“Foiled at their own game”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Luke 20:19-26 (Forward, p. 53) CEV p. 1090

It is no small wonder that various official parties within the Jewish nation were united in their dislike of Jesus, and in their determination to be rid of Him. Over and over again He bested them and defeated them in their disputes with Him and did so in the public eye. If there is anything in Middle Eastern culture that is to be avoided at all costs, it is being shamed in public, and yet, over and over again, this happened to them at the hands of Jesus.

But here, in today’s conversation, surely they have ‘got’ Him. Surely there is no way He can wiggle out of this. Surely Jesus is ‘between a rock and hard place.’ No matter how He answers their query about paying taxes to the Romans, He’s caught. If He says ‘no’, then He is clearly a traitor and a subversive, and would be arrested by the Romans. And, if He says ‘yes’ to paying the taxes, then He would face the displeasure and wrath of the common people, who hated these taxes with a vengeance.

Now, it is interesting how the various Gospel writers pick up on this incident and tell it. Luke, in today’s passage, merely refers to Jesus’ questioners as ‘enemies’ and as ‘spies trying to catch Jesus saying something wrong.’ And Luke and Mark only mention ‘a coin’, whereas Matthew is more specific: it is a silver coin, a denarius, ‘the coin used for paying taxes’ to the Romans.

And given that one of His questioners was able to produce such a coin put him in already in a very questionable, untenable situation. By rights, he should not have had such a coin on his person, at least, not on the sacred premises of the Temple Mount. Such a coin bore the image of Caesar and subscription as to his deity (‘Theos Sebastos Kaiser’ = “God Augustus Caesar’) and so were considered sacrilegious and idols by observant Jews. So, in a sense, Jesus already ‘had’ them!

But there is more: in response, Jesus merely asks them whose likeness and subscription were on that coin. Obviously, their answer could only be ‘Caesar’s.’ And so, Jesus replied, ‘Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’

There is an inner logic here, one that is common to both the ancient world and our world today. Currency, whether in coin or on paper, was considered to be the property of the state or ruler issuing it, such that it could be recalled at whim. Furthermore, it was considered to be an extension of the authority and power of the issuing agent. And so, yes, that coin was indeed considered to belong to Caesar, and they were only giving back to him what was already his own.

But, here’s the nub, the rub, that has befuddled many and led many astray. Many people have erred by suggesting that Caesar’s authority covers all of the public domain, the entire public realm, and cannot be impinged upon or restricted by God or by godly precepts. God’s authority, they would suggest, applies only matters of private morality and practice, not to government or business.

However, that is not the case. The authority and ownership vested in this coin apply only to that coin—and to nothing else, unless specified otherwise. In other words, Caesar’s authority, the state’s authority, is limited, circumscribed, whereas God’s authority has no such limits. In other words, God’s authority applies to everything—even government! And yes, even corporations and multinationals. What this says is that God is indeed in charge, and should be listened to, and obeyed, by everyone no matter what their sphere or area of involvement, public or private. And so, the questioners are ‘foiled at their own game’: they sought to discredit Jesus publicly and limit both Him and God, and in the end, struck out miserably. Such is our glorious God and Saviour. Amen.

Forward notes: “’Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’” (verse 22)

“This is a good question at its heart: How do we, as a colonized people, engage with this exploitative empire? Do our traditions and laws and beliefs dictate that we rebel (i.e., not pay taxes) and fight for self-determination? Or do they dictate that we accept what has happened as part of God’s plan, at least for now (i.e., pay taxes)?

“Instead of parsing out the merits and demerits of either answer, Jesus cuts right to the heart of the issue. Money only has value because people—societies—agree to endow it with such. Give the denarii to the emperor—give the empire exactly as much value as you affirm that it has. In other

words, yes, resist the empire, expressly by rejecting its currency rather than keeping and using it. Assert your power by divesting the denarii of its value. Throw it back in the emperor’s face, and then, to the best of your capacity, create a world where everyone’s needs are met without using the empire’s currency, a world where through radical mutual aid the people make the empire’s provision obsolete. To do that is to give to God what is God’s.”

MOVING FORWARD: “Read Acts 2. How does it inform today’s meditation?”

Some concluding comments: Our author has firmly stepped outside of the precepts of Scripture. Governments, whether he ‘happens’ to like them or not, are ordained by God, and accordingly, are endowed with certain rights and privileges, one of these being the ability to tax its citizens. There is no question or dispute about this, at least, according to the Bible.

And, in today’s passage there is nothing about resisting the Emperor’s currency, or his rule. It is only saying that it is limited, that it simply does not have ‘a place’ here in this situation. And so, it is fallacious, naïve and ill-advised to reject the currency of the state, ‘the empire’s currency’ as our author describes it and seek some other. There is no other, and if there was, it would still function in exactly the same way. It is like replacing the French ‘franc’ with the ‘euro’, it is really pretty much the same. And so, the ‘empire’s provision’, as he puts it, will never be ‘obsolete’ (at least, not in this world). We will always need some kind of public currency, some medium of exchange. But, what we can do, and should do, is to redeem it by using it for God’s purposes, to further His reign and His kingdom.