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Introduction: One of Jesus’ most
famous retorts to His accusers is found in Matthew
22:21. Having been asked if the Jews were allowed to pay
taxes to Caesar, Jesus asked the questioners to produce a coin.
Finding on it the image of Caesar, Jesus uttered one of His most
profound rebukes saying, “Therefore render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (ESV).
But what exactly does it mean to render to God and what are we
supposed to render to God? Let’s take a step back, look at this
story in Matthew
22:15-22, find out what is going on, what Jesus’ main
point was and what we can learn about our relationship with God
from this text. Discussion: I. Jesus’ enemies. A.
The
Pharisees. 1.
The word
“Pharisee” meant “separatist”, from the Hebrew word
“parash” which meant “to separate”. Pharisees were
“those who carefully kept themselves from any legal
contamination, distinguishing themselves by their care in such
matters from the common people” (ISBE,
v 4, p 2361, 1976.). We see this attitude demonstrated in the
parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke
18:9-14). 2.
Because of
their desire to be separate they created numerous traditions.
Through these traditions they often nullified the Law (Matthew
15:3) and/or placed an even heavier burden on the people (Matthew
23:4). Despite this, their greatest problem was neglecting
the Law. They focused on being outwardly distinct from what they
viewed as the rabble, but they did not follow the Law of God
regarding true distinction from the world (Matthew
23:23-28). 3.
While
Phariseeism was first and foremost a religious ideology, the
Pharisees’ beliefs led them to political ideology as well. Their
belief and hope for the Messiah to come and overthrow the
governments that oppressed them heightened their views of
separatism. They were intensely nationalistic and despised the
Roman rule of their land, even to the point that they would try to
deny it existed (John
8:33). That being the case, the tribute to Caesar was a
sore point for them. It was something they did not want to obey
because it represented enslavement and subjection to Gentile dogs.
Because of this nationalism and separatism they were opponents of
the Herodian party. B.
The
Herodians. 1.
We know very
little about the Herodians. However, their name says it all.
Unlike the Pharisees, they were a political sect, supporting the
Herodian dynasty that came to power through strong alliance to
Rome. The Herodian family came to power by playing both sides of
the fence, that is, trying to be Jewish and Roman at the same
time. Thus, Herod the Great was in league with Rome but tried to
pacify his subjects by beautifying and rebuilding the temple of
Jehovah. His descendents tried to play this game as well. 2.
The
Herodians were antithetical to the Pharisees. Instead of
nationalism and separatism, they wanted the leadership of Rome and
Roman government. They were not looking forward to a future
Messiah who would overthrow the Romans. There is some historical
indication that perhaps these Herodians believed Herod was the
Messiah (Pulpit
Commentary, v 16, p 154, 1962). 3.
For the
Herodians, the tribute was a matter of course. It was part of
their devotion to the government they loved. Refusal to pay and
teaching others not to pay the tax was treason. II.
The trap. A.
These two
natural enemies, the Pharisees and the Herodians, teamed up as
early as Mark
3:6 to trap and destroy Jesus. They were cunning, but not
cunning enough to tackle the Master. B.
These
conspirators had seemingly developed a foolproof plan, asking a
simple, yes-or-no question. Whichever answer Jesus gave, they
thought they would be able to condemn and destroy Him.
Interestingly, they hotly debated this very question with each
other, but were willing to put aside their own debates if they
could get rid of their common enemy. Whichever answer Jesus gave,
He would be siding with one or the other of these conspirators.
However, neither side cared whose side Jesus would come down on.
Neither intended to defend Him, but was willing to let the other
side trample Him. C.
If Jesus
sided with the Pharisees, saying, “No, it is unlawful to pay the
poll-tax to Caesar.” The Pharisees would have been more than
glad to hand Jesus over to the Herodians as a traitor. Jesus could
then be tried, convicted and executed. On the other hand, if Jesus
sided with the Herodians and said, “Yes, it is lawful to pay the
poll-tax to Caesar.” Then the Pharisees would have grounds to
discredit Jesus before the people. Luke
20:19 says the high ranking Jews had not seized Jesus
because they were afraid of the people. If they could discredit
Him before the people, they could arrest Him without fear. D.
The trap has
been set. But they should have known better than to think they
could trap Jesus. III.
Jesus’
answer. A.
At first
glance it may seem that Jesus overcame this trap by figuring out a
middle of the line answer that gave both groups what they wanted
to hear and left no room for criticism. It appears Jesus sided
with the Herodians about the poll-tax in the first half of His
statement, saying to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Yet, He
appears to side with the Pharisees when He says what is most
important is to render to God what is His due. However, that is
not at all what Jesus did. In fact, His answer was actually
inflammatory to both groups, yet left His enemies unable to arrest
Him as they had attended. The Herodians could not charge Him with
treason; the Pharisees could not discredit Him before the people. 1.
First, Jesus
demonstrated that He knew their question was disingenuous. In Matthew
22:18 Jesus boldly calls them hypocrites and proclaims He
knows He is being tested. However, He proceeds with an answer
demonstrating He is not afraid of their traps. 2.
Secondly, He
immediately shattered the fragile claim the Pharisees would make
that they were in subjection to no one but God by directing
everyone’s attention to the money used to pay taxes. Caesar’s
inscription was on the coin (Matthew
22:20-22), clearly indicating the Jews were tributaries of
Caesar, for without him, they had no money at all. The Pharisees
couldn’t have it both ways. They were willing to submit to
Caesar enough to use his money, but didn’t want to admit the
rights that gave Caesar over them. If they were going to refuse to
pay taxes, then they would have to refuse to use the money. 3.
Thirdly,
Jesus cut through the surface issues of paying taxes which these
nominal followers of God liked to debate and slammed home the
heart of the matter (Matthew
22:21). The real issue was not paying taxes, the real
issue was neither one of these groups were serving God. Jesus is
not here saying that the people should give to Caesar the money
that is due him in taxes and then render to God the money that is
due Him in tithes and free will offerings. Notice, Jesus knows
what belongs to Caesar because Caesar’s image is inscribed on
it. What then determines what belongs to God? God’s image is
inscribed on it. What is God’s image inscribed upon? Genesis
1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness …’” What were these men to give to
God? Themselves. Jesus turned this question back on the askers and
demonstrated their hypocrisy, saying if these men were real
servants, the answer to their question would be obvious. B.
How
infuriated these men must have been as they could only stand their
and marvel at Jesus’ wisdom and ability to silence them. Jesus
indeed is wise. Let us pray we too can have a small amount of this
wisdom when we respond to those who would trap us. IV.
Lessons from
Jesus’ answer. A.
Rendering to
God what is God’s resolves many issues of behavior. 1.
This was a
debate between the Pharisees and the Herodians because they had
not given themselves to God. Both groups’ spirituality was based
on selfishness not service to God. Had they been servants, they
would have understood government is only in place because God has
established it (Daniel
2). Therefore, paying a tax to the government did not deny
one’s submission to God as the Pharisees suggested. They would
also have understood submitting to that government did not allow
selling out to the immoralities of that government, as the
Herodians had done in throwing their support behind the Herodian
family. 2.
Today this
is also the case. Many of the struggles we have in behavior are
not struggles regarding what is really the right thing to do. The
majority of the cases are struggles with wanting to do the right
thing. If we haven’t given our lives completely to God, we will
struggle hoping to find some justification for our desires, but
deep inside knowing what we should do. Wasn’t this also Paul’s
point in II
Corinthians 8:5? B.
Submitting
to the government does not deny submission to God. 1.
Some in our
country balk at pledging allegiance to the flag because they claim
their allegiance is only to God. However, Jesus’ statement to
the Pharisees and the Herodians demonstrates submission to the
government does not deny our submission to God. 2.
We are to be
in submission to the governing authorities because the governing
authorities have been put in place by God. Submitting to them is
an indication of submitting to God. Rebelling against them and
disobeying them is a rebellion against God (Romans
13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-17). The only exception is when submission to the
government mandates disobeying God (Acts
5:29). Then and only then do we refuse submission to the
government. C.
Rendering to
God does not mean separatism or going out of the world. 1.
The
Pharisees’ claim against paying taxes was based on their views
of separatism. They were not a part of the commoners and they were
definitely not a part of the Gentile world. They were their own
little group, separate from all others. Throughout history, many
separatist groups have existed, trying to live in some type of
communal brotherhood and claiming they are not part of this world
so they do not have to live by the laws of this world. 2.
Jesus
demonstrates serving God does not relieve us of our place in this
world. As Paul said, we are to be different from the world (Romans
12:2), but we do not go out of the world (I
Corinthians 5:10). By rendering ourselves to God, we live
in the world, but demonstrate we are not of the world. Everything
we do is still in the world, but everything we do is governed by
God’s will because we have given ourselves to Him. We, as
Christians, are not to be separatists. Rather, through our
distinction but continued contact with the world, we will draw
others to Christ. D.
Rendering to
God is not just about outward acts of obeisance. 1.
The
Pharisees made a big show of their outward acts of obeisance to
God (Matthew
6:2, 5, 16; 23:14, 23, 29; Luke 18:11-12). That’s why
this issue of taxation was so important to them. Arguing against
it made them appear righteous to their fellow Jews. However, Jesus
pointed out these outward acts were empty because they were not
really God’s servants. They had not given themselves to God. In Matthew
23:25-28, Jesus claimed they appeared righteous outwardly
but they had no true righteousness, because on the inside they
were full of corruption and hypocrisy. 2.
In Matthew
23:23-24, Jesus claimed they were hypocrites because they
made a big deal out of their easy outward acts but neglected the
weighty parts of the law that dealt with attitude, motivation and
outlook. Focusing on those weighty matters would have governed
their outer actions and done so thoroughly, neither adding
traditions or overlooking requirements. 3.
Can we fall
prey to this same struggle? How many Christians make a big deal
out of “going to church” but their heart is not in it? Yes, we
must have the outward actions of obeisance, but first the heart
must be right with God (Matthew
15:8, 15-20). Conclusion: The Pharisees thought they were righteous because they wanted to separate themselves from the rabble of the world. The Herodians thought they were better because they had sold out to the world. Jesus demonstrated the balanced response. As we live in this world, we must render to God what is God’s. That is, we must render ourselves to God. When we give ourselves to God, then our behavior in the world will be appropriate and will even draw others to God. What have you rendered to God?
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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