Matthew 22: 15-22

Caesar had his coins, and God has God’s coins, I suppose. A man asked God how long a million years was to God. God replied, “It’s just like a single second of your time.” So the man asked, “And what about a million dollars?” The Lord replied, “To me, it’s just like a single penny.” So the man gathered himself and said, “Well, Lord, could I have one of your pennies?” And God said, “Certainly, my child, just a second.”

The Pharisees and the Herodians joined together to trap Jesus in his words. The two parties wrestled with each other over the question of loyalty toward Caesar. The Pharisees opposed any intrusions the Romans made into Jewish life. The Herodians supported the Rome-endorsed Herod dynasty. This King Herod was a Roman puppet left in power in Judah to keep the peace among many religious and sectarian factions struggling for influence among the Jews. The two factions joined to trap Jesus into picking a side in their struggle and causing him to lose some favor within the population. The confrontation is based on whether Jews should pay the Roman tax.

Matthew showed Jesus to accurately discern the intentions of the two parties. He was “aware of their malice.” The word “malice” can also be translated “evil.” The New International Version translates verse 18, “But Jesus, knowing their evil intent.” The word evil here is like in the Lord’s Prayer, “deliver us from evil.” There’s a demonic implication in this confrontation. Jesus said in verse 18, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?” “Putting to the test” can be translated “tempt me” leading us to perceive Jesus’ understanding of this confrontation as similar to his experience of temptation with Satan in the Wilderness in Matthew 4. This is more than a mental game of wits. The Enemy has returned to tempt Jesus to select an earthy kingdom to defend over another, to focus his spiritual passions and power in dividing the people and crystalizing the image of who is good and who is bad. By so doing, Jesus joins the human tussle of politics and kingdoms. Sound familiar? What side is God on in our current political games? Are these two political parties in the gospel of Matthew looking for Jesus’ endorsement or looking to influence him and convince him by confronting him that he needs one of them to succeed in his mission? Getting back to the first place, the two factions are demonic in their intentions.

Choosing one side over the other was selecting one batch of yeast over another.  In the gospel of Mark, chapter eight, after a confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus and the disciples got into a boat to cross the lake. “And he cautioned them, saying, ‘Watch out – beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod (8:15).'” Jesus spoke a parable in Luke 13, “And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened (13:20).'” Not much yeast is needed to leaven a batch of dough, but you need yeast to make bread to feed the family. Jesus understood the political and religious factions of his day were trying to leaven the Jewish society. He believed it didn’t take much to sway this society which looked to him like sheep without a shepherd. Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. Either faction can influence their hearers with their yeast and propel their loyalists on a path of seeking earthly kingdoms. Before its all over, both factions wanted Jesus’ death. The Pharisees in the Sanhedrin believed it was better for the death of one man than for a whole nation to be destroyed (John 3: 45-53). When Jesus was brought before both Herod and Pilate to be tried for treason, neither found him guilty, but Pilate and Herod, formally political opponents, became friends (Luke 26) and were swayed to have Jesus crucified by rebellious crowds wanting earthly kingdoms rather than following the King of an eternal kingdom.

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. There is an earthly kingdom. It has his name, his image. Give to God what is God’s. A gentleman went to a restaurant one day recently wearing a shirt with the designer’s signature on the right sleeve. As the gentleman stood in line for a table, an elderly woman tapped him on the shoulder. Pointing to the label, she said, “Nice name,” Then, in a curious tone, she asked, “What do you call your other arm?” Jesus told the Pharisees and the Herodians to let the empire have what is theirs already. The denarius had an image of the emperor on it. It denoted ownership. It was where the coin came from and it’s where the coin ought to return. Let the empire have what is theirs, but Jesus didn’t say TO LET THE EMPIRE HAVE WHAT IT WANTS. Let Caesar have what is his, NOT WHAT HE WANTS. In the temptation story of Jesus in Matthew 4, the point could be made the devil wanted Jesus by Jesus falling for any of the temptations. The last one was the offering of all the kingdoms of the earth if Jesus would fall down and worship Satan. The Enemy, the devil wanted Jesus. JESUS WASN’T HIS TO TAKE.

Give to the emperor what’s already his. Don’t give to him or his segregates, the religious or political lieutenants, what they want. Jesus was and remains subversive on all levels to earthly empires. He spoke of and manifested the characteristics found in his Father’s kingdom – the forgiving of the sinner, the fellowshipping with the wretched and the cursed, the healing of the sick, the restoring of character of the lost and forgotten, and the filling with the Holy Spirit of the acceptable and unacceptable. Each faction wanted Jesus. Earthly kingdoms and the demonic couldn’t have him. Someone else’s name and image were already emblazoned on his soul. He belonged to his Father. DO KNOW WHO YOU BELONG TO?

This story ultimately tells us what image is embossed on us is who we belong to. That particular emperor can lay claim to what is his. Jesus would say, “Give it to him. He has legal claim to it.” What if its you? 

I was a sophomore in high school. My home church had a Lay Witness Weekend. Lay people from several churches came to our church and shared their stories of conversion and encountering God in small groups and in worship services throughout the weekend. I was in the youth group. A group comfortable with youth shared their stories and testimonies with us collectively and in groups. I remember on Saturday night of that weekend I was pared with the leader of the youth team. He told me his story, and I was moved. He went on to read from the gospels one of the accounts of Jesus before Pilate and the crowd wanting Pilate to release Barabbas and crucify Jesus. After that, I’m not sure what happened to me internally. My companion that night may have wanted me to see there was a choice for me in wanting Jesus or wanting a savior from an earthly kingdom.  I don’t recall. I walked to the sanctuary and knelt at the altar railing. After that, I walked home alone, and I knew I was different. I felt as if I was in the company of someone who wanted to be in my company. I finally realized who I was AND WHOSE I WAS. I can’t remember my friend’s story, his testimony, but I remember him reading about the crowd wanting Barabbas freed and Jesus crucified. The emperors of our days want from us what is already theirs. Our spiritual enemy wants WHATEVER HE CAN TAKE FROM US. Whatever is embossed, engraved, inscribed on our souls signifies who we belong to. After that Saturday night, mysteriously, powerfully, lovingly, I KNEW WHO I BELONGED TO.

He who was rejected by the crowds, also, amazed his adversaries. This one who smartly answered their inquiry by telling them to unhesitatingly give the emperor what is his also soberly told both his learners and opponents to give the one true God all that is God’s. If we think that will leave us empty-handed, we’re mistaken. As God receives from us, we come to realize in full measure we are the Lord’s property already.

(Preached at St Mark United Methodist Church in Anniston, AL, 10-22-23)