The Gospel of Matthew is a story of identity. Who is Jesus? Matthew starts with a genealogy
and the assertion that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed one that has been
foretold and for whom everyone was waiting. Throughout the book, Matthew makes
it clear that Jesus is certain of who he is, whose he is, and why he is
here. He has come to “fulfill all
righteousness” (3:15) and God claims him as His Son, the Beloved. (3:17) Matthew’s narrative continues as Jesus is
tempted by Satan and teaches on the mountain.
He heals the sick and stills the storm.
Is it any wonder that everyone wants to know who this guy
is? John the Baptist wanted confirmation
and sent his disciples to ask “Are you the one?” (11:2-6). There were those who knew who Jesus was and were
disappointed and incredulous at his claims.
After all, he was just a chap from Nazareth. (13:54-58) Even Peter questioned
his identity. Jesus wasn’t the butt-kicking,
take-no-prisoners sort of savior he had anticipated. When Jesus talked of suffering and death,
Peter tried to change the conversation. (16:21-23)
And the powers-that-be? They were both angry and afraid. Jesus rode into town on a donkey to the
delight of the crowds. Then he set to
cleansing the temple, upsetting their nice little economic system and
questioning their authority. What to
do? What to do?
That’s where today’s reading picks up. The Pharisees, representing the temple, and
the Herodians, representing the Roman government, decide to trap Jesus. They
come up with just the question to do it. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the
emperor, or not?” For some perspective, imagine a colonial governor being asked
“is it lawful to pay the tea tax to the British, or not?” If he said yes, pay it, he would not fare
well with the crowds. If he said, no,
don’t pay it, he would have the wrath of the British government on his head.
The same applied here.
If Jesus said yes, the people would be upset. Rome was the oppressor and any tax was a
burden to the people. The Pharisees
could say – “see folks, just like all the other leaders. Show me the money.” But, if Jesus said no, the Herodians could
report him and accuse him of treason against the empire. This binary query seemed such an easy trap, so how did the answer leave those who posed it in amazement? Can’t you just see them walking away, shaking their heads, wondering what just happened? Because Jesus did not dumb down and let them force him into a reply. That is exactly what binary questions do. They reduce the complex to simple black and white halves. Are you a Republican or Democrat? Pro-life or pro-choice? Conservative or liberal? Once a side is chosen, the lines are drawn and the battles begin. Jesus shows us how to reframe and rise above human conundrums to find God’s way forward.
The decision Jesus poses to us in this story is one of our identity. Do we know who we are? Are we a denarius, a worldly coin, stamped with images made by human hands, being traded in the marketplace of the world, letting our uniqueness and beauty be perverted? Or are we children of our Creator, always being made new by God, transformed into the image of Christ? Margaret Wheatley, in Finding our Way, writes that “…everything we know is determined by who we think we are.” Who are we? We are children of God. God has set His seal upon us and marked us as His own. Let us render unto God the things that are God’s.
