ST MATTHEW-IN-THE-CITY
ANGLICAN CHURCH AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND
In Whose Image Are We Made?
October 22, 2017
Helen Jacobi
Ordinary 29 Isaiah 45:1-7 Psalm 96:1-9 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Matthew 22:15-22
Video available on YouTube, Facebook
A week or so ago I had a call from a reporter for the John Campbell show on RNZ and he wanted to ask about what the Bible says about money. It turned out the story was in relation to another type of church where the “pastors” get paid a lot more than we do! So we had a conversation about passages like “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mark 10:23) and how Jesus said you cannot serve God and wealth (Mt 6:24). Those passages that make us feel uncomfortable.
Today’s gospel is another one of those but it is not about wealth per se; it is a question about the paying of taxes. Maybe an appropriate question in the week when we finally get a government!
Jesus’ question about the taxes is about the politics of taxes and land and who is in charge. Our gospel readings for the last few weeks have been politically charged as we watch Jesus and the Temple leaders go head to head. We have had 3 Sundays in a row of parables laced with violence and tension.
Today the leaders think they have caught him out. “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (Mt 22:16) You have to hear the smarmy tone as they sidle up to him. Matthew notes that it is the Pharisees and the Herodians who ask the questions – normally two groups who would vie with each other for power but now they are united in their desire to trip Jesus up.
And it might seem like an innocent enough question – but let’s remember the setting. Israel is occupied by the Romans, they are an armed occupying force. Everyone had to pay taxes to the occupiers. So to say yes to this question (yes it is lawful to pay taxes to the emperor) would mean Jesus was supporting the occupier, the oppressor of the Jews. But to say no – we should not pay taxes, would be to invite sedition and the wrath of the Roman soldiers. Then there is another layer of meaning here – on the Roman coins was the head of the emperor – just like the Queen is on our coins – but the Roman emperor was seen as a god, and was worshipped, and the inscription on the coins, said the divine emperor. The coins were seen as a symbol of Roman power and religion and the most strict Jews believed you should not ever even use the coins because that meant you were acceding to the Roman emperor being divine. And the Romans in fact let the Jews have different coins to use for transactions in the Temple because of this problem.
So a simple question about taxes was also a question about the divinity of the emperor and what the people should do when confronted daily with the need to acknowledge the divinity of this emperor who had invaded their country. Many like King Herod and the Herodians mentioned in this passage were the accommodating ones who found a way to live and let live; others like the Pharisees and other more radical groups were hardline in their opposition.
So which way was Jesus going to jump? Jesus says – bring me a coin – whose image is this – and whose title? – the emperor’s they reply – well then – give to the emperor what is his. And then Jesus turns to one of the people standing by him and says – whose image is this? Whose image is this person created in? God’s they reply – then give to God, the things that are God’s. And the people are stunned. Jesus has sidestepped the question of tax and turned it into a question of who we are created to be.
There is a parallel and similar passage to this gospel story in the Talmud, the Jewish Rabbinic teaching collected over the centuries. In it we read Adam, the first human being, was created as a single person to show forth the greatness of the Ruler who is beyond all rulers, the Blessed Holy One. For if a human ruler mints many coins from one mold, they all carry the same image, they all look the same. But the Blessed Holy One shaped all human beings in the Divine Image, as Adam was… And yet not one of them resembles another. (Sanhedrin 38a) [1]
Humanity is created in the image of God, and not one of us resembles another, how vast then our understanding of God can become. As vast as the number of people and cultures who walk the earth. And yet in all that diversity each of us are called to give to God the things that are God’s.
And Jesus is not half hearted when he makes that declaration – he does not let the Herodians get away with paying a few coins to Caesar and forgetting about it for the sake of peace and quiet.
He does not let the Pharisees use him for political reasons to get at the Romans either.
He demands that they both look at themselves and think about how it is that they are each made in the image of God, and to whom do they belong? To Caesar or to God? They cannot split themselves – well today I am Caesar’s out in the world but tomorrow in the Temple I will be God’s.
And we too are challenged with the same question. To whom do we belong? We are marked with the cross at our baptism. That cross is marked on our foreheads again on Ash Wednesday with ashes. We are marked as Christ’s own for ever. Is that just the Sunday part of us or our whole selves? Is it our lives, our relationships, and our money?
And then what about politics in this week of a new government? Reza Aslan, in his book Zealot, the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth [2] says that when the authorities ask Jesus the question – is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar – they are essentially asking him “are you a zealot?”, are you a revolutionary who is opposed to Rome. And Jesus’ answer coded though it is – as was their question – is a resounding yes. And Aslan reminds us Jesus’ revolutionary answer is not just that the people belong to God but also the land. [3] The people of Israel were drenched in the prophets who promised the return of the land; so when Jesus of Nazareth comes preaching hope and creating havoc, the ruling classes nervously ask him – are you another revolutionary zealot? And while Jesus answers yes, it is in a way they can’t quite grasp – but it leads to his death anyway.
Aslan says “Jesus was crucified by Rome because his messianic aspirations threatened the occupation of Palestine, and his zealotry endangered the Temple authorities. That singular fact should color everything we read in the gospels about the messiah known as Jesus of Nazareth.” [4]
As we move into a new political period with our new government, we will be paying our taxes as usual; we will have different opinions of course about what our taxes should be used for; we had our say last month when we voted and now we have to hold our government to account for those votes. In this week of transition we can give thanks that our government has changed peacefully and with good grace on all sides. So many countries do not give the right to vote to their citizens or their elections are accompanied with violence or hate filled speech. We are fortunate indeed that is not the case here. This question today about the temple taxes is super political and super religious. The two were never divided in Jesus’ time. The question challenges us too – to whom do we belong? To what or whom do we dedicate our lives? How do we bring our whole selves to discussions of politics, taxes, world issues, questions of faith. Whatever we do, we do as people of faith, living in the image of God who created us.
[2] 2013 Allen and Unwin
[3] p76-77
[4] p79