Matthew 22:15-22

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

The midterm election is behind us, and the political ads either have or will disappear. (I don’t know because I don’t watch much TV with commercials, and most of the TV I do watch that has commercials I record so I can fast-forward them.) But now you come to church, settle into your padded, comfy chair, and you hear a Gospel reading about… politics. Well, don’t blame me. I didn’t bring it up, the Pharisees did!

Let’s quickly walk through the text because I think it’s important to spend most of this sermon on the implications of the text.

Matthew 22 takes place during Holy Week. Jesus has already come into Jerusalem with the crowds shouting, “Hosanna!” He goes into the Temple on Monday to teach a bunch of parables (Mt. 21:17-22:13). And this conversation about taxes probably happens on Tuesday (see Mk. 12:12-13; Lk. 20:1, 19). The Pharisees want to trap Jesus (Mt. 22:15), so they come to Him and bring a bunch of Herodians along. Now, to put this in perspective, this pairing of Pharisees and Herodians would be like getting a bunch of conservatives and liberals to go around together to ask people, “How are you going to vote?” No matter how you answer, you’re going to offend someone in that kind of group. After they butter Jesus up a bit, they ask our Lord, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

If Jesus says, “Yes,” the Pharisees are going to be ticked because they hated the fact that they were occupied by Rome. They’ll stir up the crowds to say that Jesus is in favor of the pagan Romans ruling over them. What kind of Messiah would be in favor of that? But if Jesus says, “No,” the Herodians are going to go ballistic because they loved Rome. All they would have to do is go tell the Roman governor, Pilate, that there is a rebel, and Pilate will take care of Him. So, they think that no matter how Jesus answers, they’ve got Him because their question assumes that the kingdom of God is in conflict with the kingdom of the Roman empire.

But Jesus refuses to answer with either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no.’ He avoids the trap. He tells them to show Him the Roman coin that you had to use to pay the tax, and they bring Jesus a Roman denarius, which had Tiberius Caesar’s image on it along with writing that called Caesar a god. Most of the Jews considered the coin to be idolatrous and rightly so. Those coins weren’t allowed in the Temple, which is why there were the money-changers. You would take an idolatrous denarius and exchange it for a Temple coin, and the money-changers would inflate the exchange rate to pad their own pockets. Just a couple days before, Jesus had flipped their tables because they were extorting and fleecing the people (Mt. 21:12-13). It’s interesting. Our Lord doesn’t do what we would expect. He doesn’t say, “Get that idol out of My Father’s house.” No. Instead, He asks them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” Of course, it’s Caesar’s. And Jesus says, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

The larger point Jesus is making is that it is possible for us to be faithful Christians and good citizens at the same time. The state and the Church are not in conflict with each other—at least not according to how God has arranged things. You can be a good, faithful, God-fearing Christian and also be a faithful citizen of whatever nation you live in, and Christians have found themselves in some really (and I mean really) terrible nations. So, how do we navigate being a faithful citizen while remaining a faithful Christian? Well, we can do that because there is One Lord over both the state and the Church.

First, we have to know that God is the one who has established governments, in other words, the state. The opening verses of Romans 13, say that the governing authorities are “God’s servant for your good” (Ro. 13:4). God puts them into positions of authority as His servants who are there to punish people who do wrong (Ro. 13:3-4) and to reward those who do good. That’s the state’s job, not the Church’s job. The main job of the state is to keep all the sinners, which is everyone, who live in that country or kingdom from harming one another. Sometimes, the state has to protect its citizens from other states conquering its citizens through war. Basically, the state is there to prevent chaos and anarchy among sinners. That is what God has designed the state to do, and God gives the state the tools to do that.

The state has limitations. It cannot make anyone righteous before God. It cannot forgive sins or raise the dead. That’s what the Church is for, and God has given the Church what it needs—the Word and Sacraments—to do all of that. So, God gives the Church the task of giving eternal life with the tool of the Gospel, and God gives the state the task of restraining evil and protecting life in this world through the tool of the sword (that’s the picture Romans 13 uses for punishment).

The problem with politics is that both the state and Christians can forget that fact. The state can get this inflated sense that it can or should do more than punish evil, and it starts to think it should do more than what God has given it to do. And sadly, a lot of Christians on both sides of the aisle will hear politicians make suggestions of how the state can make life better, and some Christians start to buy into that idea. They start to think that the state can and should do more than the main thing God has given it to do—which, again, is to punish evil and reward good.

One of the ways to guard against the state overreaching and overstepping its bounds is to recognize what’s happening in so-called ‘political’ discussions. Every political debate is, at its core, actually a debate about the Ten Commandments. Political debates about abortion are actually debates about the 5^th Command on murder. Political debates about marriage and sexuality are debates about the 6^th Command on adultery. Political debates about climate and the environment are debates about the 1^st Command regarding who is God and in charge of creation. They’re also about the 7^th Command about stealing from our neighbor or stealing from the next generation. Political debates about healthcare are actually debates about the 4^thCommand about parents and family and who should care for the neighbor. It’s good to frame these political debates inside the Ten Commandments because then you are able to frame your thoughts and ideas better.

So, God has established the state to punish evil, and God has established the Church to give eternal life, but we need one more piece of the picture—family. God has established the family to give temporal life. God wants fathers and mothers to have and raise kids because God loves people and wants more of them. He wants humans to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it (Gen. 1:28; 9:1, 7). When we understand the fact that God has given the family the task of giving temporal life, we recognize that the state is only an extension of the family. All the authority God gives to the state is meant to benefit the family. In other words, the state is there to help the family but never replace it.

Now, I’ve been ragging on the state a bit by saying that it’s there to punish evil. Punishing evil is the state’s primary responsibility, but that doesn’t have to be its only responsibility. Let me try an example for you. For this example to work, you have to imagine life before the government got so involved in schooling. Let’s say in the early pioneer days that there was a town of redneck hillbillies. They can’t read or do math too good [sic.], and they realize this. They want their kids to be better educated than they are, so they hire teachers and build a school so their kids can learn and have more opportunities. That is a good thing! But notice that is families working together and forming a little state within their community.

God gives children to parents to raise them and give them life, so it’s always the parents’ job to educate their children. But if parents realize that they can’t give children a good education, they can delegate that responsibility to teachers and schools. This works well—especially when parents have the most input on what their children are being taught. When the state starts to overreach and do more than what parents have delegated it to do, that’s a problem.

So, Christian, be faithful in all your callings. Be a faithful member of Christ’s church by receiving the eternal life God gives through His Word and Sacraments. Be a faithful parent by having children, teaching them the faith, and raising them well. And be a faithful citizen by respecting the authorities God has established (Ro. 13:1). Pray for them so that we would lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way (1 Tim. 2:1-2). And, yes, Scripture says you must pay your taxes (Ro. 13:6-7).

“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” That coin bore Caesar’s image, so render it to Caesar. And remember that you bear the image of God, so render yourself to God. And you meet that image of God in the three estates that God has established—in your family, in the Church, and in the neighbor the state is supposed to protect. Then, when you realize how badly your sin has marred the image of God, repent. You have not feared, loved, and trusted God as you should. You have not loved your neighbor as yourself. We all stand before God as those who have not rendered to God what is His due.

But Jesus has. Jesus bears the perfect image of God. He submitted to the state by paying His taxes (Mt. 17:24-27). He even submitted to the sentence of death under the wicked authorities. He truly rendered to God what is God’s. His whole life, His perfect obedience, His innocent blood, His entire self was rendered to the Father on the cross. And He rendered it all for you.

Because He rendered everything to God, He renders to you the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Now, you belong to God and are free. Through Christ’s blood, the image of God is being restored in you (2 Co. 3:18; Col. 3:9-10).

Always remember that Christ is the One Lord over it all—church, family, and state. He is the Lord of the kingdom of heaven and the Lord over every earthly kingdom. Two kingdoms. One Lord. One Lord who loves you and has rendered Himself to God for you. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.