21st Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 22: 15-22
I have here in my hand a silver dollar. It was my Dad's. He carried it in his pants pocket for as long as I can remember. It's worn smooth, nearly unrecognizable. There is just enough etching left, if you study such things, you can tell it's what is called a Peace Dollar. Minted between 1921 and 1935.
It weighs 26.73 grams. You can buy a pretty good one on Amazon for 65 bucks. Just the silver on this one is worth $44.53 On the front, of a good one, is the silhouette of Teresa de Francisci, wife of the designer, Anthony de Francisci, and it says “In God We Trust”. Just like our American money in circulation today, coins and paper. You can use that money anywhere in the United States without question, in case you've lost your debit card.
Our Gospel reading today might, on the outside, be thought of as a lesson in coinage and its usage.
This story is in all three of the synoptic Gospels. Matthew goes into a little more detail than Mark and Luke. In the Gospel readings for the last three Sundays, Jesus has bucked heads with the chief priests and elders of the Jewish church. In those readings He has used parables to make them look the fools. Today they change tact.
The Pharisees and Herodians join forces to try their hand at besting Jesus. These two groups would normally be enemies, but here they ally against a common foe. The Pharisees were only interested in observing the 613 commandments in the Torah, what we call the first five books of the Old Testament.
The Herodians were followers of King Herod and would have been more concerned with pleasing the Roman government. Together they represent the leaders of the ultra-orthodox Jewish religion and the lackeys of the occupational government. Strange bedfellows to say the least.
In Mediterranean culture no question is neutral. It's always intended and perceived as a challenge to one's honor. This case is no exception and it gives Jesus another opportunity to prove that He is the master of the game of challenge and riposte. And as they say, “Let the games begin”.
The questioners begin with flattery to take Jesus off guard. They call Him “teacher”, which means they are giving Him the qualifications of someone who can legally interpret the Torah. That would not have been just anyone off the street. Interpreters of the Torah would have had to have “bona fides”. The implied covenant of good faith, with credentials and identity. Like a Bishop, a Priest or a Deacon.
“Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth”.
They're foaming at the bit. The priests and elders have failed three times in a row to trap this common carpenter in a debate. The Pharisees have thrown caution to the wind. They've planned and plotted. They've even teamed up with the brain trust of the Herodians. There is no way, no way, He can dodge this bullet. It's the ultimate unanswerable question. “Have you stopped beating your wife?” is a cake walk in comparison.
They asked, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
There were were three taxes during this time that were paid to the Roman government. They all caused great consternation to the Jewish people.
They were:
-the poll tax: which was 10% of the grain and 20% of the olive oil and wine which a man produced each year.
-the income tax: which was 1% of a man's income, I'd settle for that.
-and the poll tax which had to be paid by everyone over the age of twelve. That's the one we're talking about here. The poll tax was to be paid with a silver denarius which had the likeness of the Roman emperor on it.
The poll tax was doubly distressful to the Pharisees because by paying that particular tax they were seen to be agreeing to the divinity of the Caesar and the possession of the coins themselves was considered idolatrous.
They devised ways of paying the tax without actually possessing or handling the coin. The Romans were shrewd enough to know that silver is silver, no matter what is stamped on it, or where it came from. They made exceptions.
There was no standardized rate of exchange. There was no entity that set the price of silver. Money changers used a set of scales to determine their own rate of exchange. It was like buying bananas by the pound out of the back of a pickup.
Nearly all the larger city-states minted their own coins. There are seven different coins mentioned in the New Testament. Archaeologists have dug up hundreds of different coins in Israel in the last 100 years. Big stashes of them, 5000 coins in one ruin alone.
The second commandment is: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”. Worshiping idols is not allowed.
So much so that Jesus didn't even want to touch the denarius. He said, “Show me the coin used for the tax”. You can bet the Pharisees didn't have one either.
“Whose head is this, and whose title?” That would have been emperor Tiberius, who was considered a deity, a god by the Romans. Just touching one of the coins would have been to break the second commandment. The simple fact that one of the Pharisees' group had a denarius in their possession would have been utterly shameful.
Jesus was not against paying taxes. In chapter 17 of this Gospel he tells Peter to go catch a fish, and in its mouth will be a shekel to pay for both of their Temple taxes.
Jesus and the Pharisees probably had similar views on paying the tax. It would be very troublesome not to pay it. Jesus said, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's”. The good news is, God's taxes are not paid with coins. They're paid with love for Him and our fellow man.
Amen.
