When Jesus’s opponents tried to trap him with a question about paying taxes to Rome, he answered that people should give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s. What would it mean for us to give to God the things that are God’s? What in our lives belongs to God? In fact, to God, our Savior belongs everything, all that we have and all that we are. We are called and blessed to give our whole lives to God every day.
“Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” . . . [Jesus] said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Jews in the time of Jesus disliked paying taxes, not only because of taxation’s financial burden but also because their taxes supported the Roman government, the oppressive overlord of the Jewish people. Some Jews believed that faithfulness to God meant they should not pay tax to Rome. Of course, the Romans didn’t take well to that line, regarding it as seditious. So, any debate among Jews about paying taxes was messy, both theologically and politically.
The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sought to exploit this situation for their advantage by setting a trap for Jesus. They asked him, “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (Luke 20:22). If Jesus said “Yes” then many would consider him unfaithful to God and God’s kingdom. If Jesus said “No” then he would be in trouble with Rome. Jesus’s opponents seemed to have put him in a bind from which he could not escape.
But Jesus was not to be tricked. Sensing the motivations of his inquisitors, he asked to see a denarius, the Roman coin used to pay taxes. He asked, “Whose head and whose title does it bear?” to which the questioners answered, “The emperor’s” (Luke 20:22, 24). (In fact, it’s likely that the coin in question also identified Tiberius Caesar as “son of God.”) In response, Jesus said, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 20:25). By saying this, Jesus not only escaped from the trap that had been set for him but also showed that the Jewish leaders possessed a coin bearing the emperor’s image – indicating their own sell-out to Rome.
I’m not going to delve into the issue of paying taxes. We could have fun wondering what to do with the coins that say plainly, “In God we trust.” But now’s not the time for this. Rather, I’d like to reflect with you on the last phrase in Jesus’s saying, “[Give] to God the things that are God’s.” This speaks to much more than the question of taxes. It challenges us to consider what we owe to God and what it might mean for us to give to God all that is due.
How would you answer the question: What do you owe to God? What things in your life are God’s? When I reflect on this, I think first of my physical body. I remember what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:20: “For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” This verse suggests that we owe to God more than just our bodies, however. We have been bought with a price. We, our whole selves, body and soul, mind and heart. God who created us and recreated us through Jesus Christ rightly claims as his all that we are, every single bit.
According to Ephesians, our every existence is for the praise of God’s glory (Ephesians 1:11-14). Moreover, as Paul writes later in this letter, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10).
What do you owe to God? What things in your life are God’s? Everything! God deserves all that you have and all that you are. This doesn’t mean you should spend all your time in church, however. It does mean that you should offer to God every part of your life, all day, every day. This way of living doesn’t come naturally to us. Yet as we are formed by the Spirit of God, it can become more and more instinctual. We can learn to give ourselves to God in our daily lives much as we do when we’re gathered for worship.
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