What is God's?

 Matthew 22: 15-22  October 18, 2026

 

This scripture has been misused a lot.

Sometimes its used as a stewardship sermon.

Which isn’t the worst use of it.

This logic is that Jesus says you have to pay your taxes –

but don’t forget to give some to God, which is the church.

Like I said, not the worst use, but

I don’t think that’s what Jesus is talking about.

 

I think it has been used in the past mostly,

to justify the separating of the work of God

from the work of politics or government.

 

People have used this to say that Jesus was telling the church

not to get involved in any part of politics.

Give to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor – earthly things.

and give to God what belongs to God – spiritual things.

 

This theory says that Jesus was saying that these things are separate – 

the realm of Caesar is money, finances, your business, 

and work life, your voting, your stance on issues.

And the world of God is praying, worship, hymns, spiritual stuff.

 

The belief was that God doesn’t get involved in those other places,
and neither should you.

Church people should worry about spiritual and eternal stuff.

Politics are worldly, always evil, and temporary –

as people of faith, we shouldn’t bother with it.

 

Throughout history, especially American history,

that has left many thoughtful, faithful people out of the

conversations that affect many people’s lives so much.

 

The fact is, how we use our money is a spiritual and moral question.

And how the government uses the money we give them is

a spiritual and moral question.

And how we engage with that question is politics.

Now I completely believe in separation of church and state.

The government should not mandate any religion,

even ones I agree with and love.

And religions should not mandate that its followers to

follow any political ideal or that it vote for one person or another.

 

We’ve all seen over the last 50 or so years,

how the radical right wing of the Christian church

has demanded that they get special treatment under the law,

and they want the law to protect their faith alone.

Or how they want their Christian teachings in public schools,

or they want to impose their specific, peculiar spiritual

practices and interpretations on the general public.

And I am here to say that is NOT how we should be

involved in politics as people of faith.

 

But should people of faith completely stay out of politics?

Should we remove themselves from any kind of politics?

That’s kind of the question that’s being posed by the pharisees, even if,

as the narration said, it was posed as a trap.

It wasn’t like the Pharisee’s invented this dilemma

when they asked it of Jesus.

It was already a debate.

 

At the time of Jesus, the Israelites were under Roman rule.

They had gone from being under one rule to another for many years.

The Romans were good in some ways, they developed conveniences, roads, 

methods of commerce,  And Romans allowed people to worship how they wanted, 

even the Jewish people.

 

And the Romans invaded and took control and then

required a ‘Tribute’ be paid to it – a tax.

Romans required two things, that you pay the tribute

and that you keep the peace. 

No protesting, no gathering in the street, no organizing,

definitely no telling people not to pay their taxes.

The Romans government required submission.

On top of that, the Roman government elevated their emperor to the

level of a deity. The Caesar was actually worshipped along with other gods. 

After years of wrangling and negotiation,

Jewish people were exempt from this part of life.

 

But one of the ways that they elevated or venerated the Emperor 

or Caesar was to put his face on money. Of which there were only coins.

It was a constant reminder of the Emperor’s deity.

 

Now Jewish people were exempt from worshipping,

but the money was a sticking issue.

Roman Coin

The money with the picture of the was a graven image, 

an idol to the Jewish people and they weren’t supposed to use Roman money,

especially for religious purposes for paying the Temple tax or fees, 

or for buying animals for sacrifice. 

That’s what the money changers were there for. 

They would exchange Roman money, with the graven image

on it, for Jewish money.

(Which was basically worthless outside of Jewish circles.)

 

So the Jewish people removed themselves from the surrounding culture 

in that way, but the question was still there.

Was it faithful to even pay taxes to this government?

Of course there were severe penalties if you didn’t pay taxes.

But the question was there for them.

 

And that question has been there for Christians and for other

religious people forever. The world is sinful, bad things happen.

Society does bad things. Governments do bad things.

So should we, as people of faith, retract from society?

 

John the Baptist withdrew from public life by living in the wilderness. 

The Essenes a Jewish group (which some people believe that 

John The Baptist was a leader in) that lived completely separate from society.

The Amish and some Mennonites maintain physical and cultural

separation from regular society.

Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t vote in elections.

 

 

Mostly, though religions in the US,

seem so want to be involved in the culture in most ways,

but we want to remain quiet on things when taking a stand

would cause controversy. It’s called “Political quietism.”

Being kind of neutral about everything

 

And I get it, with the culture so divided on certain topics,

it feels like avoiding all topics that could be seen as political

might seem like the best approach.

Don’t take a stand on anything controversial.

Just focus on the Spiritual side of things, so we

don’t offend or divide our parishioners over things.

 

And a lot of times, people are fine with churches speaking

up on politics when it’s a stance they agree with.

But when they disagree, then the church is being “too political”.

 

So that means that the radical wing of the church doesn’t have 

a problem making demands that their doctrine be heard and adopted 

by every facet of government and society, 

but the more thoughtful even-tempered portion of the church ends up keeping quiet,

just trying to keep the peace. Not speaking out at all.

 

That means that the church has been quiet on matters that would be

very important to God.  I mean in the 1800’s.

 the Lutheran Church, didn’t have much of anything to say about the issue of Slavery  until the Southern half of the Lutheran church left the

General Lutheran church in 1863.

By then, the Civil War had already been going on for two years.

 

In the 1960’s, Martin Luther King wrote his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” was written in response to eight white clergy members,

who wrote a public letter to him printed in the newspaper calling for unity. Which basically meant that yes, they agreed with him about civil rights, but they would rather he stayed quiet and stop being so controversial stop protesting. They didn’t like the tensions and discomfort that the protests and sit ins created. They wanted him to leave it to the courts.

Then in the Letter Martin Luther King wrote in response, he

said that the contemporary church often acts merely as a thermometer that records, reflects, and passively measures popular opinion, cultural norms, and the status quo of society when we should be acting like a thermostat that actively regulates, sets, and transforms the moral climate.

 

William Barber contemporary pastor that led Moral Mondays

and the Poor People’s campaign said: 

“Preachers don’t get to opt out of politics; 

we can be chaplains of Empire or prophets of God.”

 

And large swaths of the church have remained silent on poverty,

on immigrants, on violence, on gun violence, on war,

on housing, on cuts to medical and food assistance

which hasn’t served our churches or our country well at all.

 

The reality was, it was a very political world that Jesus came into

The time that Jesus was in was deeply steeped in politics.

People couldn’t get away from it even if they wanted to.

And Jesus did not shy away from it.

He was not a politician, he did not advocate for any politician,

He didn’t want to rule in any kind of political leadership.

He didn’t want his way to be the law of the land.

But he was political.

 

He was political in how he advocated for people.

How he talked to them, and  how he talked about them,

He was political in the way that he kept the company

of certain people in public.  He was political in the way

that he talked about God’s forgiveness when God’s wrath 

and anger was a way of controlling people. 

He was political in the way that brought light to  oppression and human suffering.

He was political in the way he empowered the poor and oppressed.

Even feeding people was a political statement.

  

Jesus was killed by the authorities for being too political,

for not staying in, what some people thought, was his lane.

If he had just commented on strictly spiritual stuff,

no one would have cared enough to arrest him and kill him.

 

It says that the Pharisees were trying to catch Jesus- to entrap him—

With the question that they were asking in today’s gospel.

If he said that the Jewish people should not pay the tax to the Romans, 

then Jesus could be arrested by the Romans for sedition.

If Jesus said that they should pay taxes to Rome, then

he would have looked like he was kowtowing to the government,

and lost his appeal to his Jewish followers.

 

But Jesus doesn’t answer yes or no (of course)

Rather, he catches the Pharisees in their own trap:

First thing he does is ask the pharisees for a coin used for the tax.

the he asked them for a Roman Coin. And they give it to him.

 

Why would THEY have a Roman coin on them?

Even those that fancied themselves the closest to God

could not escape becoming a part of the Roman world.

 

Maybe Jesus could have stopped right there,

and he would have had one up on the people

who were trying to catch him in a trap.

But Jesus goes on.

 

He looks at the coin. It had picture of Cesar on it,

so give it back to him. Give him his taxes.

But remember always give to God what belongs to God.

It was a complex and subtle answer for a complex issue.

 

I think that Jesus was saying with this

is that being in the world doesn’t make us bad disciples.

Pay your taxes. Be part of the world.

Even if that world is corrupt and broken.

Give to Ceasar what  Cesar wants.

Maybe even get involved in politics.

But, as a disciple, don’t ever forget what belongs to God.

And that is everything.

God reigns over and cares for all things.

The poorest person, the immigrant, you and me,

the frogs and the plants and trees.

And even that egotistical Caesar who puts his

own face on a coin. The one true God reigns over it all.

 

So give to God what belongs to God

That doesn’t mean forcibly make all people Christian,

or put the ten commandments in the classroom or any of that silliness.

But that means work to make the world more reflective of God’s will.

Make sure that everyone has a place at the table,

everyone is fed, everyone is healthy, everyone is safe,

and well paid for their work, that everyone has a voice.

And if making sure of that makes us political, so be it.

 

We are created in the image of God.

All of us.  Not just the spiritual side.  We are not just half a coin.

We are not just souls hanging around the earth

waiting for heaven one day.

 

And God just doesn’t hover around in the ether and

let the rest of the material world go to seed.

God is interested in the whole package the spirit and the body.

 

God loves us all, and God every part of us.

The neat and tidy parts and the messy complicated parts.

And God wants that love to transform every part of our lives.

Not just one hour on a Sunday morning.

Not just our prayer life and our spiritual life and our home life.

But every part of our life: Including our budgets, our communities,

our commerce, our government, and our politics.

 

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

Give to God what is God’s.

And that is everything.