Image-bearing 101

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap [Jesus] in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.  Matthew 22:15-22

Every time we get close to a General Election, this Gospel reading about paying taxes appears on cue.  (Don’t you just love the Lectionary.)  We might be tempted to think it’s about politics and taxation – but the deeper question Jesus asks is not what belongs to Caesar, but what belongs to God. 

This is a trap being set by two groups of people, the Pharisees and the Herodians – as unlikely a pairing as the Green Party and ACT getting ready to work together after our Election. The Pharisees and the Herodians were usually on opposite sides.  One group resented Roman rule, the other accommodated it.  Yet here they find common cause in trying to trap Jesus, make him give an answer so he’d lose the support of the crowds.  Those who willingly paid the tax were seen as Rome’s puppets, those who opposed Rome refused to pay it and faced the consequences: either way Jesus’ answer would alienate potential followers – saying no to paying the tax classed him as a traitor, saying yes was verging on blasphemy.

Jesus simply asks to see a coin, one of those hated coins that had to be used in paying the tax – and, guess what: his opponents just happen to have one handy.  They show him a denarius, a Roman coin.  “Whose image is that, and whose inscription?” he asks.  They look at the coin.  What they see there is the head of the emperor, and his title: “Caesar, King and Son of God.”  Then Jesus answers: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.”

It’s brilliant – because he exposes their hypocrisy and answers their question without being trapped by it.  It’s the questioners themselves who get trapped: they have a denarius: they themselves used the imperial coins.  They themselves show they recognised the fact of imperial power and imperial law. 

“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s”: you can pay him this coin and others like it, since the emperor’s name and portrait appear on them.  He has a just claim to this – just as all rulers and governments have a claim on our taxes.  But this isn’t really a story about paying taxes.  It’s not even a story about dividing the world up into the religious and the political: Jesus isn’t saying the secular realm and the sacred one are different but equal.  It’s certainly not a story that says that the church shouldn’t get involved in politics:  Jesus is clear every sphere of life belongs to God, and is under God’s authority.

The coin bears Caesar’s image, so it can be returned to Caesar.  But what bears God’s image?  The answer isn’t hidden. Every person standing there bears God’s image. Every Pharisee, every Herodian, every disciple, every emperor.  Genesis tells us: all human beings bear God’s image.  Yes, it’s right to pay the emperor taxes using coins with his image – but we still need to give God what bears God’s image, namely ourselves, created in the image and likeness of God. 

How are we doing at this?  Here’s a couple of questions to ponder this week: if a coin can be recognised by the image it bears, what in my life shows that I belong to Christ?  And do we see the image of God in other people – and how is that shown in how we treat them? 

Image source: Reserve Bank of New Zealand

(Reflection of the Venerable Dr Deborah Broome)