The trick wouldn’t work today. If Jesus asked us for a coin to make his point, we would have a hard time producing one. Do you have any coins? Quarters maybe? The heavy money has fallen out of fashion. The last time I wanted to buy a new wallet, I was looking for one that would also carry coins, and I had a difficult time finding one. The wallets they sell these days are designed to carry cards – credit cards, gift cards, membership cards, reward cards, bonus cards, – and paper money. Coins are to be deposited in the charity box of the local Wawa or in the tin that you keep at home, to be emptied once a year for the youth group fundraiser. Our paper money of course still has the faces of modern leaders on it. Theoretically, Jesus could use the faded faces of Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln to make his point: “Give to the government what belongs to the government and to God what belongs to God.” But faces and government insignia have disappeared from the most common purchasing tool of our time: the credit card.
So, the trick wouldn’t work today and we also may not like Jesus’ answer so much. Well, I like it in theory, it sounds good. But when it comes right down to it, let’s face it: who likes to pay taxes to the government? Whether we are Republicans or Democrats, independent or non-political, unless we are super rich or super poor, we will look at our annual statement and say: What??? I have to pay how much? And it’s not like we are confident that the tax dollars that we transfer to the Internal Revenue Service will be spent wisely, again – regardless of our political affiliation. Giving to Cesar what belongs to Cesar is probably necessary, but it’s often painful! And one thing is for sure: what Cesar wants is no pocket change!
The coin, the golden coin, held up in the face of Jesus’ argument with the Pharisees, is more important than it may appear. First, we might think that Jesus is only finding another elegant way to get out of a trap set by the religious leaders who try with all their heart and cunning intelligence to discredit him. Maybe what he does here is just a brilliant answer, a knock-out punch to get rid of his critics; but it’s more. It’s about nothing less than the place of Christians in the world. Some religious groups try to distance themselves from the world: they stay away from military service, public schools, new technology, or any sort of “worldly” thing. Their argument is always the same: they don’t want to be defiled by this world and its flaws, scandals, and foul compromises. They seek purity in a safe and sheltered community. But let’s just say that’s not the way Jesus operated. Read the gospels and you’ll find: he was out there in the world! He got into the grime of life.
The coin that Jesus said belonged to Cesar may have been golden, but it was also dirty. That coin was rarely used for godly things, not in the Roman Empire of the first Century and not in the United States of the early second Millennium. Let’s face it: the government coin is dirty, sometimes blood smeared, and yet Jesus asks us to give it to Cesar, to give what belongs to him, to support the political structure that surrounds us, at least under relatively normal circumstances. In our day, the government coin aids schools and public works and foreign aid; it also aids welfare and weapons and power gadgets and some pork projects that influential politicians secured for their district. Most of us would like to support some of these causes and avoid paying for others, but that’s not how it works in a community. When Jesus says, “Give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar,” he is really saying, “Christians, don’t distance yourselves from this world. Be in it and make a difference!”
And by the way: Give to God what belongs to God. Which is the much harder part! Because nobody enforces it. Today, if I don’t give to Cesar what belongs to Cesar, you might soon find out how the tax dollars are put to use – in our public prison system. You can’t afford to not give to Cesar. But God? You can cut him out. Nobody has the worldly power to force you to give to God what belongs to God. Even the determination of what it actually is that belongs to God is somewhat between you and the Lord. Frankly, it all depends on how rich you are spiritually, how well developed your sense of compassion and generosity is, how intense your desire to do what is right, how unselfish you are and all that. Nobody can determine that but you alone. So, the second part of Jesus’ statement is the much harder one, and it needs to go through a process of prayer and meditation. Look at what you give to God not as a tax or an annoying stewardship pledge, but as a proclamation of your inner freedom! Are you free to give generously?
In recent years, as I included generosity as a Christian value in my confirmation curriculum, I came upon some powerful texts and statements from non-Christians. This one is from a young woman named Julia Wise and her husband Jeff, both people with regular, smallish incomes who have become philanthropists without having a fortune. She writes: “To me the question isn’t how much I should give away, but how much I should keep. I see my money as belonging to whoever needs it most: every dollar I spend is a dollar out of the hands of someone who needs it more than me. I’ve always felt that way…I was lucky enough to find someone who thinks similarly about giving. Jeff and I both care a lot about improving the world, and we married in 2009. Since college, we’ve been giving about 30% of our income each year. This year, we’re earning more and will give 45%.”
The other person I came across is the writer Steven King. The piece that I am referring to is a little bit too long for a sermon. Here is just a small excerpt:
“We come in to the world naked and broke. We may be dressed when we go out, but we’re just as broke. Warren Buffet? Going to go out broke. Bill Gates? Going out broke. Tom Hanks? Going out broke. Steve King? Broke. Not a crying dime. All the money you earn, all the stocks you buy, all the mutual funds you trade—all of that is mostly smoke and mirrors. It’s still going to be a quarter-past getting late whether you tell the time on a Timex or a Rolex…. So I want you to consider making your life one long gift to others. And why not? All you have is on loan, anyway. All that lasts is what you pass on…”
I am sure Steven King didn’t mean pocket change. And for most of us, what we can give to God and back to the community is more than pocket change. It pleases God when we discover how liberating, how powerful, how rewarding it is to give. Think about it. Pray about it. No IRS will follow you up on that. No chart will tell you what bracket you’re in. No form will have to be filled out, no deductions, no lengthy consultations… It will be a pure expression of your inner freedom, which is the most important currency of all is it not? No matter how many credit cards we use these days, giving generously will “coin” your identity! And what you give freely is never a dirty coin. It’s pure goodness. Amen.