Give unto Caesar?

"The scrum of the earth". That is Mike Harcourt's description of the pack who hounded him during his days as Premier. "The scrum of the earth". That's how Matthew portrays the pack who hound Jesus days before his death. Every compliment is a fraud. Every question is a trap. Every time he opens his mouth Jesus risks arrest. "Teacher", they say, "we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God ... and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality." You just know that it is a set up. Because every one knows that there is one in the Empire who is to be shown deference one in the Empire who is to be given special treatment. When it comes to the Emperor impartiality is out the window. That is what Caesar's special tax is all about. Caesar's special tax: the T.S.T ... the Tribute and Services Tax. This is not just any ordinary tax. It has nothing to do with roads and sewers or even schools and hospitals. The Tribute Tax is the tax imposed by the Empire on every citizen of every subservient state in the realm. Whenever separatists spring up in Israel it was the Tribute Tax that draws their wrath. "Don't pay", they shout, "don't pay". The Internal Revenue Service of the Roman Empire understood. Non-payment of the Tribute Tax meant but one thing: Rebellion. "So", the scrum wants to know, "is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" And they are sure that he can't wriggle out of this corner. They wink at one another in delight over the clever trap they have set this time. There they sit, the underlings of King Herod, Caesar's puppet government. Collaborators, all. Just a hint from Jesus that the tax notices are to be ignored is all that they need for the security forces to move in. But they are surrounded by the crowds, Crowds of Jewish nationalists for whom paying the Tribute Tax is a mortal sin. Crowds of Jewish peasants who have begun to call Jesus: 'Messiah' ... 'King' The one long promised who would restore Israel to glory. "To pay or not to pay" it is the question which dominates the political life of Jesus' era. Sure enough, to the utter amazement of 'the scrum of the earth' Jesus slips out of their trap. He asks for a denarius, the coin specifically required to pay the tax. A denarius ... bearing the face of Tiberius, Emperor of the realm. "Whose head is this", he asks? "The Emperor's" they respond. Now Jesus has his opponents where he wants them: "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's" he says - in one of the world's most famous sound bites - "and to God the things that are God's". Little did anyone know that this little piece of witty repartee would last longer than that evening's newscast or the next day's morning papers. In fact, Jesus' answer lives on two millenia later as Wisdom, words to live by, guidance for the everyday follower. But just what does it mean? The Tributarians who heard Jesus' words went away satisfied. He left no doubt in their minds: "Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's". Pay Caesar his due. Plain and simple. Tax to Caesar. Tithe to the church. Work for a living from Monday to Friday. Worship God on Sunday. The Tributarians are clear: Caesar is owed allegiance. It is the way of the world. We have public, political, 'worldly' lives and we have private, personal, 'spiritual' lives. One we render to Caesar the other we render to God. Oh, sometimes the dividing line can get a bit muddy, sometimes we aren't so sure whose is whose but the principle is clear and, besides, Jesus said so. Or so it would seem. Until you stop to think about just what the crowds were thinking about. Why were they delighted with Jesus' reply? Surely if they had thought that Jesus was condoning payment of the hated Tribute Tax they would have been quick to disown him. Jesus' response left the collaborators in the crowd thinking that he was no secessionist rebel. But it also left the nationalists cheering. Why is that? What did they hear? (the piano plays ... #543 in Voices United) It was bred deep in their bones. They had learned it from infancy: "We give thee but thine own, what e'er the gift may be, all that we have is thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from thee." When they heard Jesus say: "give to God the things that are God's" the crowd heard something that the Romans and their quislings missed. They heard Jesus playing a trump card. They heard him say that nothing belongs to Caesar that everything belongs to God ... even the coin stamped with the likeness of Tiberius. The likeness of Tiberius. Any audience schooled in scripture would catch the allusion in those words. Remember the beginning of the entire saga: the creation of humankind. Whose likeness do we humans bear? To whom do we belong? We are stamped with "the image of God", we bear the likeness of the Creator. (Gen. 1:26-27) We belong to God. Here is the genius of Jesus' answer: it doesn't solve the problem of the Tribute Tax. It doesn't set out, once and for all, a separation between church and state, public and private, worldly and spiritual.. It leaves the listener to sort it all out. Unfortunately, many who hear these words find in them ammunition to aim at others rather than a searchlight to point at themselves. You know what they say: "Too many Christians use the Bible as a drunk does a lamppost ... for support rather than for illumination". How might we learn to stop leaning on these words to support our biases and rationalize our choices? What might our lives look like if we allowed Jesus' words to shed light on our skewed priorities and flawed decisions? Outspoken American preacher William Sloan Coffin is surely on target when he suggests that "the primary religious task these days is to learn to think straight. Seeing clearly", he says, is more important than good behaviour." Learning to think straight. Seeing clearly. This is the task at hand. "Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's?" How might this maxim untangle our confusion and clarify our vision? All week long I have been asking that question of myself and others. The answers that I have heard come like little glimmers of light brief moments of clarity that begin to form a mosaic shaping a new consciousness of a different way in the world. First, there was a sudden memory of an exercise done in Confirmation class many years ago. There were ten of us fourteen year olds. We were given a newspaper and asked to cut out anything in it that had to do with Christianity. As you might imagine we turned immediately to the religion section Eventually, though, we found news stories on other pages that mentioned the church in particular or religion in general. After awhile we were quite proud of the little collection of articles that we had piled up. Then to our surprise we were given another assignment. "That is not bad", our teacher said, but remember that there is nothing in the world not one page of the paper that God is not concerned with. Go back to the paper that you have left and listen for the voice of God, look for the face of Christ on each and every page." It is an exercise I practice to this day. It is an exercise that undercuts all of our attempts to separate Ceasar's world from God's world. Might it be precisely the kind of exercise that Jesus had in mind when he stumped the 'scrum of the earth'?! I think so. Early in the week, there was Gerald gleefully commenting that church history provides plenty of examples for this sermon. "Examples of what?" I innocently asked. "Why, of giving unto Caesar" he winked. And, of course, he is right. So much of our past tells tales of the church cutting deals to protect its own power and prestige. 'Give unto Caesar' can be the beguiling voice of the Tempter leading us into temptation. Later in the week there was an e-mail message from my friend Keith. "The question is", he wrote, "Can you have a Caesar salad with dressing on the side or does it ruin the salad?" Keith humour hides an issue that cannot be ignored. Is it possible to remove the tension that exists in Jesus open ended statement by putting Caesar to one side? Can the Emperor's claims simply be taken out of the equation, as if we could escape the dilemma of giving unto God in a world that includes Caesar? It cannot be done. Just look at our own system of taxation. How does one sort out that which is paid in tribute to the bureaucratic Empire and that which goes to feed the hungry, educate the young and heal the sick? Imagine that ... perhaps the largest percentage of our tax burden is, in truth, an act of stewardship ... a part of our giving back to God who would have us do justice to our fellow citizens and love kindness in our land. Sometimes giving unto Caesar can also be giving unto God. But sometimes the two mix about as well as oil and water. My friend Doug is a minister in Vanderhoof. It is a town built along the Nechako River, site of all kinds of controversy over the past decade when ALCAN negotiated the rights to lower the level of the river in order to make more power for its plants. Perhaps you remember the outcry and the outrage. In the midst of all the sound and fury, Doug was surprised one night to see one of his parishioners interviewed on the National. It was Leo LaRocque, an old trapper and guide, who never spoke much about religion. But when asked on camera why he opposed the deal with ALCAN his words came so naturally that it caught even Doug off guard: "I think we have forgotten", he said, "that the river is a gift from God." Sometimes giving unto God means choosing not to give unto Caesar. Jesus' words illuminate our lives in ways that surprise, delight and confront us. In the end he forces us to answer the question: Whose are we? Whose likeness do we bear? We know how we would like to answer that question. We would like to be theologically correct. Yet we suspect that our lives may reveal a different answer at work. Around a University that functioning answer hits you right between the eyes. Listen to the conversations among students and faculty ... listen in on the parents' phone calls from home and you'll hear it all the time: the talk of 'careers' ... of choosing a career, of starting a career, of making a career. The word 'career' remember, comes from latin racetrack talk. It is all about picking your horse, choosing the one that will get you the win. It is very different language than was once used around universities. Then the latin word was 'vocatio' calling. Do you hear the tension there? The language of vocatio, vocation assumes that we belong to another ... who calls us into the service of others. But the language of career assumes that we belong to ourselves alone. That we are each our own 'Little Caesar' owing nothing to no one. Belonging only to ourselves. Don't kid yourself. The existence of little communities of Christians on this massive campus and in this 'careerist' society amounts to subversive activity. We intend to change to convert the world around us just as we have been changed, converted by the new sight we have received. You see, here we don't speak of careers. Because here we don't believe that we belong to ourselves. Here we speak of being called, chosen, needed ... for here we believe that we belong to God.