Luke 20:19-26 What is Caesar’s and What is God’s
Good morning! I am very glad to be back with you this morning. I had a great time away at camp. I am also sorry that my wife did not consent to getting dressed up in hockey gear for this morning’s sermon! Thank you to Mike Brabant for faithfully bringing the Word last Sunday.
We are going to pick up where we left off two weeks ago in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 20, verses 19-26, page 880 in the pew Bibles.
Jesus had just completed a stinging parable told against the chief priests and scribes and they were ticked! They were foaming at the mouth in anger but because all the people liked Jesus so much they didn’t dare rush at Him and grab Him.
This morning we are going to look at a new tactic they took to try and get Jesus, and like everything that they had tried thus far, it backfired.
So let’s read our text and then we’ll pray together.
19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. 21 So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” 23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.
Let’s pray.
So Jesus had just finished telling the parable of the wicked tenants. The land owner established a vineyard and set up all the stuff that is necessary for running a vineyard so that he could rent it out. When harvest time came the owner sent a servant to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard but the tenants beat him up and threw him out. The landowner sent a few more servants, one after the other with the same result, beat up and thrown out. The landowner finally sent his son hoping that the tenants would respect him, but knowing that he was the heir the decided to throw him out and kill him in hopes of taking the vineyard for themselves.
Jesus then asked the question, what will the owner do to them? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to someone else.
This of course is a brief history of the nation of Israel. God gave them everything they needed to live and sent them prophet after prophet to call them back to Himself that the people, one by one, mistreated and killed. And now, God had sent His One and Only Son to call them back to Himself and they were conspiring to destroy Him.
And what is God to do? There was nothing left for Him to do but to destroy their nation and give the kingdom of God to others, to Gentiles like you and me.
You can imagine that this would have made the chief priests and scribes very angry. This parable and its meaning, I can imagine, would still anger the Jewish people.
But the bitterness and anger of the priests and the scribes didn’t come from misunderstanding, but from the fact that they understood all too well and were outraged by the truth.
But because they were afraid of the people they decided to try and trap Jesus in His words and turn Him over to the Romans.
19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.
They knew that the Romans had no fear of the people and they would not hesitate to arrest and kill any insurrectionists in Israel. So they sent spies to try and trick Jesus.
The question they asked Him demanded a yes or no answer. There would be no, “I’ll answer your question if you answer mine,” this time.
It reminds me of people testifying before congress. People are often asked questions that end with a yes or no. “Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar, yes or no.”
21 So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”
What are the implications of answering yes or no for Jesus?
If He said, “Yes it is lawful to pay tribute to Caesar,” the people would turn against Him. The zealots in the crowd who opposed Rome and refused to pay tribute might rise up. The hope of the spies was that He would say yes and that would negatively affect His popularity.
If He said, “No, it is not lawful to pay tribute to Caesar,” He would get the attention of the Romans and be convicted of being a zealot and an insurrectionist preaching against Roman rule. He would be arrested, tried, convicted, and killed.
In their question, the spies try to make paying tribute to Caesar, paying taxes to a foreign power, a violation of their religious duty.
Deuteronomy 17:15 says, you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
But Jesus’ answer turns their argument on its head. He just seems to have a way of turning things upside down.
John Calvin wrote, “Christ intended to refute the error of those who did not think that they would be the people of God unless they were free from every yoke of human authority.”
The Jews felt that as long as Rome occupied Israel that they could not be free.
23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.”
It’s been said that “He whose coin is current is Lord of the land.”
The fact that they produced a denarius, a small silver coin, with Caesar’s likeness and inscription on it proved that the nation of Israel had submitted to a foreign power.
When Sam got back from Spain he still had forty Euros unspent. Have you had much luck spending those Euros since you got back?
No, because they are not the currency of this nation. Our coins have George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, because they represent the ruler of our nation, just as Caesar was the ruler of that one.
24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.
So what is Caesar’s and what is God’s?
JJ Van Oosterzee wrote, “From reverence to God we are to honor the authority appointed by Him; that the duty to the earthly lawgiver may be refused only in the case when it comes into irreconcilable conflict with the requirements of the Heavenly One… To Caesar what is his, so far as it is required, but to God thyself, since thou are created in His image… The soul of man is to [Jesus] the coin which originally bore God’s image and superscription, and for this reason belongs wholly to the Heavenly Owner.”
Paying their taxes, paying tribute to Caesar was their duty as citizens of both an earthly kingdom and a heavenly one. The same is true for us, as Christians, as followers of Jesus Christ we ought to be the best citizens.
Martin Luther said, “Fear of God and honor due the king are two fundamental particulars of the Christian religion which are inseparably united.”
Romans 13:1-7 says,
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
1 Peter 2:13-17 says,
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
“Obey God, defy tyrants,” may look good on a t-shirt but it is only applicable when tyrants require us to defy God. We still have tremendous freedom to worship as we wish in this country, there are many of our brothers and sisters in this world that are not as fortunate.
Well, if taxes, and revenue, respect, and honor are to be given to Caesar, what is it that should be given to God?
Pasquier Quesnel, a 17th Century French theologian wrote, “The images of princes that is stamped upon coins signifies that temporal things belong to their province. The image of God that is stamped on our soul teaches that our heart belongs to Him.”
Render to God what is God’s: a penitent heart, a believing heart, a patient heart, an obedient heart.
Amen.
