25 “Caesar’s,” they replied. He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
In this day of corporate buyouts and off-shore investments, I began to think about the many ways people avoid their financial responsibilities. I recently heard about someone declaring bankruptcy so that they could avoid paying child support. And about a tech firm’s legal maneuverings so that they don’t have to pay as much tax. Or about the many ways that the very rich avoid their obligations to pay their fare share, many sanctioned by special laws and exceptions written specifically for them. I also heard about a roofer who does cash jobs while on the boss’s clock. He in essence gets paid twice; once by his boss and once by the cash customer. I heard about an institutional employee who values his side business more than his institutional business, remaining in the institution only for the paycheck. Jesus has a way of putting these ethical dilemmas in simple terms. The religious leaders tried to trip him up in his words so that they could have a charge to get him arrested and killed. They wanted to get him out of the way. Tax evasion had stiffer penalties back then. If Jesus advocated not paying his taxes, they could eliminate him. Jesus knew their motives and called their bluff. The religious leaders lived their lives finding ways to benefit themselves. One of those ways was to convert their government money into Temple money. If they didn’t have government money, they didn’t have to pay taxes. Their underground economy saved them cash. The Temple money didn’t have Caesar’s picture on it. Jesus calls their bluff. If it is Temple money then it belongs to the owner of the Temple, namely God. Jesus in essence says to them, “You are going to pay, one way or the other. You can’t not pay!” We are created in the image of God. His image is stamped on us. We need to give to God that which has His image on it, namely ourselves. We can’t create a loophole that avoids our responsibilities to God or toward others. One day Jesus is going to hold us accountable for what we did with our lives. How are we going to answer?
The Arnold Journey 