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In the name of Jesus, amen. Dear Saints, there are a lot of temptations that come to us when thinking about politics, thinking about this world that we live in. On the one hand, that we put all of our eggs and hopes and dreams in one basket, or just a few baskets, that we even look to princes and rulers to make life better, and we put our hopes and dreams there. Or on the other hand, that we despise all of those things, and we try to rise above the fray and live as if it didn’t matter at all. There’s kind of an either-or when it comes to thinking about these things. And that’s the either-or that is confronting our Lord Jesus this morning on Holy Tuesday when he’s there in the temple.
It’s pretty amazing, actually, that the Pharisees get together with the Herodians. I mean, those, they did not get along. The Herodians, remember, were the Jews who had decided that Herod was fantastic, that Rome’s occupation was good, that they should submit to that occupation, and they should themselves become more Roman.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, saw the Roman occupation as God’s judgment, and their great hope for the Messiah was that he was going to overthrow the Romans, overthrow the Caesar, reinvigorate David’s throne, and rule in Jerusalem. That’s why, remember, even the disciples had that Pharisaical idea that Jesus the Messiah was going to overthrow, overthrow the Romans and bring the rule. So the Pharisees and the Herodians were just about as opposite as you could get. And we already, when we see them teaming up at the beginning of our lesson today. We’re like, what are you guys up to?
And we can see it when they come to Jesus and they ask him this question, should you pay taxes to Caesar? Because the Pharisees would have been arguing all along that, no, Caesar’s rule and reign is completely illegitimate. We shouldn’t give him anything at all. We should be resisting the Roman rule at every turn. And the Herodians would have said, well, of course, we owe the tribute to Caesar. Of course, we should support those who are governing over us. In fact, the Pharisees saw the Herodians as traitors to God and idolaters, and the Herodians saw the Pharisees as rebels who were stirring up the wrath of Rome and need to be put down. They’re totally against each other, but they come to Jesus together because, depending on how Jesus answers this question, one or the other is going to be able to accuse them.
So they gather together so that they can test Jesus, and they come to him with the question. They say, well, Master, should we pay tax? In fact, did you hear in the text how they butter them up first? They say, you aren’t afraid of anybody’s opinion. You say whatever’s true. You’re not worried about the consequences. So we’ll just ask you this question. Should you pay taxes to Caesar? And Jesus would, look, if he says, yes, you should pay taxes to Caesar, the Pharisees could say, well, look, he’s obviously not the Messiah. He’s obviously not the one that we’re waiting for. He’s capitulating to this Roman occupation. And if he says no, then they’ll just wink and nod at the Herodians who can go and report Jesus to Pontius Pilate as a rebel who’s stirring up the people to not pay taxes to Caesar. In fact, they’re going to accuse him of that anyways in his trial, even though it wasn’t true. So it’s a gotcha question, you see. No matter which way he answers, one way or the other, someone is going to accuse them.
But look at how our Lord answered. And here’s the thing that I want us to really think about. There’s a key word here that Jesus puts into the whole conversation, and it’s the word and. He replaces the or of the question with an and. He says, show me the coin.
So they pull out the denarius, and it’s got the imprint of Caesar on it, And he says, whose picture is this? And they say Caesar’s. And Jesus says, well, give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. It’s not an either or. It’s not Caesar or God, God or Caesar. It’s Caesar and God.
Now, there’s some irony in the text and maybe a couple of things we just don’t want to miss because one of the ironies is that they have that Caesar coin in their pockets, and the Pharisees were not supposed to have those coins, especially in the temple. But I think, and this is only my own speculation, I think the reason why they have a coin, a pocket full of Caesar coins, is because they couldn’t change their money for the temple coins because the day before, Jesus had thrown over the tables. So they couldn’t go to the exchange before they went into the temple and get those faceless coins that they would use there. They had to bring their pagan coins in there with them. So they’re like, well, you know, they’re showing Jesus the coins and it’s his fault they’ve got them.
But the other thing is we can’t, you know, we can’t also miss this because Jesus says, whose likeness is it? Whose image is printed on this coin? And this should, whenever we hear that word image or that word likeness in the Bible, it should take us right back to Genesis chapter 1 when the Lord says let us create man in our image and in our likeness that’s this reference to the fact that the Lord has created us in holiness and righteousness to fear and love and trust him above all things to be able to receive his gifts and to be able to worship him for who he is and everything that he has done that original righteousness is there but it was lost in the fall And now we carry the image and likeness of the man of dust.
But remember, the Lord Jesus came in the likeness of man so that he might restore the image of God in us. And so Jesus says, look, just look at whose picture’s on the thing. If the picture of Caesar is on the coin, give it to Caesar. Fine, but you have a different picture on you. You do not belong to Caesar. You do not belong to the government. You do not belong to this temporal authority. You belong to God, and God belongs to you.
So give to Caesar his stuff, fine, but, or and, whoa, and, give to God what’s his. It’s absolutely tremendous that the Lord Jesus sets us free to live in this world below, to serve our neighbor, to bless the people around us, to argue about politics, to go and vote, to care about who rules over us and who governs.
And especially now for us, we need wisdom because the political conversation is not really political anymore. It’s elevating itself to become an ethical conversation, a moral conversation, even a worldview conversation, and right on the edge of becoming a theological conversation, so that the political parties are making much broader arguments than, like, what the marginal tax rate should be or where you should put the road. It’s a whole worldview issue that’s being argued along with these things, and we as Christians are not only free to be involved in this, but we’re able to say, no, this is important for us to be involved in.
We ought to vote. We ought to think. We ought to argue. We ought to. I was telling everybody in the early service that we ought to be more involved, especially locally. We ought to have more members of the congregation running for school boards and offices and all this sort of stuff, that we are free to be involved in the government that the Lord gives to us and free to know that these things matter, but we’re also free to know that they don’t matter, that above all of the rulers, above all of the governors that the Lord puts in place to accomplish his own will as his servants, above all of them is our Lord Jesus Christ who sits on the throne, who rules and who reigns all things for the sake of the church, and you belong to him.
You are citizens, this is what St. Paul says in his letter to the Philippians, which you heard just a few minutes ago. You are citizens of heaven. Citizens of Texas, most of you, I suppose. Citizens of the United States. But more than that, above that, more importantly, you’re citizens from heaven. And remember what Paul said about that, and we await a Savior from there. We are not authorized to look for a Savior to come from Washington, D.C., or to come up from the Capitol and come and visit.
We are awaiting a Savior from heaven. That’s where our hope is. That’s where our life is hidden with God in Christ Jesus, who is ready to be revealed in glory on the last day, so that we trust not in princes who are but mortal, earth-born they are, and soon decay. They’re no help at life’s last portal when the dark grave marks its prey. Remember, we put our trust in Christ Jesus, who was under Pontius Pilate, suffered and died, and rose from the grave and ascended and now sits at the right hand of the Father.
So we’re able to confess these two things, that the elections and the government and all the things that are happening and all the state houses and in the United States, that matters, it’s fine, it matters. It matters that we have neighbors. It matters that we’re set in this life to love one another. But we’re also free to know that it doesn’t matter. That the Lord Jesus rules and reigns. And that Jesus who sits on the throne, here’s the most important thing.
That Jesus loves you. That Jesus died for you. that Jesus poured out his blood so that you would know that he is yours and you are his and that that’s true eternally and that sets us free to love and to vote and to argue and to bless and to serve and to suffer and to live and to die all in his name you are citizens of heaven you can give to Caesar what is his but God has given himself for you so that you belong to him and we render ourselves to God by faith in his promise of eternal life may God grant us this wisdom and comfort and peace through Christ our Lord Amen the peace of God which passes all understanding Guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.