sin against Moses of the worship of foreign deities.

Jesus looks upon the coin; upon Tiberius Caesar’s face, He gazes, then He speaks.

‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars, and render unto God the things that are God’s.’

‘And when they heard it, they marveled, and they left him and went away.’

But why? What is it that our Lord has spoken that so impresses them? ‘Render unto God the things of God.’ What are these things of God? Perhaps it is nothing more than the coin of God.

For God, too, has impressed His image upon a created object; for like a coin He struck Adam, and all humanity, and impressed His very likeness into our being. ‘In his own image he created them.’

And this coin of humanity, that bears the king of all creation’s image, it too is covered in words, like the coins of Rome, like the coins of America, for we too are not merely to bear the image of God, but also His word, His law, His prophecy, His light, His Gospel. All these things we hold within us, according to our humanity, we who were once freshly minted in the garden.

And what must be done with a coin? Of course a coin is to be given to others for their sake, and to receive what is good in return for the sake of others. All trade, as the economists say, is to the benefit of both parties. When one buys a new car, that car is of more value to you than the money, which is why you spend it, and that money of the more value to the dealer than the car, which is why he sells it. Money is to be given, and given for the benefit of others. It does not matter if it is in a fair deal, or out of charity: all money, lawfully given, is an act of kindness.

So it is with our humanity, that exists not to dwell alone, like money buried in a yard or hidden under a bed, nor to simply to dwell in endless self-aggrandizement, like an account accruing interest. Rather, our humanity exists that it may face outward, that it may be given to others, that they might be served; and in so serving them, our neighbor becomes richer, richer in grace and gratitude, and in us giving ourselves, we too become richer, richer in virtue and in godliness.

The economists speak of the ‘velocity of money,’ that the quicker money is used by all parties, the stronger the economy as a whole is. Who knows if this is actually true of the economy, and perhaps there is much wisdom in keeping some money in the savings account, not to be spent; but it is at least true with the wealth of our humanity, that the faster and more eagerly we spend ourselves on others, the greater the whole of humanity becomes. So it is that we live outside ourselves in love toward our neighbor, and quickly so.

But money is not only for spending. It is also for taxation. Indeed, it may be for taxation first, and only spending second. The term ‘money’ is best defined as ‘that good which the government accepts in taxes.’ The fact that the government accepts it as a means of payment to itself is what gives it any value at all in the marketplace, for no one will trade in goods which they cannot in turn use to pay their fines and fees and obligations. Bitcoin, as a national medium of exchange, is still far off.

So too, our humanity is not only to be given to others. It is not even primarily to be given to others. It is first and foremost to be given to God, an offering, indeed a thank offering, to the king of heaven, by whom we have all peace and security, every good that we receive in this life.

‘Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice, dedicated and pleasing to God.’ Thus St. Paul teaches us. For to give over to God is the very purpose of our existence, the reason for which His image is imprinted upon us, that in our life, and in our death, God’s own image might be rendered back unto Him.

Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees is simple: it is no idolatry to give Caesar’s coin to Caesar, since, no matter what his claims may be, Caesar is not a god, and therefore to give him his image on his coin is not, in fact, worship.

But God is indeed the Lord, and to render ourselves, who bear His image back to Him, this indeed is worship, and in fact the sole and only worship; for all the sacrifices of the Law of Moses, whom the Pharisees sought to use against the Christ, are but imitations and types of the one sacrifice: the sacrifice of human being, whole and undefiled, to the Lord who created him.

Do you, then, dear Christian, pay your taxes? Do you render yourself, in regular installments, not quarterly or annually, but daily and by the minute, to the God who provides you with ever benefit of your existence, even your existence itself?

I ask you nothing different than what Jesus asked the Pharisees. Do you pay what you owe?

If you are good Lutherans, you will say no. But if you are good Christians, you will say no, and be terrified. You will marvel, and leave Jesus, and go away, just as the Pharisees did, for if the earthly government will come in its wrath to exact punishments upon you for your failure to pay your taxes, how much more will the God of the Universe be driven to wrath, when you, having received every good gift from Him, yet refuse to render to the Lord what is rightfully His? For you indeed, if you withhold anything from Him, are an idolator, and a worshipper of foreign divinities, for you give yourself to things that have not created you, you give yourself to dumb and lifeless things, in which there is no salvation, but to God, you have not a penny of yourself to offer.

The Lord Jesus looks away from the Pharisees, and He goes His way. He too, like us, is man. He too bears the image of God. And He too will be traded, for the benefit of His neighbor, for thirty pieces of silver.

Like the temple coin, mankind, through Judas and these Pharisees, will trade Him in at the cost of pagan money; all so that He might be spent as a living sacrifice, for He alone will pay what is owed; and He will pay it upon Golgotha, before the endless throng of Jerusalem, in the sight of those who would not pay.

And that with which He goes to pay is precious; precious enough to pay not only what He owes, but to pay for the debt of all humanity, for within Him He bears the fullness of the Godhead bodily, hidden within His flesh, a most dear payment, even as it is written:

‘I will give you the treasures of darkness,
    and the hoards in secret places.’

When tax season comes to us, dear children, we welcome it with anxiety, and cursing, and foul language, and anger, and the bitter feeling of creeping poverty. But with our Lord, it is not so.

Indeed, as He goes to render His tribute unto His King, our God, as He goes to offer the coin required of Him, our Lord Jesus sings, even sings with gladness. He sings a song that even you know:

‘What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?
I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people,

‘For precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His holy one.’

+INJ+

Preached by Pastor Fields
Sermon Texts: Isaiah 45:1-7; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22 :15-22.