Jesus was a prophet. I don’t mean that he foretold the future. I mean that he often spoke out against the political and religious powers that be, as Elijah, Jeremiah, Amos, or one of the other OT prophets did.
You know they crucified him, don’t you? That’s what they do with prophets. That’s what we do with prophets. They did not crucify Jesus for teaching everyone to be nice and love each other. You don’t get crucified for such things as that. The Sunday School Jesus would never have been crucified. He would have had a children’s show on PBS with a purple dinosaur.
The powers that be crucified Jesus as a political revolutionary. They nailed him up for saying that this world and its powers were being undone by a new kingdom, the kingdom of God. They pierced him for challenging their abuse of power and wealth, their prostitution of God’s Temple, their inhumanity, their failure to submit to the rule of God and to do the justice of God.
The placard over his head did not say, “He was just too nice and expected us to be nice also.” It said, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” They killed him. That’s what happens to prophetic voices.
So the lesson is, if you want to be popular, support the status quo, don’t challenge it. Go along with the powers that be. Speak up on their behalf. Tell those they are oppressing to get over it. Sprinkle the blessings of God over the heads of Caesar and his delegates. But don’t dare challenge.
That would be wise advice in these divisive and polarized times in our own country. Don’t be a prophet. But Jesus clearly was.
Matthew 22:15–22 is one of those prophetic passages.
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him 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 the emperor, 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, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.
Perhaps that text does not strike you as particularly prophetic. That’s because we’ve been schooled to read it in such a way that all its teeth have been pulled. We hear it simply teaching us to be good citizens. It is sometimes used to teach the appropriateness of paying taxes, obeying laws, serving on jury duty, etc. Those are important things for us to do. But we have read and preached it in such a way that it supports the powers that be far more than Jesus intended. That was not the intent of Jesus’ statement.
Jesus never taught us simply to “be nice,” although that is the essence of much of the diluted Christian ethic that the church in this culture has been drinking. Christians should be nice people. (BTW, I think a lot of Christians could benefit by shooting for nice over mean these days. But that is not a good summary of what Jesus taught. He taught us to love with radical love that looks like the Cross, not simply to be nice people.)
Jesus’ statement was intended to be both evasive (so they could not catch him in their carefully contrived plot) and revolutionary. It is inherently political. It is a claim on behalf of the kingdom of God.
Jesus conceived it this way: we who follow him are citizens of the kingdom of God. He is the Christ, the Lord, the King of that kingdom, and our ultimate loyalty belongs to him, not to any earthly ruler or authority. We serve the Lord Christ. That makes us, in biblical terms, “aliens and exiles” in this world system (“Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.” 1 Pet. 2:11).
The church is an outpost of heaven, like an embassy of a foreign power. (Phil 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.) We await the coming of our king, not to take us out, but to take over.
Meanwhile, we are supposed to be good visitors where we live, submitting to the appropriate demands of civil authorities, whether they are ancient Roman Caesars or modern constitutions, congresses, courts, or presidents.
What we must NOT do is confuse the simple issue of loyalty. We can ultimately serve only one ruling power. The service of Christ will teach us to submit to the powers that be as far as possible. But Christ never tells us to yield our allegiance and loyalty to any earthly power.
Loyalty is a simple thing. By simple, I mean that it cannot be divided. It belongs ultimately only to God. Out of loyalty to God, we weigh all the other competing claims in our lives. Jesus was clear about this on so many occasions. Not even family ties came before God.
We give Caesar what is due him because Jesus said so, not because Caesar said so. Jesus is Lord, not Caesar.
“Jesus is Lord”: This is the central confession of the church.
Romans 10:9 if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Acts 2:36 Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.
We hear the words “Lord” or “Christ” as religious titles. But in the first century, they were political. “Christ” was not Jesus’ last name; it was a title meaning “Messiah,” “King,” or “Ruler.” The essential confession of faith, “Jesus is Lord,” would have been heard in the world of the NT as a political confession. The confession of the Roman world was “Caesar is Lord.” The church's confession was “Jesus is Lord.”
And people did hear it that way. The people in Thessalonica charged Paul & Co. with revolution, claiming they were turning the world upside down by proclaiming a new king, Jesus.
Acts 17:6-7 When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities, shouting, “These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has entertained them as guests. They are all acting contrary to the decrees of the emperor, saying that there is another king named Jesus.”
Even the term “gospel” is a political term – a new ruler is on the throne. Bow down and pay tribute. That is exactly how Jesus used the word gospel in his preaching: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” (Mark 1:14–15)
So, Jesus’ words here in Matthew 22 are political. As resident aliens in this foreign kingdom, give Caesar his coins if he asks for them back. Give to the earthly powers that be what they rightfully deserve.
Jesus uses the word “image.” Whose “image” is on the coin? That identifies that coin as Caesar’s coin –– his image, his inscription. The image on the coin was considered by pious Jews an expression of idolatry since every Caesar from Augustus on was worshiped as a god. That’s one of the reasons for having the moneychangers in the Temple. They needed Temple money to purchase animals for sacrifice. The image of a god was on the Roman coin and couldn’t be taken into the Temple.
When he says, “Give to God the things that are God’s,” Jesus is appealing to the opening chapter of Genesis, where men and women are created “in the image of God.” That means many things. But ultimately, it means here that human life belongs to God. There is something about your life that belongs ONLY to God. That is your heart, your loyalty, your allegiance, your devotion. The human heart belongs simply to God. Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. Bow and worship him alone.
Anytime Caesar demands that which belongs only to God – the human heart and devotion, the conscience, the will – then Caesar in all his forms, all civil power, is to be resisted.
Acts 4:19 --But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Jesus is dealing with a deeper relationship than merely that of church and state. That is a modern question. As a Baptist, I believe that a free church in a free state is ideal. Baptists championed a separation between church and state long before there was a U. S. Constitution or a Bill of Rights. In fact, were it not for some prominent Baptist voices, we might not have had the freedom of religion enshrined in the 1st Amendment. But that is a question about the relationship between two social institutions. That was not a question in Jesus’ day, and he is not addressing it here.
He is dealing with the clash of powers––the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world and the loyalty of the human heart.
Caesar has rights that Jesus says are due him. But Caesar has boundaries that he may not cross. Responsible citizenship to Caesar is the duty of a disciple. But ultimate allegiance belongs only to God.
Jesus said earlier that we cannot serve God and mammon. Here, he says, give the mammon to Caesar. But give him nothing that belongs to God.
The state, the powers that be, are not final, are not ultimate, and are not divine. Their authority is derivative and limited. Scripture is clear – such rulers are dust, insignificant, raised up and brought down in a moment. They are not to be relied upon, nor are they to be given our allegiance or loyalty.
When the church yields its allegiance to a government, any government, the government silences its prophetic voice. When the church yields its allegiance to a political party, any political party, it loses its capacity to speak to the system.
Jesus the Messiah fulfilled the roles of prophet, priest, and king. And we, his people, the church, the messianic people of God, are called to carry out such roles as well. But to do so, our loyalty must be with our Lord, and not with Caesar.
The church is called to a priestly, pastoral role in society. Our concern is for the broken, the hopeless, the least, the last, and the lost. We cannot do that by seeking power for ourselves. We do it by compassion and service, as Jesus did.
The church is called to express the kingly rule of Jesus in the world. We are the people of the Messiah, the body of the Messiah, the ones over whom he rules and reigns. He rules not as the Gentiles do, but as the suffering servant in the world. We proclaim the good news that Jesus is Lord. Caesar is not Lord.
The church is called to a prophetic role in society, to be the voice of God speaking up for those whom prophets generally speak up for––the poor, the outcast, the downtrodden, the oppressed. We cannot do that when we are part of the system whose primary concern is the rich, the powerful, and the influential.
The church loses its influence when, in a quest for political power, we allow ourselves to be co-opted by one political party or another. The moment we do so, we allow our voice to be silenced by that party. We become mouthpieces for human beings seeking power in one way or another, which is what politics is ultimately about in this world. That was the essence of one of Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness –– to seek worldly power to accomplish kingdom ends. And he rejected it soundly.
We can too easily allow ourselves to be caught in the either/or of the politics that divide this country. We can maintain our kingdom power only when we stand in a place where we can speak to both from a neither/nor perspective.
Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Jesus pledges allegiance to no political power. He is Lord. He speaks TO both parties, not FOR either. Neither speaks for him. He is Lord.
When the church allows the state to co-opt us, we allow the prophetic voice of God to be silenced. How does that happen? I’m afraid that sometimes we are just too gullible, too easily manipulated. Someone uses the word “God” or “Christian,” and we assume they are one of us.
I sometimes hear people label America as “Christian” nation. That rhetoric has often enmeshed the church in a quest for political power. If we are a Christian nation, then should not the church be at the heart of political power?
I have thought about that claim, and I am not sure what it means. What does it mean to be a “Christian” nation? What is the meaning of the word Christian as it is used in the Bible?
The word is used three times in the NT.
Acts 11:26 – disciples called “Christians.” Like “Herodian.” Followers of the Christ.
Acts 26:28 – Agrippa says Paul is attempting to persuade him to be a follower of Christ.
1 Peter 4:16 – speaks of people suffering as a follower of Christ.
In the NT, it is pretty clear that “Christian” is a synonym for being a disciple, for following Christ and his ways, for living his life, for learning from him. This was a word used to describe people who so devoted their lives to Jesus that they named his name, suffered on his behalf, and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to him. Their loyalty was undivided.
“Christian” in the NT is a designation for one who bows the knee to Jesus as Lord. I find the use of the word “Christian” as an adjective nearly always out of place – Christian businesses, Christian stores, Christian music, Christian clothing, Christian jewelry, Christian magazines, Christian bumper stickers.
Biblically, “Christian” is not a mere adjective generally used to describe things related to God, morality, or just being nice people.
“Christian” is specific in its meaning in Scripture. It has to do with following in life and faith the crucified and risen one who reigns as Lord. It describes those who willingly take up their cross and follow after Jesus. That is how the NT understands the word “Christian.”
It would be more honest to say that we in America have had a secular culture that has at times been greatly influenced by both people who follow Jesus Christ and by good people who are NOT followers of Jesus as Lord but who have held to a belief in God or in morality. But “Christian” does not describe us well as a nation or as a government if the term is understood biblically.
Caesar and Christ are to be clearly distinct in our minds as followers of Jesus. To maintain our prophetic voice as representatives of the Kingdom of God, we must not allow ourselves to be captured by any party or person or political power. We can do our part to work for God’s justice through the system, but we must not allow ourselves to be co-opted by any. There is no “Christian” party – Democrat or Republican. There is no “Christian nation.” There are the powers that be and there is the Kingdom of God.
Personally, I try to be a good citizen. I pray for my country and its leaders, as Scripture commands us to do. I vote regularly. I serve jury duty when asked. I contact my senators and congressmen when there are issues that concern me as a follower of Jesus, and when I do, I identify myself as a Christian with concerns. I know that I am a debtor to brave men and women who have sacrificially served this country, politically and militarily, to ensure the continuation of liberty. I am an American citizen.
But before that, and above that, I seek to be a Christian in the full sense of the word. For me, “Christian” is not a religious word to distinguish what I believe from that of a Jew, or Muslim, a Buddhist, or an atheist. It is not a word that describes a set of beliefs or moral commitments.
Being a Christian means that we seek to follow Jesus Christ as Lord. Our knowledge of Christ and his word causes us to ache over the evil and pain, the war and poverty, that result from a society that refuses to acknowledge his rule and reign.
The Lord Christ has commissioned us to be involved in bringing his reign to bear on this earth, to see his will done on earth as it is in heaven. He has told us we are salt and light. We work and pray for the well-being of all nations, not just our own.
Loyalty is a simple thing, Jesus taught. Not easy, but simple. Indivisible. It is not to be apportioned a bit here and a bit there. It all goes into something in one piece. You can’t give it to God if you’ve already given it to Mammon. You can’t give it to God if you’ve already given it to father or mother. You can’t give it to God if you’ve already given it to Caesar. It is simple, indivisible.
“Give God what is God’s” is a call to take the heart’s loyalty and to invest it in the Lordship of Christ above all else. It is a call not to allow Caesar ever to co-opt that loyalty, to silence the prophetic voice of the people of the Messiah, to sway with power the people who express Messiah’s kingdom on earth with service. It is a call to live under the Lordship of Christ here in this world.
Be a decent citizen by all means. Have respect for our leaders and pray for them. Jesus, Paul, and Peter all taught us to do so. Give Caesar what rightfully belongs to Caesar. But understand that Jesus calls us to something higher, something deeper than decent citizenship in this world. He calls us to submit our lives, to give our loyalty to the Crucified and Risen One who rules over all people, all nations, and who calls his people to bring his gospel, his kingdom, his blessings, his justice, and his peace to all the nations of the earth.
Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
PRAYER –
Lord Jesus, we address you that way not in mere religious rote language that we’ve grown accustomed to, but because we here confess you as Lord. Lord Jesus, our lives and loyalties are often divided. These days, it seems to be particularly so. We don’t want to surrender our claims to be Christians, but neither do we want to lay down our allegiance to politicians, parties, and power. Our hearts have often been impossibly divided.
Forgive us, we pray. We have too often trusted in this world’s power to give us security, this world’s ways to accomplish our goals, and this world’s values to guide our lives. Our loyalty to you has been less than simple.
We want to live well as citizens of this country you have placed us in, but we want to do so as aliens and strangers, people whose hearts and loyalties are firmly settled in our true home. We need your wisdom and leadership to live this way.
We want to live with each other as true citizens of heaven. Help us to find our common ground in that loyalty to you. Teach us to love one another as a witness to our polarized world, divided, it seems, beyond healing.
We pray for our brothers and sisters in Ukraine who are facing the horrors of war. Help them as they seek to remain faithful to you. We pray for brothers and sisters in Christ in Central America, Africa, and the Middle East whose worlds are turned upside down by violence and unrest, by drugs and oppression. May they and we live in confidence of your present reign and your more fully coming kingdom.
In the name of Christ our King, we pray. AMEN
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