1st Thessalonians 1.1-10; Matthew 22.15-22
“Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?”
There are some questions in the Bible that sound antiquated to contemporary readers, as you know; theme that reflect ancient ideas, political systems, and cultural assumptions quite different from our own. I don’t, for example, give much thought to the New Testament concern of meat offered to idols, even if I do find myself thinking about the food supply from time to time and where my food comes from. I suspect that you, for example, are less interested in the Bible’s prescriptions for skin conditions and more interested in finding a good dermatologist. But today when the Pharisees and Herodians approach Jesus with a question about paying taxes to the emperor, we are in familiar territory, especially now in an election cycle. When it comes to taxes, who should pay, who should benefit, who decides?
Jesus’ response, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” sounds like a simple answer about money and government: pay your taxes; be responsible; move on. Yet Jesus is not simply answering a political question, though he does point to civic duty. For Jesus, something more important is at stake. Something more all-encompassing, too. He takes today’s question about taxes and turns it into a question about life in God.
The religiously serious Pharisees and the political operatives of Herod want to talk politics; Jesus (unsurprisingly) wants to talk theology. And he does that with a simple object lesion. He points to a coin and asks, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” Only that doesn’t sound particularly significant, does it? Whose head. Whose head is on the nickel? Whose head is on the dime? It’s not entirely clear what that has to do with life in God.
But there are other translations that get to the heart of Jesus’ question better than ours. Not ‘whose head’ but ‘whose image’ is on the coin? Yet even so, that might not seem like much of a difference: head or image, either is a picture. Since the coin has the emperor’s image on it and belongs to him so give it to him. But by saying, “Give to God the things that are God’s,” Jesus is doing more than dividing life into religious and secular responsibilities, as some sort of building block to the American notion of the separation of church and state. Jesus is saying something even greater. ‘Whose image’ is a more literal translation and leads to his all-encompassing answer—not about coins or taxes but life in God.
At beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, at the pinnacle of creation, God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness…so God created humankind in the divine image, in the image of God humankind was created.” That’s why our translation, “Whose head is this?” falls flat. It misses out on what Jesus wants to open up for us to explore. Because taxes are the least interesting part of today’s gospel. Much more interesting is that you bear the image of God, that you belong to God.
In today’s reading from 1st Thessalonians, St Paul offers his own way of describing this. “For we know, brothers and sisters, that God has chosen you.” Our money may bear the image of an earthly ruler, but our lives bear the image of the God who created us. You bear the image of God and are the coin of God’s realm. How will you spend your life as you, “Give to God the things that are God’s.”
One helpful answer comes from a nineteenth-century French nun by the name of Thérèse of Lisieux. Thérèse lived a brief life; was 24 when she died. Yet the measure of her life has exceeded her years because of the practical way she shows us to live as people who bear the image of God.
Her spirituality became known as the Little Way—the Little Way, because Thérèse did not believe that holiness required extraordinary achievements or dramatic acts of religious devotion. Of her own life, she was sure that she would never accomplish the deeds of the great saints she admired. Of most of us, she understood that our days a quite ordinary, filled with repetitive tasks, small frustrations, unnoticed sacrifices. Yet Thérèse, in her Little Way, sought to “give to God the things that are God’s” not by avoiding the smallness of everyday life but by giving herself to God within it.
And her Little Way is within the grasp of each of us. A simple task, an act of kindness, patience through challenge, bearing an irritation without anger are all little ways to give back to God the things that are God’s and reflect the image of God in every moment. It doesn’t need to be something grand. In the New Testament letter of Colossians, Paul describes how Jesus has renewed us in the image of the God who created us. Then he describes our response to that renewal through the little ways of daily life: “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love.”
When we do our work honestly, care for a family member, or quietly help someone in need, we offer God something of ourselves. When we refuse to reduce a political opponent to a caricature, we honor the image of God in another human being. These actions may seem small. They certainly won’t resolve every political challenge or repair every injustice. But they embody a different way of living, the way of life in God in whose image we are created and the love of God in Jesus who renews us in that same image,
“Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus isn’t offering tax advice or dividing life into distinct duties, secular and religious. He is asking us to think through who we are in God and what that means for the way our God-given image is expressed in thought, word, and deed. It applies wherever you are: at work, at home, or at church. And it matters in every moment: with family, among friends, or alone with your deepest thoughts and fears.
So on Tuesday afternoon when a co-worker gets under your skin, or Thursday morning when a family member manages to bring out the worst in you, the question to ask is not ‘What am I going to do to fix them?’ Instead ask, ‘In what little way can I bear the image of God in this moment and be a source of hope, truth, and peace to another person in front of me right now who also bears the image and likeness of God.’
Living out this call isn’t easy. It requires ongoing prayer, practice, and reliance on the Spirit. It can hard work and will include moments of stumbling, repentance, and the need for forgiveness from God and others. Yet through every failure and struggle, God’s call on your life remains firm: “For we know, brothers and sisters, that God has chosen you,” Paul says today. God has chosen you and God’s steadfast love and faithfulness will never fail you.
The question asked in today’s gospel by the religiously serious Pharisees and the political operatives of Herod is just one of many challenges and tests for Jesus that lead to his death on the cross. Yet it is there, especially at the cross, that Jesus reveals the full truth of God’s image. The New Testament letter of Hebrews says that Jesus Christ is, “The exact image and imprint of God’s very being.”
The cross marks that same imprint on our lives, not in taxing demands but spending our lives in God’s service. The emperor has cast the coin in his image so let him have it. That is the least interesting part of today’s gospel. Much more interesting and more all-encompassing is that God has made you has chosen you and imprinted the divine image on you. Our money may bear the image of an earthly ruler, but you bear the image of the God who created you.
How will you spend your life? “Give to God the things that are God’s.”
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