Prepare
Today’s text has us thinking about money, currency, values, and the cultural and economic systems in which we swim. It opens with the leaders again trying to ensnare Jesus with a question about paying taxes to the emperor. While this may seem straightforward on the surface, there are many underlying factors that complicate the story.
First, remember that Israel at this time is a conquered people. They are controlled by Rome. Taxes help fund the very system in which they live, including the soldiers and others who control their lives. Refusing to pay taxes would support the Israelites’ cause for freedom, but it would put Jesus in hot water with the authorities. Such a response could be considered treasonous.
Second, consider the coin itself that they use in this world. Each coin is inscribed with the phrase “Son of the Divinized Augustus,” which can be interpreted as “Son of a god.” This inscription is blasphemous, and according to Jewish law, even possessing or using these coins is unlawful because they represent an idol to a false god.
Costly Love
It would be easy to make this simply about money, but the question is much more complex. The people are part of an earthly kingdom, the Roman Empire, and they could no more escape this reality than they could escape breathing. It is simply the reality of being there: They must use these coins to pay their oppressors, and there is no escaping this reality.
But Jesus is pointing us toward a different reign, the reign of God, which eclipses the culture in which we are immersed. This reign extends beyond the physical reality of where we live and points us toward another reality that trades in a very different kind of currency. Jesus reminds us that while we are part of the life and circumstances of our current situation, we are also part of another story, one that belongs to God. This is what Jesus is asking: What belongs to God, and what are we to give to God?
Opening Activity: What Would This Buy?
Before the group meets, collect several different kinds of currency from your country. For example, if you are in the United States, find a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, dollar bill, and so on. For added fun, you may also collect banknotes from different countries if they are available to you.
Start by talking about the different kinds of coins and bills you have collected. Pass these around and ask the students to take a close look at each item.
- What is something new they notice about the money that they have never seen before?
- Are there any features they have questions about? Do they wonder why they appear on the currency?
- Whose face or what images appear on the different denominations?
- Why do you think these people are represented on your currency?
If you collect money from other countries, do a little research before the group meets so you can share who or what appears on the different kinds of currency. You can find this information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listofpeopleonbanknotes. Share your findings with the class.
Now, using your own currency, ask the students what they could buy with each denomination. For example, in the United States, ask what they could buy for a penny, a nickel, and so on.
Bonus: The Bazooka Bubblegum Song
Here is a fun song you can chant with the students. It is just a little silly, but it gets us thinking about what we use money for.
Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcGWd28LxPQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q6WAM6bERQ
Reflection Questions
- Think about the money you looked at. What do you think these coins and banknotes say about the countries that use them and what those countries value?
- Do you think you could live where you do without any money? Why or why not?
Text to Read Aloud
Costly Love
Once again, a group of leaders, the Herodians and Pharisees, is trying to trap Jesus with a no-win proposition: do we pay taxes to the emperor or not? If Jesus says that they should pay taxes, the Pharisees would object because the coins are considered idolatrous and blasphemous. Every Roman coin bears an inscription identifying Caesar as the son of the Divine Augustus. Furthermore, these taxes go to the very empire, Rome, that is oppressing the Jewish people. The people would turn on Jesus.
If Jesus says that paying taxes is against Jewish law and identity, he could be arrested for sedition by the Herodians, who work closely with Rome to rule and control the people of Israel. There is nowhere to turn! It is a trap!
But Jesus answers by pointing to a very different reality. He asks them for a coin and then asks who is pictured on it. They acknowledge the inscription identifying Caesar. Rather than staking a claim one way or the other, Jesus acknowledges that their circumstances under Rome are not the only reality to which they are accountable. Jesus says, “Give (back) to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give (back) to God what is God’s.”
The verb in the Greek is about returning what does not belong to us, whether that means returning Caesar’s coin to Caesar or returning to God what belongs to God. By replying this way, Jesus acknowledges that one cannot avoid living within the Roman Empire; or for us, in our own towns, cities, and countries. Simply living where we do means living within that culture as best we can, just like the people of Israel, even if we are not crazy about paying taxes.
Costly Love
But we also live in the reign of God. In this reign, we owe a very different kind of currency. Jesus has taught the people that we do not trade in money but in love for others, giving it freely to care for those around us, even our enemies. We trade in justice, giving up our time, energy, and voice so that others may experience the freeing power of God’s grace. We pay in forgiveness, forgiving seventy times seven, as Jesus said. That way, we do not continue to carry hurt toward others, but can release them and us from our resentment.
And yes, we also give money, but these resources are not ultimately our own. They belong to God and are tools we can use to feed, support, nurture, and free others. We give up what we have so that others may have life.
Caesar’s currency, coins and taxes, is very different from God’s currency of love, justice, and mercy. God’s love is freely given, but it is also a costly love because it is not a love we can keep to ourselves. As children of God, we are called to give as God gives: freely, radically, and generously, so that all may have life. That is what it means to give back to God what is God’s.
Reflection Questions
- What are some cultural realities we wish we could avoid but cannot because of where, when, and how we live? For example, do we feel pressure to succeed or to appear perfect?
- What are some things we can give to help God’s reign expand? For example, our time, our hearts, and our energy?
- How do you think people would be different if they invested as much time and energy in God’s economy as they do in accumulating wealth?
Closing Activity
Design a “banknote” representing God’s currency by writing a message (a note) to a friend, family member, or someone else who needs to hear about God’s love for them. Encourage everyone gathered to share their note with that person in the hope that they may feel and know God’s amazing love.
Closing Prayer
In the Lutheran Book of Worship, the Offertory Prayer is shared after the offerings have been collected. Read this prayer again as a reminder of what we have and to whom it belongs:
“Merciful Father, we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us, our selves, our time, and our possessions, signs of your gracious love. Receive them for the sake of him who offered himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Biography
Jay Gamelin is Lead Servant for Family Life at Abiding Hope Church in Littleton, Colorado. His passion is seeing the transformative work of the gospel at work in families and students. He loves going to hot yoga, eating fresh basil on pizza, watching sea otter videos, putting barbecue sauce on his mac and cheese (very controversial in this household), and admiring his amazing wife and four kids.
