It's tax season: time to render unto Caesar

Tax season is upon as, and I reminded of Matthew 22:17-22:

Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”

Knowing their malice, Jesus said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?

Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin.

He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?”

They replied, “Caesar’s.” At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”

When they heard this they were amazed, and leaving him they went away.

I wonder if perhaps some were hoping Jesus would say, right, the taxes don’t matter, you can skip that. Wouldn’t that be nice?

What does it mean to “render unto Caesar?” Why do we have this saying from our Lord, Jesus Christ?

I see this as related to God’s imperative to live in this world. Yes, there certainly are elements of the call to obedience here. But more importantly - and something highly relevant in our virtual, escapist world - is that Jesus is commanding us to live in this world that God created for us. This is an especially important, and overlooked, part of the faith; that we, unlike more “zen” forms of faith, do not seek to physically overcome this world. Creation is not bad, it is not a mistake, and the physical world is here for our use and purpose. Specifically, creation was also good because God created it in love. Then, Jesus taking on the human form elevated it even further.

So, living in this world means that one will have to do unpleasant and real things like pay taxes. Further, it is in the every day personal sacrifices, routines, and obligations, that we can be led to holiness.

Because then, it also an opportunity to remember that all we have is a gift from God. “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Can you imagine a stronger mortification than paying taxes? That feeling that all you worked for is being taken away? Was it really yours to begin with?

Now, you may think as a result of this post that I just love paying taxes, and am very pro-tax. Yikes, no. Who is? And it is of course unendingly frustrating to see those taxes wasted and spent in ways that do not benefit the people who pay them. The people of Jesus’s time probably felt this, too.

But listen to, and follow, Jesus. Be in this world and play by the rules. Accept what it means that all that you have is not yours, the reminder that it can be taken. But that also, through those sacrifices and detachments, God can move you to greater freedom. Hold on lightly. Then hold on tightly to “the things of God,” which are truly eternal, and not temporal like taxes.