Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.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.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, October 22, comes from Matthew chapter 22, verses 15 through 22. It reads, then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Jesus in his words, and they sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you're not swayed by appearances. Tell us then, what do 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 bought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this, they said, Caesars, then he said to them, therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are gods. When they heard it, they marveled, and they left him and went away. He runs the reading. So a reading begins with a plot. And it's a plot that's quite interesting. What we see is the Pharisees and the Herodians. Team up to go against Jesus. Now, you know that this is a big deal. What you get is, on one side are the hardcore Jewish legal lists the people who are leaders of the religious parts of of God's people, they are upfront, they are hardcore, and pretty likely against the idea that there would be this this king who is not a son of David on the throne, a king who was propped up by the Romans, and that King's name was, you guessed it, Herod who the Herodians support. So the Herodians were the people who are on the side of King Herod. And so you get together, the Pharisees, one team, who often fight against the Herodians on the other team, and they all join up to put Jesus in a bind. So they begin by buttering them up. Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully. And you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. What a great way to start a conversation. There's sort of like back and trying to back Jesus into a corner, like oh, yeah, you are always wise and truthful. And you would never try to get out of a difficult situation by evading the question, Jesus, here's the here's some buttering up for you. And some of its true, Jesus is certainly wise and he would not try to evade questions. He's not swayed by appearances is what this means. Jesus did not bow to authority, but just because other people liked it. And he did not shy away from people just because other people disliked them. And now they get the question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? This is what they think they think they've got him. On one hand, Jesus, if he says, Yes, you have to pay taxes to Caesar it means that he is supporting the, the Romans, and he is on the side of the Herodians. And all of the people, the Israelite nationalists, the people who are about the Kingdom of God and the throne of David, all of those people, they want to throw off the Roman oppressors, and Jesus has just made them mad. Now, on the other hand, you could say, I side with Israel, it is not lawful, we need to throw off the oppressors. And then the Herodians get mad, and the Romans get mad. And all of a sudden, he is a true usurper, who is trying to take away the Romans and fight against them. Jesus will become a criminal. So what they're thinking is, no matter how you ask, answer this question, Is it lawful? Yes. Is it lawful? No. No matter what you do, Jesus is stuck between someone. But he sees their trick. He says, show me the coin for the tax. They bring him a denarius, and he says, Whose likeness and inscription is this? So if you looked at a coin, the tax the denarius, Caesars face was stamped on that. And so they say, Caesars, and he replies, therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's I do love that sometimes we do the we hold on to the old just because it's traditional render. It's not like we're making soap here. It means give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God. And this is where Jesus establishes the separation between church and state, right? No, not at all. You see, what Jesus is doing is he's making a joke. Jewish people now, even if, if Caesar's image is on this, this coin, it still doesn't belong to him. If you give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's Caesar gets nothing. If you give to God, the things that are God's God gets everything. And we have to remember that when we use the image and likeness is who are we Christians made in the image of we are created in the image of God. And then we are stamped into the image of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Which means that everything that we are is Christ, everything that we are is God. So Jesus isn't coming down on the separation of church and state here. What he's doing is he's showing how awful these Pharisees are, and reminding us that we all belong to God in everything we do, whether it's paying taxes or the rest of our lives. This is Jesus showing his wisdom and his power. And it's helping us to see that we are made in God's image following a Savior who was formed us after him as well. That's it for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai