Keys To The Kingdom - Week 3: "Whose Image Is This?"

 

The Keys to The Kingdom

If Jesus is our King, what does it look like to live by his Kingdom values while surrounded by kingdoms that operate under very different rules?

Today, we’re going to explore a story in which Jesus is asked a highly charged political question meant to trap him.  (Spoiler Alert: It didn’t)

The Holidays are coming; do you have a plan for avoiding political talk?

You should if you don't already.  It can be the roughest time of year for a lot of us, having to deal with family dynamics and all the baggage we carry when it comes to our family. 

But add politics into the mix today, and you've got the potential for a serious food fight across the Thanksgiving table.  

Maybe your plan would look something like this: 

If you are that one family member who just enjoys stirring everyone up, first... Why?  Why do you do this?  

You could seriously go without telling Grandpa that you heard a rumor that Jeffrey Epstein was still alive, and the government is hiding him in Area 51.  

The sad truth around all of this is simply this: 

We live in a culture where everything is politicized.   

Our allegiances as followers of Jesus are constantly being challenged.  It's hard to navigate the demands placed on us and the tribalism that causes so much division. 

Here's a simple test to determine which way you need to be leaning when it comes to your kingdom allegiance: 

The kingdoms of this world say: “You belong to us”

The kingdom of God says: “You belong to God.”

In today's story, a coin bearing Caesar's image teaches us what belongs to God's kingdom and what doesn't.  

CAESAR MAY PUT HIS IMAGE ON A COIN, BUT GOD HAS PLACED GOD’S IMAGE ON YOU. 

Matthew 22:15–22

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “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. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” 

• The Pharisees and the Herodians - unlikely political allies. 

No one would have expected the Pharisees and the Herodians to come together over taxation.

The former opposed the Roman Empire and the latter actively worked with it, but their shared disdain for Jesus brought the two ideologically and politically opposed groups together.

• Greek word: “pagideusosin,” meaning they were trying to make his words seem seditious. 

The Greek word pagideusosin connotes ensnaring someone in their own words. The question was meant to offer Jesus no alternative but to either defy Caesar or offend those who were resisting Rome,

18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 

• Jesus asks for a coin, and they produce it immediately—pretty telling. 

The fact that they produced the coin so quickly also shows how far everyone, including (or especially) the Pharisees and the Herodians, had participated in Caesar’s economy, willingly or out of necessity. 

20 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” 21 They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away. 

• What does Jesus mean when he says, “Give to Caesar what is his?” 

They are all trading in Caesar’s economy, so they are legally obligated to pay the tax. And Jesus is not about to encourage those at the margins to defy the empire and jeopardize their lives.

• You can pay to Caesar what is required without embracing Caesar’s values. 

What is legal is not necessarily moral. What Rome considers lawful might not be acceptable to God. So even as you pay taxes to Caesar, you should also pay what is due to God.

• What exactly is Jesus implying about what belongs to God?

The coin bears Caesar's image.  We bear God's image.  So even though you may have to pay taxes to stay out of trouble, you don't belong to the empire.  Every aspect of you belongs to God.  

Jesus indicts the religious leaders for their hypocrisy and assimilation of the immoral purposes of empire, and provides a blueprint for living in an earthly kingdom while still working to bring God’s kingdom to earth.  

Some Thoughts

• This is about allegiance. 

We need to constantly check ourselves to ensure our allegiance to God's kingdom, and the recognition that we ultimately belong to God, stays front of mind as we engage with the state. 

When our allegiances get sideways, we can easily abandon God's kingdom values for this world's kingdoms. We see this happening with the rise of Christian nationalism, but also in an overreliance on particular leaders to "save" us.  

“As Christians we must never surrender our supreme loyalty to any time-bound custom or earth-bound idea, for at the heart of our universe is a higher reality—God and his kingdom of love—to which we must be conformed.” - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 


• Caesar can have his coin.  God wants you.  

The big question that we all have to ask here is, "Do I really live my life in such a way that it shows I belong to God?"  How much have we surrendered to God of who we are, and what we have?  

• What does belonging to God require of me?  

What mechanisms—what coinage—do we need to put in place to transform our current reality and bring about a different reality that would be more acceptable to God?  

Are we living open-handed and fully surrendered to what God is leading us to do?  Are we living generously, sacrificially, selflessly?  Are we aligned with God's values of peace and justice?  Are we working to transform the world around us so the kingdom of God is visible?

CAESAR MAY PUT HIS IMAGE ON A COIN, BUT GOD HAS PLACED GOD’S IMAGE ON YOU.