"Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." Luke 20:25
I have always seen this as a stewardship Gospel. The Sunday lectionary always places this in the Fall of the year as an aid to preachers I am sure. In Matthew, Mark and Luke it consistently falls in Jesus' final days just after he has taught he story of the rejection and murder of the vineyard owner. That makes for a more profound meaning.
Here was Israel, a small nation that experienced themselves (or some part of them experienced this) as the chosen people of God. They understood God as One Overarching Reality behind all life. From this revelation they had come to basic rules of relationship and conduct, a gift from God.
They sit in a world of seekers either alert or drowsy in this regard. So many large systems of belief, each seeking some understanding of things more eternal then they. A few have a monotheistic understanding, others a polytheistic understanding. These later ones either choosing some aspect of God or several to worship.
Into this moment comes the question. Do we pay tribute, taxes, the cost of controlling us and others to a state that worships what we understand to be a false system of belief. Two things lie in the question. One is on the surface. That would be the perception that by paying this, they support Rome's official religious system, this polytheism with Caesar in the mix. It is perhaps like the question today of whether we pay taxes to a government that allows and in some cases subsidizes abortion and gathers personal information on its citizens or spends our youth on war? These all go against someone's religious, ethical belief.
Jesus notes the inscription on the coin, the likeness on the coin, Caesar, and asks what the others see. Thus, "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." Luke 20:25
When you place this against the notion in the encounter before, that the Son is rejected, that God's religious outpost in the world, Israel, has taken what is not theirs, treated God's gift as personal loot, the point is more deeply made. We so easily take the substance of our days and lives and use it simply for ourselves. We acquire, we protect, we dispense with life as we choose, we govern and are governed. Yet in the midst of it we are called and chosen to stand in relationship to the Eternal Source, God. If we are unclear how, we have Jesus as a teacher.
One of the ways we do this is by the choice to use some deliberate aspect of our lives to reflect and reflect on God. We pay to God what is God's by the daily choice to set time aside to reflect on God, to pray and be enlightened. We pay to God when we tithe, give a signifying portion back to do God's work in the world. We offer to God when we enable the poor of the land to live better, more stable lives. We notice the generosity of God when we take some hours to spend on one another's need to be loved and nurtured in deep ways of knowing, like God knows us. Holding this vision as we do for others is more important than telling them that is why we seek to love so deeply. And yet telling this at the right moment can be helpful to someone's growth and honor our Source of life and wisdom for daily living.
Family or household units that seek to deliberately live this way find that this deepens them. We see that in our reading from 1 Samuel these last two days. A woman longs for years for a child, a son perhaps. Her husband loves her deeply without this gift of life. Her longing turns to deep prayer, so deep she will give the child back to God if only she may birth, feed and wean the child. She does so in today's reading. The child will now grow up deeply attached to a holy place, a place where the reign of God is central. Why? Because he is truly a child of God's lending.
We all are. Can anyone else notice this about us? It is visible in our giving back.
We all are. Can anyone else notice this about us? It is visible in our giving back.
"Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." Luke 20:25
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