Caesar and God

Matthew 22:19-21 (cf. 15-22)

“Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 2)

Let’s be clear. Jesus wasn’t trying to give an answer, for all time, on the relationship between God and political authority. . . . He was countering the Pharisees’ challenge to him with a sharp challenge in return. . . .

Jesus knew—he had already told the disciples—that he was himself going to be crucified. . . . He wasn’t trying to wriggle out of personal or political danger. He was continuing to walk straight towards it. But he was doing so on his own terms. His vocation was not to be the sort of revolutionary they had known. The kingdom of God would defeat the kingdom of Caesar, not by conventional means, but by the victory of God’s love and power over the even greater empire of death itself (88).

A. Orendorff

It really is tempting to play God’s game by Caesar’s rules. It’s so easy to get seduced into redering unto Caesar the things that are truly God’s. Every time we deal with difficult people or face a hard (and potentially damaging) situation, our natural response is to fight fire with fire. To lash out. To talk back. To outflank. To win. What we see in Jesus, however, is an unwillingness to play the game by anyone’s rules but those established by his Father. The gospel way is always the way of the cross. It is never the way of revolution by force. It is always the way of self-effacing and self-forsaking love (reckless and wonderful).