My name is Dan Sadowski and I serve on the teaching team of this church. We are back into our teaching series “An Invitation to the Kingdom” where we are going through the book of Matthew. As we do this, some Sunday teachings are going to look a little different. We are not going to give you three points and spell out an application for you. We are going to leave things a bit more open ended. We are doing this because we want you to engage with the Scriptures for yourself. We are doing this because, as a church, we want to move our people from being observers and consumers of church to being disciples of Jesus.

A disciple of Jesus is one who does what He commands, goes where He leads, encourages others to do the same, and all this is done not out of a sense of religious duty but because we love Him and want more of Him in our lives. If this resonates with you we invite you to journey with us as a Church, as we learn together what it means to follow Jesus.

An important part of Discipleship is reading the scriptures for yourself regularly and finding out what God is actually saying to you. I know that reading the Bible, for many, can be an intimidating experience. It is an ancient book with its own quirks and nuances but during some of our Sunday gatherings, like today, we want to give some tools to help you do that. So, this morning, you will need a copy of the Bible close at hand. With that, lets dive into today’s Scripture.

This week, we find ourselves in Matthew chapter 22. We are nearing the final weeks of Christ’s life. Passover is drawing near and so religious pilgrims are streaming into the city. Jesus has just had his Triumphal entry a week ago, and when He entered Jerusalem you will recall that the whole city was shaken. Jerusalem would have a buzz of political and religious fervour.

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

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

This morning, I want to use a Bible study tool that Ingrid introduced two Sundays ago. ORID: Observe, Reflect, Interpret and Decide. Four simple steps.

Our first step here is to observe. We want to observe:

• What is this story about?
• Who are the characters in the story? 
• What is the setting?

Pause the video for a moment, take time to have a close look at these verses. Discuss with those with you right now. If you are by yourself. Take a moment to jot a few things down. If you start to interpret, time to stop.

So, what is happening in this passage? This story appears to be about something as seemingly as mundane as a tax, but this wasn’t just any ordinary tax. You will recall that at the time of Jesus the Jewish people in Palestine were living under military occupation by the Romans. This was particularly hard for the people because the Roman occupiers were harsh and did not respect the customs and traditions of the Jewish people, in particular their worship of the Living God in the Temple in Jerusalem. The tax was a head tax; every Jewish male had to pay 1 denarius yearly and this money went directly to support the cost of maintaining the occupying Roman army. You can see why this was a hated taxation system.

Who are the characters? Did you notice the two groups of people who came to question Jesus? The Pharisees and the Herodians.

The Pharisees were the religious establishment. They were nationalists and were very much opposed to the pagan Roman army in their land. They would have been very much against this head tax, whereas the Herodians were supporters of King Herod and had made peace with the Roman Army. They would have been in favour of the tax.

The Pharisees and the Herodians hated each other, but clearly both groups hated Jesus more. Jesus, as you have seen in the earlier book of Matthew, directed many of his most pointed teachings and parables against the religious and political leaders of the day. They felt threatened by Him. Sometimes a common enemy brings very diverse groups together, and that is what seems to be happening here.

So, the Pharisees and the Herodians plotted together to trap Jesus in a no-win situation. If Jesus said that it was lawful to pay the tax, He would have been seen as a collaborator with the hated Romans and would alienate the people. If Jesus said that the tax was illegitimate, He would have been branded a political criminal and likely thrown into jail or worse. So, what is Jesus going to?

Now we are going to read this passage again and then we are going to spend some time reflecting on our reactions to it.

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?”

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

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

Let’s take a moment to reflect on our own reaction to this story. I want you to pause the video for a moment, take time to have a look again at these verses and reflect:

• What feelings does the story evoke?
• What surprised you?
• What are you curious about?

Discuss with those with you right now. If you are by yourself take a moment to jot a few things down. Remember, if you find yourself starting to interpret the meaning of this story, it’s time to stop.

What is your reaction to this story? Were you surprised by Jesus’ harsh response to the flattery of the Pharisees and Herodians? He did not mince words with them. Brace yourself, we are going to see more of the harsh side of Jesus in the next couple of Sundays.

Personally, I was curious about the coin, the denarius, and why Jesus placed so much emphasis on it. So, being the nerdy person that I am, I did a little background research. It turns out that the denarius from Jesus’ day had the image of Tiberius on it, the Roman Emperor at that time. In Jesus’ day Roman Emperors were worshipped as gods and we see evidence of this on the coin. On one side of the coin Tiberius crowned with the laurels of victory and divinity. Circumscribed around Tiberius are the words when translated mean “Tiberius Caesar, Worshipful Son of the God, Augustus.” On the opposite side of the coin sits the Roman goddess of peace, Pax, and circumscribed around her is the abbreviation “Pontiff Maxim,” which means, “High Priest.”

According to theologian Jeff Barr this moment in the story is rich in irony. Here you have Jesus—Son of God, the Prince of Peace, the King of all Creation—holding the tiny silver coin of a king who claims to be the son of a god and the high priest of Roman peace.

Let’s now move to interpretation. Interpretation is first about understanding what the passage and the story would have meant to those hearing or witnessing these events as they happened, and second about what the passage or story means to us today. Most of the time the meaning is very clear.

As Mark Twain once said, “It’s not the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand”. Sometimes there are sections of Scripture that require a bit more digging in order to find the meaning.

Can I give you a very important principle here? The key to interpretation of Scripture is to let Scripture interpret Scripture. While the Bible is 66 books written by 35 authors over 3000 years, its theme and description of God’s great plan of salvation is completely consistent from book to book.

With that in mind, let me show you a couple things. One way to interpret is to look at a Bible study tool called the Cross references. Let me show you how this works. One particularly difficult part of this story is the phrase “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s”. What does that really mean and what are the implications of it?

Here is a close up of my Bible, and this is where it really helps to use a paper copy of the Scriptures because online Bibles often don’t have this. You see the text of the Scripture on either side of the page and the cross references are in the middle column. Do you see after the phrase “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s” a tiny little Y? That is a cross reference to another related passage of Scripture. If you look to the middle column you see by verse 21 a reference, Romans 13:7. This was written by the Apostle Paul some 30 years later. Paul says, “This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.”

What are the implications here for how we as the people of God, treat our political leaders? Now keep in mind that when the Apostle Paul wrote those words rulers and emperors were far from benevolent, they were tyrants and despots for the most part. So, are there implications here for how we treat our municipal, provincial, and federal leaders? Even if we disagree with them? What does it mean to show them respect and honor in our conversations, what we post online and how we talk about them with others?

Another way to let Scripture interpret Scripture is a somewhat less direct way. This applies especially when you are looking at the words and sayings of Jesus. During His earthly ministry, Jesus was a man utterly steeped in the Hebrew Scriptures. Much of what He said was either a direct quote from one of the Psalms or Hebrew Prophets, like Isaiah and Daniel, or an indirect allusion to a something recorded in the Scriptures.

In our story today Jesus places a lot of importance on the word “image”. When Jesus used this word, what part of the Hebrew Scriptures do you think would have immediately come to the minds of the Pharisees and Herodians? If you said the first page of the Bible—Genesis chapter 1—you would be correct. This is where God says “Let us make humans in our image“. The implications are that we as human beings, because we have been Created by God, bear His Image and His Word is inscribed on our hearts.

How does this impact our interpretation of the part where Jesus says, “Give to God what is God’s”? Who bears God’s Image? Who has the Word of God written on their hearts? What does it mean to give ourselves to God because we are His? If you are part of a home group—and I hope that many of you will be able to do that—this is where you as a group together will want to discuss the implications of this passage.

Our final step in reading the Scriptures is to Decide. We cannot just read the Scriptures and walk away. An encounter with the Word of God should lead to a change in behaviour, attitude, or belief. What change do you feel that God is asking you to make as a result of today’s teaching? It might be helpful to either write it down or tell someone about it to keep you accountable.

For me, this passage emphasized again the fact that we live in a world of competing empires. There are many “Caesars” clamouring for a part of me. These Caesars want my worry, they want my attention and mental energy, they want my passion and desire. What have I been giving to Caesar that belongs to God instead? How do I, as an Image bearer of God, give to Him my whole self while still living in a world where I need to do something as mundane as pay my taxes?

My prayer for you today, my church family, is that God will grant you much wisdom as you ponder these questions.

God bless you.

Amen