Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, November 3rd, 2013
Fr. Todd Bragg
St. Margaret Anglican Church
Indianapolis, Indiana
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." (St. Matthew 22:15ff)
Did you ever hear the phrase, "Politics makes strange bedfellows?" In today's Gospel passage from St. Matthew, we see some strange bedfellows joining together to trap Our Blessed Lord in His words. On the one side, we have the Pharisee's, who saw themselves as extremely devout Jews, who prided themselves on following Jewish laws and customs down to the letter. They wanted nothing to do with the local Roman authority and did not even want to pay tribute to the local officials because, as devout Jews, they felt that they should only have to pay tribute to God and not to man. On the other side, we have the Herodians, who followed King Herod, the Roman-appointed king. Thus, the Herodians very much supported the Roman government and its' local officials. Thus, we have two opposite sides joining together to trap Our Saviour. Strange bedfellows, indeed.
Now, they prefaced their question to Him by smoothing Him over. They gave Him lots of compliments prior to asking the question if it is lawful to pay tax or not. Now, of course, in their own way, they were very clever to ask this question because they knew that they would have Him either way whichever way He answered. Because if He answered that it was not lawful to pay tribute, then they could accuse Him of not obeying the local Roman authority. But on the other hand, if He stated that it was permissible to pay tribute, then they could accuse Him of paying heed to man before God.
Now, before He answered their question, He also prefaced His answer by first telling them that they were hypocrites because He knew their hearts and He knew that they were asking the question merely to trap Him in the answer that He gave. But, true to form, Our Lord out-flanked both parties by giving them an answer that they had not expected in the least. He asked to see a coin and pointed out that it was Caesar's picture on the coin, and to therefore render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to give to God what belonged to God.
As a Man, Jesus knew what it was to be a member of society: He was a devoted son; He was a carpenter; He was a contributing member of the society in which He lived. Thus, He certainly was aware that human beings, if they are to reside together, will have to live under a form of government or authority for the good of the whole. In other words, He was not unfamiliar with living under the authority of others while He lived here on earth.
If we look elsewhere in St. Matthew's Gospel (St. Matthew 17:24-26) we hear the story of Jesus and St. Peter travelling to Capernum:
" . . . and when they came to Capernum, (the tax-collectors) came to Peter and said, 'Doth not your master pay tribute?'" Meaning, in other words, give up your tax to be here in Capernum. Now St. Peter went to Our Lord and told Him about the situation and Our Lord responded: "Lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and taketh up the fish; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money; that, take, and give unto them for Me and thee."
Thus, as we just saw, Our Lord was not opposed to paying His fair-share, just as everyone else did. But the point is this: we must always remember that, as Christians we are a sort of dual citizen, we are citizens here in the local communities where we live but we are also citizens of Heaven. And this is where our true citizenship awaits us because St. Paul reminds us in today's Epistle to the Philipians (3:17): "For our citizenship is in Heaven; from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." We are called to do our part as citizens where we live here on earth but we are never to forget that we are citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom and that it our true home. Where we are living now is only temporary, our Heavenly home will be eternal and this is what we are striving towards.
Did you ever hear the phrase, "Politics makes strange bedfellows?" In today's Gospel passage from St. Matthew, we see some strange bedfellows joining together to trap Our Blessed Lord in His words. On the one side, we have the Pharisee's, who saw themselves as extremely devout Jews, who prided themselves on following Jewish laws and customs down to the letter. They wanted nothing to do with the local Roman authority and did not even want to pay tribute to the local officials because, as devout Jews, they felt that they should only have to pay tribute to God and not to man. On the other side, we have the Herodians, who followed King Herod, the Roman-appointed king. Thus, the Herodians very much supported the Roman government and its' local officials. Thus, we have two opposite sides joining together to trap Our Saviour. Strange bedfellows, indeed.
Now, they prefaced their question to Him by smoothing Him over. They gave Him lots of compliments prior to asking the question if it is lawful to pay tax or not. Now, of course, in their own way, they were very clever to ask this question because they knew that they would have Him either way whichever way He answered. Because if He answered that it was not lawful to pay tribute, then they could accuse Him of not obeying the local Roman authority. But on the other hand, if He stated that it was permissible to pay tribute, then they could accuse Him of paying heed to man before God.
Now, before He answered their question, He also prefaced His answer by first telling them that they were hypocrites because He knew their hearts and He knew that they were asking the question merely to trap Him in the answer that He gave. But, true to form, Our Lord out-flanked both parties by giving them an answer that they had not expected in the least. He asked to see a coin and pointed out that it was Caesar's picture on the coin, and to therefore render to Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to give to God what belonged to God.
As a Man, Jesus knew what it was to be a member of society: He was a devoted son; He was a carpenter; He was a contributing member of the society in which He lived. Thus, He certainly was aware that human beings, if they are to reside together, will have to live under a form of government or authority for the good of the whole. In other words, He was not unfamiliar with living under the authority of others while He lived here on earth.
If we look elsewhere in St. Matthew's Gospel (St. Matthew 17:24-26) we hear the story of Jesus and St. Peter travelling to Capernum:
" . . . and when they came to Capernum, (the tax-collectors) came to Peter and said, 'Doth not your master pay tribute?'" Meaning, in other words, give up your tax to be here in Capernum. Now St. Peter went to Our Lord and told Him about the situation and Our Lord responded: "Lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and taketh up the fish; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money; that, take, and give unto them for Me and thee."
Thus, as we just saw, Our Lord was not opposed to paying His fair-share, just as everyone else did. But the point is this: we must always remember that, as Christians we are a sort of dual citizen, we are citizens here in the local communities where we live but we are also citizens of Heaven. And this is where our true citizenship awaits us because St. Paul reminds us in today's Epistle to the Philipians (3:17): "For our citizenship is in Heaven; from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ." We are called to do our part as citizens where we live here on earth but we are never to forget that we are citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom and that it our true home. Where we are living now is only temporary, our Heavenly home will be eternal and this is what we are striving towards.
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