Such timing! Congregations that use the traditional lectionary readings will offer worshippers an election special this Sunday. “Then the Pharisee went and plotted how to entangle him in his words…. ‘Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’” (Matthew 22:15, 17-21).
Separation of church and state, right? Maybe not as much as we think. Dr. Jeffrey Gibbs asks some commonsense questions. “Pay Caesar what is his and God what is his? Does Caesar own some things that do not belong to God? Are there things that are not the rightful property of the God of Israel, whose reign is invading the world through Jesus? No. Perceiving a balance in Jesus’ response results in an understanding foreign to the Gospel of Matthew.” (Concordia Commentary, 1125).
Our separation of church and state would have been inconceivable to people in the first century Roman Empire. The head of government, Tiberius Caesar, was also the chief priest of Roman religion. Prayers and sacrifices were offered to him for the welfare of all. The Greek word for “Gospel” was applied to Caesar himself! Religion and public culture weren’t compartmentalized as they are for us. Therein is the twist for Sunday’s worship.
Gibbs: “Pushing aside the designs of his opponents, Jesus’ last words carry the weight of his response: pay God’s things to God! What can this mean? To pay to God what belongs to God is to behold the man who stands in their midst and to know whose Son he truly is and to follow him because in him the reign of God has come near. To give to God what is God’s is to repent and to follow his Son in trusting and obedient discipleship” (1126).
Do we get entangled in the Pharisees’ trick if we separate God’s rule from us when we vote? “‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’ … You are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:19-20, 23).
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