political

Matthew 22:15-22


"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
(Matthew 22:21)


After three parables where Jesus confronts and condemns the religious leaders in the temple in Jerusalem, we have three questions from these leaders back at him.

This passage begins with the Pharisees plotting "how to entangle [or trap] him in his talk," so they send their disciples along with "the Herodians." We don't know much about the Herodians, but they were apparently friendly to Herod the Great. In other words, they were in some manner a "political" party among the Jews.

Their question is prefaced with several positive, or flattering, statements or compliments: you are true, you teach the way of God truthfully, you don't care about anyone's opinion, and you are not swayed by appearances. This last phrase is variously translated "you do not regard the position of men" (RSV), "you do not regard people with partiality" (NRSV), or "you do not play favorites" (NLT). It's a phrase that literally reads "you do not look at peoples' faces" but is translated idiomatically, which is interesting because it ties in with the trap and the answer.

The question to entrap Jesus is one that brings politics into religion. It casts another long shadow over Jesus in the form of a cross - the preferred execution method of those in power. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"

Jesus asks for a coin, then asks whose image (likeness) or inscription is on it. He who does not show partiality or preference, who will not kiss up to the emperor, does however look at faces. I imagine him looking intently in their faces during this encounter. The word here for image or likeness is ikon, the same word in the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 1 when God says "let us make man in our image." The same as when Paul will later say that Jesus is the "image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15).

So give to Caesar what bears his image, and to God what bears God's image. He is saying, on the one hand, to go ahead and pay the tax, that it is in keeping with God's law for their situation. But on the other hand he is saying, Caesar is God's also. Every person bears God's image. Even this tax, even allegiance to or cooperation with the political powers that be, is all subsumed under your allegiance to your Creator, Redeemer, and King. There is a kingdom that trumps every other kingdom for our allegiance, our loyalty, our money, our lives.

Jesus is on his way to paying that price - it will be much more than a denarius, or any amount we'll send to the IRS. It's closer to our fallen soldiers in Afghanistan or Iraq, or a Martin Luther King or a Benizir Butto, except infinitely more for both the weight of injustice he bore and the purity of how he conducted his mission. But it was just as political.