Listen here.
Welcome to Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the
appointed Scripture readings for the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten
from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me
today.
This coming Sunday is the 20th Sunday after
Pentecost. I haven’t commented on this before, but we should notice that all
the gospel readings – with the exception of the holidays, Reformation Day and
All Saints’ Day, - between now and the end of the church year record events and
teaching in the last week of Jesus’ life. Matthew 21 is a major turning point
in his gospel. He records the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and from there we
find Jesus in conflict with the leaders of his time and teaching in the temple.
Most of the conflict is with religious leaders. In today’s reading, things get
political.
Let’s listen to God’s Word.
The Reading: Matthew 22:15-22 ESV
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to
entangle him in his words. 16 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. 17 Tell us, then, what you
think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?" 18 But
Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why put me to the test, you
hypocrites?
19 Show me
the coin for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. 20 And
Jesus said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" 21
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." 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him
and went away. (Matt. 22:15-22 ESV)
Comments
The major players here are the Pharisees, the Herodians, and
Jesus. The Pharisees we hear of often, they were very devoted very religious
men who sought to keep God’s Law perfectly. They studied the scriptures – a lot!
– and they sought to help others know God’s Word. They were, in some ways, really
well meaning guys. The problem was that they had no concept of God’s mercy or
grace, and they rejected Jesus and his message.
The Herodians might be less familiar. They were people who
were loyal to and served King Herod. As such they were very interested in the
status quo and in understanding who this Jesus guy was because if he was the
Messiah that meant that he had a claim on the throne – which King Herod was in
no hurry to vacate.
These two groups are somewhat strange allies. They didn’t
exactly have the same aims, but they found a common threat in Jesus. He was
stirring things up and they were concerned that his actions would lead to
religious false beliefs and even to political insurrection; neither of which
was good for these groups or their leaders.
The question about paying taxes was meant to be a trap. If
Jesus said it was okay to not pay taxes, then they could get the Roman soldiers
to intervene and arrest Jesus. If he said it was right to pay the tax they
could try to spin it to paint Jesus as a Roman stooge and, therefore, no
Messiah. But, as always, Jesus does not fit the preconceived notion.
In saying, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,
and to God the things that are God’s,” Jesus causes us to look at authority in
two realms. On the one hand, there is the political realm that rules the world
with laws, force, and physical domination. On the other hand, there is the
heavenly realm in which God reigns with grace, forgiveness and his powerful
promises. In truth God reigns both realms, so that in Acts 4 and 5 we will find
the apostles disobeying the political powers in order to obey God as the one
with greater authority. Nevertheless, God appoints rulers with authority to
punish misdeeds in order to keep people safe and to curb violence and
wickedness and Christians are supposed to honor our political leaders. So, yes,
we should pay our taxes. Nevertheless, our loyalty will always be somewhat
suspect in the political realm because we recognize God as the higher
authority.
There is a piece of irony that we should pull out here. The
coin in question that was used to pay the taxes had an image of Tiberius Caesar
on it and it bore an inscription naming him the son of divine Augustus; in a
sense saying that he was the son of a god. So here is Jesus, the Son of God,
being questioned about a coin that names Tiberius the son of a god. What I find
very interesting here is the way deity and government become interwoven in
people’s beliefs, and that leads me to wonder where we put our faith. The
Pharisees believed in God, and I assume that the Herodians did too, at least
tacitly. Yet they were more concerned about serving the political order of
their day than the God who ruled over all and chose to extend mercy and grace
to his people.
I can’t help but wonder if we don’t face the same thing in a
different format today. Do we put more faith in the government, political
structures and programs, and our preferred political platforms than we do our
Creating, Redeeming, and Sanctifying God? This is something that we should
probably pray about and repent of, knowing that the true Son of God came not to
dominate us with political power, but to save us from our sins by sacrificing
himself and to rule us with mercy and grace.
Prayers
Lord Jesus, when you were tested by the Pharisees and the
Herodians you were not caught by their deceptive tactics, and you revealed that
God’s will is for us to respect the political powers that God has ordained for
our benefit, even as we hold God as the ultimate authority in all things. We
thank you that you choose to work in our lives through mercy and grace, and
that you gave yourself up to redeem us. Forgive us for preferring the political
power of government to coerce people over the glorious power of transformation
in the gospel. Pour your Holy Spirit out on us to help us recognize where we
overly honor government over God as well as when we do not respect the
government as we should, and lead us into repentance and faithful witness of
your mercy and grace. Amen.
Thank you so much for using Devotions for Worship, I pray
that our time together has blessed you and given you something to meditate on –
some reminder of God’s grace to rattle around in your brain – for the rest of
the day.
One of the things we can do to help us meditate on God’s
word is to memorize it. This week’s verse comes from our Gospel lesson this
week – the lesson we just read.
Memory Verse: [Jesus] said to them, "Therefore render
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are
God's." (Matt. 22:21 ESV)
One quick story before I go. I am at the Ohio District
Pastors’ Conference. The conference began with a communion worship service –
and there is nothing like a worship service with lots of pastors singing hymns
like A Mighty Fortress! When it came time for the offering, the note in the
bulletin said that the offerings from that service were going to LCMS World
Relief and Human Care to help victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Don’t
forget the suffering in the world. Pray for them. And if you are inclined to
join me in making a donation, the website is www.lcms.org/disaster.
Would you do me a favor? If you got something out of this
devotional time, would you like and/or share it on Facebook, Twitter, or
wherever you do social media? That would help me get the word out, and
hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to others.
God bless you!
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