Thomas J Parlette
“Show Me the Money”
Matthew 22: 15-22
10/22/23
Letters. Diaries. Poems. Receipts. Contracts. Manuscripts of various kinds, written in ink on yellowed paper. All composed by hand, during the Civil War. The kind of treasure trove that Ken Burns drools over.
All of those documents were included in a new textbook that Professor Drew Gilpin Faust was using in her college history class. At the end of the semester, she asked her students what they thought about the book. One of the students said the photographs of the old documents were not very helpful to him because he couldn’t read cursive writing.
“What?” thought the professor. “Did I hear him right? He can’t read cursive?”
So she asked the rest of the class, “Who else can’t read cursive?”
About two thirds of the class raised their hands.
“And who can’t write cursive?”
Even more hands went up.
Apparently this is not a new thing. According to The Atlantic, cursive was omitted from the Common Core standards for education back in 2010. (1) At that point, handwriting instruction had already been in decline for some time. Cursive was historically associated with good character and virtue – it was widely taught in the 19th century as a “a Christian ideal… occasionally credited with disciplining the mind.” But that was the high point. The use of cursive declined throughout the 20th century as people shifted to typewriters in the 30’s and 40’s, and then to the first computers and now to tablets and smartphones. (2)
The result? An increasing number of students cannot read or write cursive, including handwritten manuscripts. They have trouble understanding what is right in front of them in writing.
In our passage for today, the Pharisees and the Herodians seem to be having a hard time reading and interpreting what was right in front of them as well.
When we left the gospel of Matthew a few weeks ago, we were in Chapter 18 where Jesus delivered a long lesson about living together in community. We have now moved into Chapter 22. Jesus has entered the city of Jerusalem, he has driven the moneychangers out of the Temple and he has been telling parables about two brothers asked to go work in the family vineyard – one says yes and one says no. But the one who said yes, never went and the one who had said no, he eventually changes his mind and goes to work. We also heard the troublesome story about the vineyard owner trying to collect his share of the harvest and the greedy farmhands working in the vineyard, kill those who come to collect, including the vineyard owners own son. At the end of Chapter 21, we are told that the religious leaders knew these stories were aimed at them, so they went away to try and figure out a way to discredit Jesus.
After they heard Jesus’ parable about the wedding banquet, also aimed at them, they hatched a plot to trap Jesus into saying something that would get him into trouble with the Roman government. In all honesty, it’s a pretty good plan. They come to Jesus with a question about paying taxes.
First though, the religious officials try to butter Jesus up with some good old fashioned flattery. “Teacher, we know you have integrity and teach the way of God accurately. We know you don’t care what other people think and that you are an honest person. So tell us, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?
That sounds like a simple question, but it’s actually a loaded question. According to New Testament scholar N.T. Wright in his book Matthew for Everyone, Volume 2, “The issue of paying tax to the Roman government was one of the hottest topics in the Middle East in Jesus’ day. Imagine how you’d like it if you woke up one morning and discovered that people from the other end of the world had marched in to your country and demanded that you pay them tax as the reward for having your land stolen! That sort of thing still causes riots and revolutions, and it had done just that when Jesus was growing up in Galilee.
One of the most famous Jewish leaders when Jesus was a boy, a named Judas (a good revolutionary name in the Jewish world), had led a revolt precisely on this issue. The Romans had crushed it mercilessly, leaving crosses around the countryside, with dead and dying revolutionaries on them, as a warning that paying the tax was compulsory, not optional. The Pharisees question came with a health warning. If you don’t pay the tax, you might end up on a cross.” (3)
The Pharisees figure that if Jesus approves of paying taxes, then he’ll offend the people who are trying to rebel against the Roman Empire. But if he disapproves of paying taxes, then he might be reported to the empire and maybe even arrested. They are in effect asking, “Do you support rebellion or Rome?”
Of course, anyone leading a Kingdom-of-God movement would be expected to oppose the tax. If Jesus wasn’t intending to get rid of the tax and all that it meant, what had they followed him from Galilee for – what was the point?
This question put Jesus in a tight spot. Fortunately, Jesus sees right through them and turns the tables on them. He asks them to show him the money. “Show me the coin used for the tax.” They bring him a denarius, a Roman coin. “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answer – “The emperor’s.” Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and give God the things are God’s.” He makes them read the writing on the coin, and uses their failure to comprehend it as a way to slip out of their trap.
Matthew tells us that when they heard Jesus say this, they were amazed. They have no response, so they leave him and go away. At least for awhile.
This story is popular because it shows Jesus outwitting his opponents with cleverness and reasoning. It’s the kind of moment where people can pump their fists and say – “ Yea, Go gettem Jesus!”
Over the years, this story has been used to support the notion of separation of church and state. It seems Jesus is giving a nice, clean way of serving both government and God. Give the emperor one thing and God another thing. Keep them separate, don’t let them mix. Focus on spiritual things on Sunday, and on secular things Monday through Friday.
But if we jump to that conclusion, we are not reading the cursive on the coin, so to speak. Remember, what’s written on the coin is a title, “Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus and high priest.” That coin belongs to an empire that worshipped a godlike leader – which was deeply offensive to both the Pharisees and Jesus, who consider only the God of Israel to be divine. According to N.T. Wright, “Jesus wasn’t trying to give an answer, for all time, on the relationship between God and political authority. That wasn’t the point. Jesus was countering the Pharisee’s challenge to him with a sharp challenge in return. Was it, after all, they who were compromised? Had they really given their full allegiance to God? Weren’t they themselves playing games, keeping Caesar happy while speaking of God?” (4)
This story is really about what we owe God. It’s about being a good steward. When we give to God the things that are God’s, we are offering our whole selves – body mind, soul and heart. We hold back nothing, seven days a week. We give God everything we have.
Jesus clears this all up just a few verses later, when one of the Pharisees asks Jesus to identify the greatest commandment – another loaded question to try and trip him up. And Jesus answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” That’s what Jesus means by giving God the things that are God’s. That’s loving God with everything you have. Then Jesus adds a second part – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” – a reminder that love goes not only to God, but to your neighbor and yourself, people made in the image of God, not Caesar.
For Jesus, that’s it. That’s the whole law. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love yourself. Such love is at the heart of the Christian faith, directed to God and to the people made in the image of God.
Back in the third century, Rome was still the dominant power in the world and Christians were undergoing persecution. In the year 258, the emperor Valerian commanded his Imperial treasury to confiscate all the money and possessions belonging to the Christian church. Responding to this threat, Pope Sixtus II, put a young man named Lawrence in charge of the church’s riches, and he also gave him the responsibility for the church’s outreach to the poor.
The Roman emperor demanded that Lawrence turn over all the riches of the church and gave him three days to gather it all together. Lawrence quickly sold all the church valuables and gave the money to widows and to the sick. He then distributed all the church’s property to the poor.
On the third day, the emperor summoned Lawrence to his palace and asked for the wealth of the church. With great fanfare, Lawrence entered the palace, stopped, and gestured back to the door. Streaming in behind him were crowds of poor, crippled, blind and suffering people. And Lawrence proclaimed, “These are the true treasures of the church.” (5)
Perhaps you’re familiar with a more modern example of this idea. You’ve probably seen some of the commercials launched by the Servant Christian Foundation, a non-profit organization supported by anonymous Christian donors. It’s a campaign called “He Gets Us.” One recent 30 second video is called “Jesus was rich,” While images of common folks play on the screen, a voice over says:
“He didn’t go to college.
He never asked for a raise.
He didn’t wear fancy shoes.
He never took out a mortgage.
His friends didn’t belong to a country club.
His parents didn’t have a will,
So, he worked hard and he invested wisely.
Not in stocks or bonds – but in others.”
And it closes with the words on the screen:
“Jesus was rich. He gets us. All of Us.” (6)
Yes, the treasures of the church, it’s riches, are the people made in the image of God. We give to God the things that are God’s when we do our part to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and care for the vulnerable. We do God’s work when we look for the face of Jesus in the faces of the common everyday people around.
May God be praised. Amen.
1. homileticsonline.com, retrieved 10/2/23.
2. Ibid…
3. Ibid…
4. Ibid…
5. Ibid…
6. retrieved from YouTube, 10/18/23
