Rev Rex A E Hunt, MSc(Hons)

Pentecost 23A, 2008

Matthew 22: 15-21

MONEY MIGHT BELONG TO CAESAR, BUT THANKS FOR THE POCKET-MONEY!

Matthew’s story of the conversation around the image on a coin

is one of the most famous of all anecdotes told about Jesus.

And I just luv it!

And one that, many scholars claim, is frequently misunderstood,

or imagined in unnecessary ways.

It has also been used by some, including politicians, to justify

a separation of the affairs of religion

and the affairs of commerce and government.

That the church ought not to be involved in anything

that has to do with politics...  Religion is for the private sphere.

Well, that is always claimed before an election!

So let’s explore this really radical story a bit.

And to begin with, I need to once again

place this story in its cultural contexts.

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The immediate context provided by the storyteller we call Matthew

seems to be the ongoing ‘wrestle’ between

the leading Jewish scholars of the day,

and the itinerant sage, Jesus of Nazareth.

And this ‘wrestling’ is done in a very traditional way:

ask a question; get a response, usually a story; ask another question.

Matthew also makes it fairly clear that from his perspective,

this questioning was being done in the hope

Jesus’ answers would undermine his standing

with the general population.

The background context is similar to many of the other stories told by Jesus.

(i) rural land was being taken over by big city, rich landlords,

meant small farm owners were losing their land;

(ii) mounting debt, payable to both Roman officials and priestly aristocracy,

meant the crisis of debt and dispossession grew deeper;

(iii) farmer labourers were being forced onto the unemployment line, and

(iv) a new Roman taxation system was extracting nearly every last cent.

The atmosphere was potentially explosive.

Theologian John Cobb’s comment is helpful at this point:

“Taxes are never popular, but when a subjugated people are forced to pay taxes to a foreign overlord, the taxes are especially hateful” (JCobb/P&F web site).

So to raise a question about the controversial matter of taxes,

would create immediate interest and conversation then, as it does now.

But this question is a two-edged sword.

Again John Cobb’s comment is, I reckon, helpful:

“(A response) that they should cease to pay taxes would be revolutionary. Since their resistance would be met by military force, those who refused would either be martyred or they would fight.  For Jesus to encourage non-payment of taxes would be incitement to violence.

“On the other hand, if a religious teacher such as Jesus encouraged accepting Roman rule, that could well alienate the resentful. Truly to believe in God and God’s choice of the people of Israel suggested that God would liberate the Jews if they rose up righteously.  Counselling acceptance seemed a kind of betrayal” (JCobb/P&F web site).

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"Tell us what you reckon:

Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Roman emperor, or not?"

So Matthew goes on to tell how Jesus

turned the challenge back on his questioners,

thus avoiding entrapment, with two moves.

First, he asked for a coin.

When his questioners produced one, Jesus looked at it and asked,

Whose image is this?  Whose name is on it?

Second, his response, with a dismissive shrug of the shoulders:

Pay the emperor what belongs to the emperor,

and God what belongs to God!

Not a pronouncement about the legitimacy of Roman imperial rule

or taxation or political authority.

“...paying money to Caesar was a trivial affair in comparison with giving to God what belonged to God,”, suggests John Cobb.

“His response was never meant to be figured out.  Rather... we see his deft debating skill,” suggests Marcus Borg. (MBorg.Beliefnet  web site)

An imaginative and brilliant way of evading entrapment.

Mmm.

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Now, I want to suggest again that if we are to hear this story

in the way Borg and others suggest,

we will have to use our imaginations differently

and hear the story afresh.

Three people who are able to help us stretch our imaginations

in different directions, are:

Doug Adams, Robert Funk and Rabbi Arthur Waskow.

I have introduced their suggestions before.  So you will have heard them.

But I reckon they are so good I want to share them again.

All hear much ‘humour’ in this story.  Yes, humour!

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Doug Adams noted that when Jesus asks the Pharisees

to produce a coin, they do so...

(Ask for a coin)

Even though a strictly pious Jew

would never carry a coin bearing the emperor's image

with an inscription proclaiming him to be king and God!

These presumed righteous citizens are thus carrying around coins

that break two commandments!

The behaviour of the Pharisees, is incriminating,

embarrassing,

and amusing, to say the least. (DDonnelly 1992/Theology Today).

And certainly noted by all the ordinary people who have had to ‘toe the line’!

Robert Funk suggested there was no indication that Jesus

returned the coin to the Pharisees.

According to Funk, as Jesus proclaims the punch line

‘and (pay) God what belongs to God!’ he pockets the coin and has the last laugh. (Funk & Hoover 1993:526)

(Now over the years I too have had some fun with this story and a coin.

One even giving me a 50 cent piece. And true to Funk’s suggestion,

I kept it.

Well Shukry, it’s pay back time! Here is your 50 cent coin.

And in the spirit of another Jesus story,

here is four additional coins to add to the collection.)

Meanwhile, Rabbi Arthur Waskow imaginatively adds another line to the story:

'Whose image is on the coin?

'The emperor's?

Jesus puts his arm on the troublemaker's shoulder and askes:

'And whose image is on this coin?' (AWaskow. TSC Web site) 

Listen as Rabbi Arthur Waskow continues:

“Jesus has not proposed dividing up the turf between the material and the spiritual. He has redefined the issue: ’Give your whole self to the One who has imprinted divinity upon you! You, a fellow rabbi, know that is the point of this story.  All I have done is remind you’” (AWaskow TSC Web site).

Humour and debating skills and some deeper meaning.

Not guidance for taxation or political authority.

But... and yes, there is a ‘but’.

It does raise the provocative and still relevant question:

what if ‘the emperor’ is vile and violent dictator,

or school yard bullies,

or global capitalism,

or China or Russia?

Perhaps we still need to ponder this story some more!

Notes:

Funk, R. & W; R. W. Hoover. The Five Gospels. The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. New York. MacMillan Press, 1993.