Giving What is Due

Giving What is Due

Oct 19, 2008

Matthew 22:15-22

15Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16So 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. 17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21They 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.” 22When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

I know many of us come on Sunday hoping for a feel good sermon that will side step politics and the hot button issues of the day. Our lesson today does not give us much wiggle room. What you said the T word, taxes ! We have all heard the line, “there are two guarantees in life, death and taxes.” We don’t have much control over when our number is up so we try to focus on at least staving off more taxes.
This is a populist hot button that politicians can’t resist. You don’t
want big government. Let us give you tax breaks to stimulate the economy.
We watch the deficit balloon into the trillions mean while we get our
tax rebates in the mail! This is a short term feel good that will cost us a lot
more in the end. I want to encourage folks to give their rebates to local non
profits that will offset the social services that are lost by looming budget cuts.
Whatever happened to our grandparents advice, “don’t live beyond your means”? We need our depression era elders to point us back to the frugal wisdom they have practiced so well.
When we will get fed up with politicians who seem more concerned with their re-election than our concerns? Worse yet, our voices seem to fall on the deaf ears of elected officials, who are more preoccupied with lining up their retirement plans, cushy seats on corporate boards and lobbyist firms. I’m not singling the Donkeys or the Elephants, this is a prevailing problem on both sides of the aisle. Who are the modern prophets of our day giving voice to the voiceless and the invisible among us? Can they be heard in the midst of all this political machinery?
We have very little control in how we are taxed and what it goes for. There are sacred cows that will always get their share of the feed. Our eyes bulge as we learn what defense contractors charge for hammers and toilet seats. Meanwhile, our soldiers putting their lives on the line do not have the precious armour they need to protect themselves.
We all have to give what is due, to God and Caesar. Are we as faithful to God as we are to Uncle Sam? Don’t worry you will not have the IRS of the church knocking on your door if you do not fulfil your pledge. We pay our taxes because we don’t have a choice.
Are we as faithful to God’s ministry as we are our civic obligations? When we give to church is this our giving back to God, or do we function like shareholders who expect our shares to produce dividends for us.
We all have choices to make with where our philanthropic gifts go. Does our decision depend more on emotion and the glitzy marketing materials than the ministry? Are we supporting as many Presbyterian related ministries as para-church organizations? Is it a matter of who gets to us first? We need to know our mission and vision before we allow emotions and sentiments to drive how we give back to God’s mission.
In recent years, the faith based initiative has raised some eye brows. Our taxes dollars have been underwriting worthy social welfare ministries. The government wants to out source some of these services back to the churches. After all, this has been our historical role to care for the least of among us. Have we been letting the government off the hook for responsibilities that truly belong to them?
Those of us who have worked or lived overseas realize how good we have it here in the US. There are many more safety nets here. Go to Kenya and stand in line for treatment at a government run hospital and you will appreciate your tax dollars at work. When I was there in 2003, they had to call in the police to quell a disturbance after people had waited over 24 hours to be seen in the emergency room.
What many people call “big government” seem to take for granted these services until their life situation changes. Things are different when we need emergency medical care, workman’s compensation or unemployment services. Do we feel that we get the services we need for all the money we see deducted from our paychecks? We want lower taxes and refunds but we also want our bridges to be secure and to see rapid responses when a natural disaster hits our community. We want to hear sirens within minutes after dialling 911.
Many years ago we had a tea party in Boston. People chanted, “No taxation without representation!” Our ancestors resented how the British throne disregarded our concerns. We felt our voices were not heard and our revolution took hold.
The Jews of Jesus’ day also thoroughly resented the head tax that Caesar
placed on his subjects. If you saw the movie Nativity you may recall how much resentment the Jews felt towards the Roman occupation and the head tax they were forced to give. If you could not pay the head tax you forfeited a third of your land, or one of your children was forced to work off your debt in a labor camp. We remember that Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem for Caesar’s census to ensure he was getting all of his head tax.
In our story today, revolution was in the air as people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. When will our messiah come and deliver from us yet another Egypt? In our gospel lesson, Jesus was dealing with a tough crowd and the Pharisees were keen on trapping him.
The Herodians, Casear’s cronies were listening closely to this rabble rouser who had the audacity to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey!
Who does he think is? the messiah! If he is truly the Messiah then we stand to loose everything. The powers of his day were certainly not going to give up their seats without a fight. It is sad but true that if Jesus came today, people would try to seek to crucify him all over again. We should never blame the Jews for a reality that says more about our common humanity. There will always be forces among us that do want the light of God’s kingdom to be known. They will always be some who stand to lose their power and wealth when we practice our Lord’s prayer, “ on earth as it is in heaven.”
This question about taxes to Casaer was a clever way of pitting Jesus either against the pilgrims longing for freedom and the powers that be who would just love for him to say something that would warrant his arrest for sedition.
Jesus in his infinite wisdom puts it back on them, he asks, whose face is on the coin? Caesar, will then give it back to him. The Herodian rulers were Jewish and they knew they could not have a graven image on the currency. You might remember the money changing tables in the Gentile court. Jesus flipped over these tables because they were exploiting these poor pilgrims who needed to change their currency lest they carry in coins with a graven image on them. The Herdoians were already ticked off at Jesus!
Yes, the Casears of today may require unjust taxes of us. We have little choice but to accept that the IRS will come knocking if we do not give what is due. We have come along way since colonial occupation. Or have we?
Come to the African summit today and ask our brothers and sisters of developing countries if colonialism is over? Far too many people see their natural resources being depleted by transnational corporations. How do these indigenious peoples benefit from these resources coming out of their soil? Are these taxes being imposed on them by our globalized world order? Do they have any say over this? How do they feel represented? Are there American corporations fostering revolutions in other lands as they virtually collect these taxes without any representation? We have too remember our history and where we came from. We tarred and feathered folks for treating us this way.
When we give back to God what is due we enable the church to be the light and salt of Christ in our world. Sometimes people withhold money from the church because something was said that they don’t agree with. We must faithfully give back to God and rise above this temptation of withholding our pledge as a protest vote. If there is a vote at General Assembly that we disagree we must not withhold our mission giving in protest. It’s only God’s mission that suffers in the end. Who are we to micromanage what belongs to God. God’s Spirit leads us in common efforts in spite of the fissures and divisions that exist among us.
We need to be as faithful to God’s mission as we are to Uncle Sam’s coffers. It’s an act of faith to give back to God knowing that our voices will be heard. We are not shareholders in a corporation who can threaten to sell off our shares. As stewards of God’s mission, we can’t function like the ways of the world. We are stewards not shareholders. Our pledge is a faithful response of giving back to God.
I know we often get tax write offs for our charitable contributions. This is a bonus, but we must move beyond this pragmatic incentive. When you place something in the plate today you are not merely funding this congregation’s budget. You are giving back to God and these abundant gifts are shared with all of God’s children.
We give what is due in order for God’s mission to be known in our world. We cannot rely on our leaders in our city halls and capitol buildings to provide for the least among us. We need to keep the lights on so our voice can be known in a world that has lost its way. In these stormy waters we need many of Christ’s lighthouses shining bright to guide folks back to the promised land. We give what is due to God so the light of Christ can shine bright in every land, and along every shore.