Last week I attended the Anglo-Catholic Rectors’ Conference, which was held this year in Raleigh, North Carolina. I wore my clericals to and from the conference, and on the way back, going through security, one of the guards asked me a question since he could tell I was a priest. He asked, “What does it mean, ‘Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s?’”
Of all the things he could have asked me, I was amazed that that was the question, since that is the Gospel appointed for today, and I had been thinking about it in preparing for my sermon today. I didn’t give him the whole sermon, just a very short version of it, but I’m going to give you the whole enchilada!
The religious leaders don’t like Jesus. He has been repeatedly critical of them. He chooses to keep the company of sinners while rejecting them. His popularity among the Jewish people is increasing. The Jewish leaders see him as a threat and they are plotting among themselves how best to neutralize his popularity and influence, and if possible, they would like to get him in trouble with the Roman authorities.
So they ask him a question, calculated to evoke an answer that would be a problem for Jesus, no matter how he answered. The question is: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” If he answers, “Yes, it is lawful,” he will anger many of his Jewish followers, for they hate paying taxes to Caesar, not only for the general principle that people in every age in every country don’t like to pay taxes, but because it was against their religious sensitivities for a variety of reasons. If he says, “No, it is not lawful,” then the Herodians and their sympathizers, who like the benefit of Roman rule, will be turned against him. Besides, he could then be turned over to the Roman authorities as a troublemaker.
It was a smart question. Some of the best minds in Israel at the time had come up with it. But if you haven’t thought about it, in addition to being a very spiritual man, Jesus is also smart and clever himself. So he turns the tables on them. He asks for a coin, and they give him one. In doing just that, they are entrapping themselves, for in possessing a Roman coin, which was the property of the Roman government, they could hardly object to giving some of it back. Then he gives his answer: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God, the things that are God’s.”
So Jesus answers the question not by a simple yes or no, but in such a way that they have to come up with the answer themselves. He has paid due respect to Caesar, but no more than necessary, and he has kept the faith with Judaism as well. Why is his answer so satisfying to Jewish teaching, while at the same time not really an answer at all? Because everything ultimately belongs to God, even taxes paid to Caesar. The religious leaders knew that. In fact, every good Jew knew that, and springing from that tradition, we know that, too.
At the 7:30 mass every Sunday, when we offer the gifts of bread and wine, and of the money that has been collected, we say, “All things come of Thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given Thee.” Likewise, at most of our 9 and 11 o’clock masses on Sunday we sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” basically stating the same theology.
We remember the exchange between Jesus and his detractors and we still marvel at his clever answer. But we shouldn’t stop there. We need to take to heart the basic truth which that answer recalls, especially in this difficult financial climate. We need to remember that all that we have and all that we are comes from God, and that all that we have belongs to him, and we belong to him. We need to remember that he continues to sustain us and that he will provide for us.
That’s why it is important that in difficult times especially we remain faithful in giving back to God his due. We continue to be faithful in prayer and in reading of scripture. We continue to be faithful in attending mass. And we continue to share our time, our talent, and our treasure for the work of the Church and to help those who are in need.
Our focus today and for the next several weeks is on stewardship. You may recall that our strategic plan calls for us to do a stewardship drive every year, instead of every three years, as we did in the past. During this time, each one of us is asked to fill out a pledge card, which you will receive in the mail, and send it back to the church. There are many attitudes with which we can go about this exercise, but I encourage you us to go about it in a spirit of thanksgiving. The pledge card has a sacramental nature to it. Practically speaking, it is a means whereby each of us lets the vestry know what we intend to give so that they can plan responsibly for next year. But the sacramental nature of the card comes to play in what that card represents. Money is the result of the work of our lives. It represents that work. It represents our expertise, our vocation, our talent. Money in our society is a symbol of life itself, for it would be difficult to live without it. A pledge made in the right spirit acknowledges that “All things come of Thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given Thee.” We have so much for which to be thankful. In considering what you will pledge this year, think about the many blessings that you receive, and whatever amount you put on that card, let it spring from your giving thanks for all of your blessings.
I don’t know what led that guard at the airport to ask me what it means to “render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s,” but I hope my answer helped him to see that his life is a gift from God and that God wants him to share his blessings for the good of the Church and for the relief of those in need.