Once upon a
time, there a was a small town, and the richest man in town lived in a big
house on a big hill overlooking the town, he was driven around in a big car,
and he wore the best clothes, and ate the best food. If you were new to town or
passing through and knew nothing else about this man, you knew he was the richest
man in town. Well, one day the church in town got a new pastor and the church
needed a new roof. The young pastor said to his vestry, “why don’t we ask the
guy in the big house on the hill to contribute to our building fund? I’ll bet
he could pay for the roof and maybe more!” The board members looked at each
other knowingly, but shrugged and said, “sure pastor, give it a try.”
So, he goes
up to the big house on the big hill and rings the doorbell, introduces himself to
the butler and, after leaving him on the front porch for a while, he lets him in
and brings him to the study of the wealthy man, who demands to know what the
young pastor wants.
After
explaining the church’s need for a roof and their list of deferred maintenance
items, he asks the man to donate to the church. The rich man thinks for a
moment, and says, “Well, I’d like to help, but I don’t think God wants my
money.”
Puzzled, the
pastor asks him how he knows that.
“Every week,”
the rich man says, “I take a pile of cash, and I throw some it up in the air,
and I tell God you can keep whatever you want, but it always falls back on the
floor. So clearly God doesn’t want it.”
Sometimes, we
have a hard time reconciling our money and our faith. Today’s Gospel is another
example of that.
At this point
in the Gospel of Matthew and in Jesus’ ministry, people are approaching Jesus with
all kinds of questions. Some came to learn and some were there to challenge. And
some folks posed questions meant to trip Jesus up with the hope that he would
seem silly. Matthew’s Gospel tells us that the Pharisees got together with the
Herodians because as much as they disagreed with each other, they both were
suspicious of Jesus.
The people
who approached Jesus represented two very different groups. The Pharisees did
not want to give any money to their pagan oppressors and so were opposed to
paying taxes to Rome. On the other hand, King Herod’s position of power, as
king of Israel, came courtesy of the Romans, so even though the taxes were
widely considered to be oppressive, the Herodians had a vested interest in
keeping the Roman’s happy and that meant ‘pay the taxes.’ In their way, the
Pharisees and the Herodians each reflected the horns of the dilemma.
These two
groups wanted to know where Jesus landed… whose side he was on. The question
they pose, “according to the Law of Moses, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor
or not?” was meant to tease that out.
Would Jesus
side with the Herodians (pay the taxes!) or with the Pharisees (keep the
money…or at least put it one of the temple charities instead of shipping it off
to Rome).
What was
Jesus to do? Speak against the tax which would anger the
Herodians and lead to a charge of treason against Rome? Talk up the tax which would anger and alienate most of the crowds that followed him,
because they hated the Roman occupiers of their nation?
Well Jesus went another way. Think ahead to when Jesus would chase the money changers out of the outer courts of the Temple. They were in business because anyone making an offering at the Temple was required to exchange Roman currency for Temple coins, but for a price, kind of like those currency exchange booths at airports. You see, carrying the image of Caesar, who claimed divinity for himself, into the Temple was considered sinful idolatry. And there was money to be made at the table where Roman money was exchanged for temple money and back again.
Which is why, when Jesus asks for a Denarius, at least one of his questioners reaches into his pocket or purse and hands it to Jesus. He shows how bound up they all were -- especially his challengers-- in a system that kept them down when he proves that at least one of the questioners was a hypocrite.
Actually, I kind of envision a bunch of people in the crowd all producing a Denarius all at the same time! The coin Jesus asked to see was a silver Denarius with the image of Caesar on one side, and on the reverse, the image of a woman named Pax or personified peace. The coins were little portable graven images.
Jesus then
asks the question that everyone in Israel could have answered without a coin in
hand, “Whose head is this and whose title?” We don’t hear it in English, but
word for “head” in the Gospel is “icon,” a Greek word better translated as “image.” The word
“title” is better translated as “likeness.” When they answer Jesus’ question,
saying that the image and likeness are “Caesar’s,” Jesus replies that they are
to give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. After all, it’s his coin anyway,
who cares?
Then Jesus
gives the punch line: “give back to God the things that are God’s.”
I’ll bet when
Jesus said this, immediately, everyone starts calculating in their head exactly
how much we are supposed to give back to God.
Now before
you pull out your phone’s calculator app, think about the word “icon” or
“image” and the word “likeness.” Whose likeness is on the coin? For us, it’s
Washington or another dead president. But whose likeness is on… us?
Jesus’ answer
pointed his challengers to their Sabbath-school lessons: In Genesis 1:26-27, it
says, “And God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our
likeness,’” and goes on to state, “God created humankind in his Image, in the
image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
The principle
is this: Just as the coin has Caesar’s icon on it and so belongs to him, so we are
made in the image and likeness of God, so we are God’s. Jesus says “tax schmax! What we owe to God is
far greater and far more important!”
This text is
often used to talk about stewardship in terms of what you give to the church.
But this is not a passage on the tithe. Tithing is good, and it is basic
standard of giving for the Episcopal church, and I agree that we should all
strive to meet that. But if giving 10 percent of our income is the only thing
we do, then we would fall well more than 90 percent shy of the mark.
Jesus says
that everything we have and everything we are belongs to God because we bear
the image and likeness of God. In our faith and in our baptisms, we’ve been grafted
into God’s vineyard, made part of God’s household, and are adopted into
Christ’s family.
Jesus is
teaching us that everything, 100% of what we have… and who we are… is to be
used for God’s purposes.
Your house, use
it for God’s purpose. Your car, use it for God’s purpose. Your credit, your
stuff, and your savings are to be used for God’s purposes. Yes, clothe
yourselves, have safe shelter, go from place to place safely and comfortably,
save and spend wisely, enjoy and maintain what you have… and share it, knowing that
it all belongs to God and God wants you and all you have to be used for God’s
purposes! I am not saying to sign everything over to the church… that’s what
cults and religious con-artists say. I mean that are to use we have for God’s
purposes.
So, what does that mean? Well, for starters: love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.
It also means caring for the world that we are placed in, taking care of the only planet we have and listening to the scientists who study and teach us about the place we call home, and which we charged by God from the very beginning to nurture and care for.
And, I must add, giving Caesar his due means also to hold Caesar accountable. In our country, that means vote, show up, tell your elected representatives at every level, local, county, state, and federal, what's going on and put the pressure on so that they act-- not for the sake of the wealthy donors, but for the people they represent. Giving Caesar what is due Caesar and God what is God's comes together when we advocate for the powerless, the poor, the forgotten, and for the everyday ordinary citizen. That's why the Church can seem like such a gadfly sometimes, because if we don't speak up and work for the weakest and the poorest amongst us, who will?
Jesus was not preaching benign disengagement, and we know that because he spoke to the wealthy and powerful, he rode into Jerusalem as a different kind of king, and on the cross he experienced the full wrath of the state, only to defeat both in resurrection and ascension, capped off with Pentecost. Reminding those in power that God is in charge and cares for all people and the whole creation, ain't easy, but it sure is biblical.
You have been
made in the image and likeness of God. In baptism, you have been marked as
Christ’s own forever. What God wants is nothing less than to come and abide in
your heart. God loves you. God keeps your picture in the divine wallet and on
the heavenly refrigerator. Jesus did not care about the tax, because his real
concern was that we live into being the image and likeness of the God who
lovingly created each and every one of us.
We begin to
live into the image and likeness of God by conforming our living to be more
like Jesus’ life. Giving back to God through the church does matter—and so does
paying our bills and our taxes—but it’s only the beginning.
To live more
fully into that image and likeness of God that is in you, give your heart back
to God – for it is God’s anyway. Our money is our power for good. Our voice is our power for good. We are called
to use them for good. Our money allows us to care for ourselves, for our family,
friends, neighbors, and even the stranger or the person across town or the
globe who we’ve never even met. Our voice, our time, our creativity, our smarts and our
skills are just as much our power for doing good. We choose to live and do
business ethically. We don’t hoard out of fear, but we trust that God is at
work even in the hidden places of our lives and is making us whole. Our time,
talent, and treasure are the tools the people God use to do the work of God for
the people gives to us.
This is the Bulletin for Worship for The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost: October 18, 2026 at St. Chad's, Tampa, Florida.
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