Render unto…Trump?

Sermon for Trinity 23

Isaiah 32:1-8  +  Philippians 3:17-21  +  Matthew 22:15-22

I’m sure I’m not the only one here who’s eager for Tuesday to get here and then to go away. It’s been another year of constant bombardment with political ads, campaigning, half-truths, lies, propaganda, and empty promises on the part of politicians. And, to be honest, it’s been two years of a lot of people in this country working, not just to choose new leaders in a new election, which is legitimate, but wickedly trying to overturn the decision made by the American voters in 2016.

What is the Christian’s responsibility in the face of so much ugliness in the political realm? What is the Christian’s role as citizen of both the heavenly kingdom and the earthly kingdom? Jesus gives us some guidance in today’s Gospel for the 23^rd Sunday after Trinity, which strangely falls just two days before election day in the United States this year. Very simply, Jesus would have you render under Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.

He said that in response to the trap-question posed to Him by the Pharisees in the Gospel. As many trap-questions do, theirs started out with bald-faced flattery: Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men. Slimy, isn’t it? They didn’t believe those things about Jesus. But they thought they could goad Him into being just a little too direct for His own good, to say more than He should. Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?

Understand the political climate at that time. Israel still existed as a nation, but it had fallen under the umbrella control of the Roman empire, whose emperors were still using the title of “Caesar” at that time, after Julius Caesar, whose military and political exploits greatly expanded the power of Rome. Rome had divided the land of the Jews into four territories and placed four tetrarchs or governors over them who were to serve Rome by keeping the Jews in their territories under control. As a result, the Jews were living under the general belief that to be pro-Caesar was to be anti-God and anti-Israel, and to be pro-God and pro-Israel was to be anti-Caesar.

So the Pharisees put this yes/no question to Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar, and they made sure the Herodians were there as witnesses (Herod was one of those four tetrarchs who served Rome). If Jesus answered, No, it isn’t lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, then Herod’s men would have arrested Him for inciting rebellion against Rome. If He said, Yes, it’s lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, then the fanatical Jews, who hated Rome and were constantly trying to start another revolt, would have cut Him down themselves. Either way, the Pharisees would have won.

But Jesus is wiser than all His enemies. He doesn’t give them a yes or no answer to their question. Instead, He defeats their trap by reframing the argument. Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. 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.

The fact that Caesar had conquered God’s people, the nation of Israel, didn’t mean that God’s people should rebel against Caesar. It wasn’t “God vs. Caesar.” Caesar—who represents all secular rulers—has his place in the world, a place given to him by God, with a specific scope of authority given to Him by God, even though Caesar and his entire government were not believers in the true God or citizens of the kingdom of heaven. And the Christian, as a permanent citizen of heaven, who has also been made a temporary citizen under Caesar, is to be neither anti-God nor anti-Caesar. But we are taught to recognize the place of each, and to fulfill our responsibilities toward them both. Certain things belong to Caesar, Jesus says. But all things belong to God.

So you should pay taxes to Caesar. And you should render earthly obedience to him. You should even honor Caesar in your heart and with your speech. As Paul writes in Romans 13, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves… Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

Paying taxes to Caesar, obeying Caesar, honoring Caesar, doesn’t mean that you’re in favor of everything Caesar does. It simply means that you recognize that God, for His own reasons, in His own counsel, has chosen to give certain tasks to sinful (and many times godless, unbelieving) earthly rulers, and He has chosen to place you in the nation in which you were born. As Paul preached to the Athenians, God has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord. If you were born in America, it wasn’t luck, it wasn’t fate, it wasn’t without purpose. You were born here because God appointed it for you. If you were born in another country, you were born there because God appointed it for you.

Why? So that you might seek Him. You see, God appointed sinful secular authorities so that they might keep a measure of peace among their sinful citizens in this dying world where everything marches toward chaos, toward selfishness, toward violence, and toward destruction. In order to seek God, you have to know Him, and in order to know Him, you have to hear about Him, and in order to hear about Him, you have to be able to live in this world, to have some measure of peace and safety in this world, and preachers have to have some measure of freedom to preach.

Ultimately, God has put Caesar in place so that His Gospel might be proclaimed and heard. This is why Paul writes to Timothy as a matter of such importance, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

So render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, even as you render unto God the things that are God’s. All of which is easy enough for our modern ears to hear. Until we replace the name “Caesar” with the name of the authorities whom God has placed over us. For example, how many of you would have been glad to hear two years ago, “Render unto Obama the things that are Obama’s”? How many Christians in this country are glad to hear, “Render unto Trump the things that are Trump’s”?

Our sinful nature, truthfully, doesn’t like to render anything to anyone if it conflicts with what the self wants, what the self thinks. The very idea of someone having authority over us is repulsive to the sinful flesh, and all the more when that person says or does things that we don’t like. The flesh lives in rebellion against God, which often means living in rebellion against the governing authorities, whether openly or just in your heart and in your speech.

Repent of that rebelliousness and turn in faith to Christ for forgiveness. Recognize that He has freely given you a citizenship in a far better kingdom than the United States will ever be. But until God changes your permanent residence to the heavenly kingdom, render unto God the things that are God’s here below by rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s: taxes, obedience, and honor. Be content with your citizenship here on earth, which is relatively easy for us in America, and perhaps harder for those who live in other countries, but the same command applies to all. (The mass exodus of those caravans of people from their own Caesars and their apparent insistence that our Caesar take them under his protection, even as they carry the flags of their own Caesars is nothing but rebellion against God.)

So be content with your citizenship. Be content with your Caesar. Render unto him the things that God has given him, whether he’s good or evil, godly or wicked. Vote in the elections as part of that rendering. Only be careful that you don’t give your vote to any candidate who promises to do the opposite of what God commands the authorities to do: to protect the innocent within their kingdom and to punish the evildoers. There are candidates in New Mexico who openly defy God’s commandments, especially when it comes to unborn children. Make sure you don’t become complicit in their wickedness by giving them the power to carry out their even plans.

Still, regardless of how you vote or who gets into office, God knows how to rule His universe, even through wicked rulers, and He will build His Church, in spite of every obstacle. Remain focused on the better kingdom that awaits, as Paul encouraged us in today’s Epistle: Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Amen.