We Belong to God What Belongs to Caesar?

We Belong to God What Belongs to Caesar? A Sermon by Randy Harris Highland Presbyterian Church October 16, 2011 Psalm 96:1-9; Matthew 22:15-22 Well, the lectionary has given me a stewardship sermon gift this morning, hasn t it? That 3-year calendar of texts suggested for use in worship conveniently delivers this text from Matthew s Gospel at our doorstep on this mid-october morning. And here I am, and there you are, and together we can reflect on what belongs to God. I m reminded of the preacher who said to the congregation: There s good news, and there s bad news. The good news is that there s more than enough money to make our budget for next year. The bad news is that it s still in your pockets. But I m not going to pursue that line of thinking at this point, because I m not sure that this really is a stewardship text in that way. This encounter between Jesus and his followers raises fundamental questions about identity, and belonging, and the implications our belonging may have for our stuff, to be sure. We would do well to remember, once again, that Jesus words about giving to the emperor (to render unto Caesar in the old language) and giving to God were spoken in a tumultuous time, when groups were deeply at odds with one another about government power and the purpose of taxes. Does that sound familiar to you? I needn t remind you that ours are tumultuous times too, my friends. The Occupy Wall Street group has spawned movements across the country, including a protest right around the corner from the church here this morning, as folk express their deep frustration that the billions of dollars that bailed out failing financial firms has enriched Wall Street tycoons and hedge fund managers, but has not benefitted the rest of us not much, anyway. Meanwhile, members of the Tea Party continue to stir the pot, questioning anything that includes the word tax, suggesting that our only hope is smaller government and lower taxes. As for the so-called silent majority in the middle, they are, well, silent or at least baffled. One challenge of our time is that these matters of taxes and spending have become so politicized that they re hard to talk about. Columnist David Brooks said this week that Many issues that were once concrete and practical are distorted because they have become symbolic and spiritual. Tax policy isn t just about how to raise revenue anymore. Liberals see it as a way to punish the greedy and redress the iniquities of capitalism. Conservatives see tax increases as an assault on the enterprising class perpetrated by arrogant central planners. A tax rate could be seen as just a number signifying an expense, but now it s a marker in a culture war. 1 Alas, while the rhetoric is certainly heightened, this is not a new situation. In our reading from Matthew today, Jesus stands between conflicting groups the Tea Partiers and the Occupy Wall Streeters of his time, as it were. On the one side are the 1 David Brooks, The Thing Itself, in The New York Times, October 13, 2011. Online at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/opinion/the-thing-itself.html?_r=1&ref=davidbrooks

2 Herodians, sympathizers with Rome; on the other side are the young Pharisees, angry at their idolatrous Roman occupiers. Both groups are threatened by Jesus ministry, and both have much to gain from this popular rabbi s answer to the question about paying taxes to Caesar. If Jesus says Yes, it s right to pay, then all the people who hate the Romans are going to turn against him. If he says No, we shouldn t pay the tax, then the Herodians can get him on charges of instigating rebellion against Rome. Interestingly, Jesus gave neither group everything that they wanted. Instead, he reminded them that our lives are kept in a series of relationships that call for us to give. Whose image is on the coin? he asks. Caesar, they say. Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, Jesus says. The unasked question that Jesus also answers is this: Whose image is on you? In whose image are you made? And he answers, Give to God what belongs to God. To the Pharisees he said Yes, it is appropriate to pay taxes. To the Herodians, he said We should not give everything to the government, because we belong most fully not to Caesar, but to God. What does that mean?!? I confess that it s really not a helpful answer in any practical way. Certainly we belong to God everyone to whom Jesus was speaking knew that they knew their scripture. But what belongs to Caesar? Then as now, the answer to this question has proved elusive. We can press on Jesus words here as much as we like; we re not going to get details about tax policy, or an answer to the question about how big or small government should be. What we get are questions: What does belong to Caesar? What is Caesar s purpose? Of course, in a democracy such as ours, you and I and all of us together collectively are Caesar, and our faith sends us into the world, not away from it. 2 Together we debate and discuss, we vote, we elect, we govern, we pay taxes, we work, we share in both providing and benefitting. To what end is all of this? My hope is that we do such things, individually and together, to provide for the common good. Unfortunately, I don t hear many people talking about the common good these days. I hear lots of frustration with the reality that real income has been stagnant for the vast majority of Americans for the last 30 years, while the wealthiest few have shared disproportionately in the gains that have come along, and I share that frustration. 3 2 Much of my thinking in this sermon is shaped by my reading of Miroslav Volf, A Public Faith: How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good (Brazos, 2011). 3 Source: Congressional Budget Office, Average Federal Taxes by Income Group, Average After-Tax Household Income, June, 2010.

3 I also hear frustration with the brokenness of our tax system, the challenge that higher taxes pose to businesses and corporations, and the inefficiency of government in its efforts to solve problems, and I share some of that frustration too. I guess I m mostly frustrated with what seems to be a forced choice between the well-being of businesses and corporations on the one hand and the well-being of institutions such as public education and community infrastructure on the other. Maybe you heard Elizabeth Warren recently, who reminded corporations and all of us of what our taxes do. In a pointed way, she noted that businesses, corporations and community infrastructure work hand-in-hand, that both are good and mutually beneficial. Corporations and businesses provide jobs; the taxes that they pay, along with the rest of us, provide for roads, education, public safety, national defense, and more. 4 We collectively benefit from these things, and collectively we need to provide for them. I stand gratefully in a tradition that sees all of this business, education, government, manufacturing, healthcare, and more as the locus of God s work in the world. Ours is a tradition that has been credited on one hand with the Protestant Work Ethic that has emphasized the goodness and importance of hard work, and credited with the model for public education and organized care for the poor on the other a tradition that sees public service as a high calling. 5 I confess that these days are perplexing for me as I see these goods being set at odds with one another. We ve operated for decades under a both/and model that served us well. Now we re in a toxic either/or war of words. What belongs to Caesar? What is it that will shape the common good? Does anyone even care about that any longer? Maybe that s where the other part of Jesus answer to the question about the coin can help us. The coin bore the image of Caesar; you and I and all of us together bear the image of God. We here cannot think about our collective functioning in the community without remembering that all of us share God s image. And that when we talk about taxes, and businesses, and schools, and spending, and work, and concern for vulnerable folk, we are ultimately talking about people people made in God s image. Source: Congressional Budget Office, Average Federal Taxes by Income Group, Average After-Tax Household Income, June, 2010. 4 The full text of Warren s comment was this: There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along. Author s Note: I would want to nuance how she makes her point, as I think she suggests that this theoretical factory builder paid nothing for these services. I hope the factory builder paid taxes, too, as a way of sharing in this work. But her point is true, insofar as she reminds us of what our mutual payment of taxes provides. 5 One of the marks of a good Christian in the Reformed tradition is responsible participation in the life of the civil society and obedience to its proper edicts and laws. On the other hand, Calvin says Paul also makes clear that those in authority are charged by God to use their authority for the ordering of human life and to the end that "men (sic) breathe, eat, drink, and are kept warm." This is critical for understanding our history as Presbyterians in dealing with those in authority, especially where civil authority is not used for the common good. Vernon Broyles, What Do Presbyterians Believe About Church and State, in Presbyterians Today, March 2002. Online at http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/today/church-state/

4 In that tension that both/and tension of giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and giving to God that which belongs to God maybe, just maybe, we find here a call to seek the common good, because truth be told, we all belong to God Republicans, Democrats, Presbyterians, Baptists, Muslims, Jews, rich, poor, Tea Partiers, Occupiers of Wall Street, muted moderates and everyone in between. We are all in this thing together, and God calls us to active participation not just in the church, but in this common life. In this season of economic anxiousness and heightened political rhetoric, perhaps what we could give to Caesar as representative of the common good is a voice a voice that seeks the welfare of the city, as the prophet Jeremiah said it 6 : A voice that speaks of the hope of human flourishing, 7 that clamors for freedom and wholeness for all persons, regardless of political persuasion, faith or no faith, employment status, or anything else. A voice that calls us to listen to one another, and to see one another as persons in God s image. A voice that speaks of the goodness of work, that reminds us that corporations are not necessarily evil or greedy (though some surely are, and should be called out), but can be and often are a means of great goodness; that reminds us of our tradition s notion of vocation in which we serve God not just in church but in the work we do, be it in banking, business, law, medicine, agriculture, manufacturing, homemaking, manual labor, education, volunteering, or anything else that enables life to prosper. A voice that speaks up for the ones who are so very vulnerable to the real imperfections of the very capitalism that is of such benefit to so many of the rest of us including the vulnerability of creation itself. Vulnerable folk need a voice within the places of power and influence that reminds us of our common humanity and the bonds we share within the fabric of our communities. Will it be one of our voices? We can offer our collective Caesar a voice that reminds us that taxes are not in and of themselves evil, nor are they necessarily the solution to every problem. They are a means to provide together for those things that none of us can or will do on our own roads, schools, public safety, a safety net to help the most vulnerable of folk, national defense, research, and more. This may sound like politics, I know. But I believe that a voice for the common good is something that the church can, and should, offer in our time. Well, now I m rethinking my earlier comment. Maybe this really is a stewardship text after all! Maybe as we think about the commitment that we will make in our giving to God through Highland s work in the coming year, we should also be thinking about the stewardship of the gifts that God has given us for sake of the common good of this community and nation in which we live and through our nation for the common good of the humanity with which we share this world that God so loves. After all, with both Caesar and God, Jesus calls us to give, does he not? Surely good stewardship calls us to both! 6 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. (Jeremiah 29:7) 7 Cf. Volf, A Public Faith, xvi, 55-74.

5 Some questions for us to ponder: You who have been so very generous in our life together in this place this year: What will you give in the year to come as we seek to be a community who lives generously in our worship, learning, caring, serving and sharing with this community into which God calls and sends us? What will we render unto Caesar, in the form of our sharing and shaping of the common life in which we are held in this community and nation? Will we seek to refocus the conversation so that we can talk about the common good? Will we remind others of the goodness and nobility of business and work, and of the benefits we all share through the taxes we pay? Will we call ourselves and others to refrain from the temptation to demonize those with whom we disagree so that we can engage in civil discourse that will enable a broader searching for this common good? Friends, even in these times of shifting sands and the shaking of foundations, we belong to God. That good news shapes all else, and draws us into a life of grateful sharing and giving within the church, and in this community and world. May God grant us wisdom and courage to be good stewards of all that is entrusted to us. Thanks be to God. Amen.