Grace and peace to you in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.
Hear the Word of God, from Mark 12.13-17:
13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. 14 And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone's opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” 15 But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar's.” 17 Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.
Question: If someone perceived Jesus as an enemy and felt threatened by His popularity, what would be an easy way of making Him less popular with the crowds?
Answer: Get Jesus involved in a controversial political issue of the day!
That is the background of the Scripture passage from Mark’s Gospel. While this is admittedly an oversimplification of the circumstances, let’s regard the Pharisees and the Herodians as the two main political parties of the Jewish people during Jesus’ earthly ministry. The Pharisees were devoted to keeping “the letter of the Law” regarding the Law of Moses (the first five books of the Old Testament) and the traditions that had grown up in the wake of the Law. The Law of Moses is founded upon the first of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” As Jesus noted later in Mark 12, the most important commandment of all, which summarized the entire Law, is found in the Old Testament verses of Deuteronomy 6.4-5 and Leviticus 19.18: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God “’The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Based on the command to recognize no other gods, the Pharisees believed that paying taxes to the occupying Roman government was a sin; after all, Caesar was the undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire, and Caesar was more than willing to accept the decision of the Roman Senate to declare him a god. The Pharisees believed that paying taxes to a government run by a “god” was a fundamental violation of the Law of Moses and of the Jewish faith.
The Herodians, as the name implies, were associated with the family of Herod the Great (his description, not mine!), who Rome installed as their puppet rulers of the Jewish people. The Herodians saw the Roman occupation of Israel as a good thing: the Romans brought good roads, a good economy, and an enforced peace that allowed the Jewish upper classes to flourish. The Herodians feared a Jewish rebellion would cause the Roman army to destroy Israel, which would be a travesty in both political and religious terms. So, the Herodians argued that paying taxes to Caesar and his Roman government was in the best interests of the Jewish people and the preservation of the Jewish religion.
Needless to say, the question of paying taxes to Caesar and his government was a hot political issue of the day among the Jews. It divided the people into warring political camps; if you took any position on the subject, you were sure to make half of the people of Israel mad at you. So, if you were an enemy of Jesus, what better way could there be to reduce His popularity than to force Him to take a side on the issue? This was the setting for the Scripture lesson: an attempt was made to place Jesus between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.” But Jesus saw through the political ploy, and He used it as an opportunity to shift the conversation back to His mission and message. He asked that a denarius, a Roman coin used by the Jews in everyday business life per Roman expectations, be brought to Him. The coin featured the likeness and inscription of Caesar; in other words, it carried Caesar’s image, which, according to the custom of the day, marked it as belonging to Caesar. In noting this, Jesus effectively said, “This coin bears Caesar’s image, so, even though you make use of it, it rightfully belongs to Caesar; give what belongs to Caesar back to him if he wants it.” Yes, Jesus answered the political question: He essentially told the people to pay the taxes demanded by the Romans. However, Jesus didn’t end the discussion at that point; He transformed it by effectively adding this: “And, by the way, that which bears God’s image rightfully belongs to God; be sure to give that back to Him.” No doubt everyone who heard Him recognized the reference to the very first chapter in the very first book of the Law of Moses: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” (Genesis 1.26). Jesus makes the message plain: the most important issue of the day was not whether the people were giving back coins to Caesar, but whether they were giving back their lives to God, for people bear His image for a reason.
Brothers and sisters, that is still the most important issue of the day. The God of the universe, the Lord of all creation, has redeemed what it rightfully His: a fallen, sinful humanity lost in its own ignorance and self-importance. God has effected this redemption through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus, and it is the mission of the Church to take this message to the world and invite individuals to return themselves to the rule and reign of God in their lives by becoming disciples of Jesus through faith in Him. No political issue, no political circumstance, no political crisis is more important that this message and this mission. Nothing can be allowed to compromise the very reason for the Church’s existence. Those of us who claim the name, the cross, and the cause of Jesus Christ have no alternative: we must surrender ourselves totally to God, for WE ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S!
For over thirty years, I have attempted to constantly and consistently keep politics out of any pulpit I was privileged to fill (and filling a pulpit is a sacred privilege…there are a lot of preachers today who would do well to remember that). I have not done so out of a lack of concern for contemporary political issues; I was raised to believe that much good can be accomplished through noble political efforts, and anyone who knew me in high school knows that my original intention in life was to run for public office and make a positive difference in my country and in the world. However, when the Lord called me into ordained ministry, He made it truly clear to me that “rendering to God the things that are God’s” meant I would have to check my political opinions and aspirations at the sanctuary door and devote myself only and exclusively to declaring the message of the Bible when in the pulpit. I don’t know if I’ve always succeeded in that effort, but I’ve always tried, and I always will. Today, in a world where people are bombarded with political opinions from every direction, the last thing a lost and dying person needs to hear upon entering a sanctuary is one more political opinion. What that person needs to hear, and what I believe that person wants desperately to hear, is a word from God, arrived at by a pastor who dies to self and lives for inductively determining and sharing from the pages of the Bible GOD’S OPINION on the vital issues of life from the sacred platform of the pulpit.
Yes, I defend the right of a pastor to have political opinions (I certainly have mine!) and to express those opinions as responsible citizens living under our First Amendment freedoms. Yes, I believe it is the responsibility of every Christian to stay informed on political issues and to consistently exercise the right to vote as American citizens, which has been purchased by the blood of soldiers on battlefields for over 200 years. Yes, I believe Christians can and should run for public office if led by the Lord to do so. And, yes, I believe the Church can and should speak out on the great moral issues of the times that have political implications. In the 1800’s, the Church rightfully spoke out again slavery; in the 1900’s, the Church rightfully spoke out against the abuse of children in the workplace that was the result of the Industrial Revolution; today, the Church rightfully speaks out against the tragedies of abortion and human trafficking. The Church follows the example of our Lord Jesus in this, who was not afraid to address the moral issues of His earthly days even if they forced Him into a specific political “side” of an issue, such as in our Scripture this morning.
However, let me be clear: My right as a pastor to declare my political opinion IS NOT AND NEVER WILL BE more important that the requirement of my calling to be a voice for the message of the Gospel to ALL people, ESPECIALLY IN THE PULPIT. This is not about being a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent; this is about “rendering to God the things that are God’s.” Perhaps congregational leaders want pastors who spout politics from the pulpit; if they do, they absolutely do not want me as a pastor. My calling is clear, and my stand is firm; if it means I never fill another sanctuary pulpit again, so be it.
I may instead simply run for office as Barry Taylor, a sinner saved by grace and determined to do the best I can to “render to God the things that are God’s.”
And I can only raise this Biblical question today: Have you truly rendered to God the things that are God’s?
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.
Amen.
Comentarios