By Matthew Martin
And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They said to Him, “Caesar’s. “And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God
the things that are God’s.” When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left
Him and went their way. Matthew 22:21-22 (NKJV)
THE BOSTON
TEA PARTY
Washington DC
is an amazing place and a “must see” for every American. Our family just
finished our first-ever visit to DC and were awed at the rich legacy of freedom
we share as Americans.
As we arrived
in town, the Washington DC license plate slogan “Taxation Without
Representation” was one of the first things that caught my eye. The term
stirred a vague recollection of bygone history lessons from my youth, but the
Boston Tea Party display at the American History Museum quickly reminded me of
the true nature of its meaning. I had wrongly remembered the Boston Tea Party
as a protest against taxation, itself. However, the true protest was against
the legality of taxing citizens who had no representation in Parliament. By
British law citizens could not be taxed unless they had Parliamentary representation.
Interestingly, the citizens of Washington DC are taxed just like the rest of
the country, but currently have no representation in Congress—how ironic!
LAWFULLNESS OR OWNERSHIP?
It’s
compelling that America’s fight for independence was born out of unlawful
taxation: the same argument the Pharisees and Herodians attempted to trap
Jesus with centuries ago. In a free country with a “government of the people, by the people, for
the people,” the lines of delineation between income ownership are likely a bit
murkier than they were in Jesus day. When Jesus was on earth, the Jews were
under the control of the Roman Empire. Judea was ruled by Roman
procurators, whose chief responsibility was to collect and deliver an annual
tax to the empire. Whatever the procurators raised beyond the quota assigned they could keep. Not surprisingly, they often imposed confiscatory taxes, which
were unlawful.[i] The
tax system was both oppressive and corrupt because it amounted to legal
extortion.
The Pharisees' and Herodians' question
to Jesus, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” was
a trap. Their intent was to trick Jesus into picking sides between the growing
sentiment among the Jews that it was time for a tax revolt and the Roman
government who was responsible to levy and enforce the unfair taxes. A yes or
no answer to the question could have gotten Jesus arrested or killed.
Jesus' answer, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that
are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” wisely diverted
the topic from lawfulness to ownership. The Greek word for render, apodidōmi, centers around the concept of
repayment or giving back money that was borrowed or owed. Since Caesar actually
owned the money, taxation was merely returning the money to its rightful owner.
Once ownership is determined it removes the angst of taxation.
THE THINGS THAT ARE GOD’S
As Christians, we often fall into the
lawfulness vs ownership trap when it comes to using our time and resources here
on earth. When we wrongly view our time and money through the lens of an unfair tax system, we have the constant strain of trying to determine how much is
rightfully ours and how much is rightfully God’s. This was the trap the
Pharisees had fallen into. They tithed
even the smallest herbs from their herb gardens but neglected justice and mercy and
faithfulness. Because they were so focused on keeping earthly treasure, they missed the greatest treasure of all—Jesus Christ.
When we focus on getting and
keeping things we are actually borrowing from God—our time, money,
and resources. We miss out on the most important things—the souls
of people and treasure in heaven. Correctly viewing God as the rightful owner of all things removes the strain of
determining how much is lawfully ours and makes it easy to be generous and live wisely.
THE CHALLENGE
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