Matthew 22:15-22

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Introduction

Paying Taxes to Caesar

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

This week, in one sense, we move into a new section of Matthew’s Gospel, however, in another sense it’s still very much connected to what’s come before it. Leading up to this point, we saw Jesus’ authority challenged by the religious leaders in Jerusalem back in chapter 21, and we spent the last 3 weeks looking at Jesus’ response to that challenge with his three parables. The Parable of the Two Sons, the Parable of the Tenants, and the Parable of the Wedding Feast.
So while we move on from Jesus’ response to their initial challenge, we immediately see him challenged again, three more times in chapter 22. And then at the end of chapter 22 Jesus will end these challenges with one of his famous counter-challenges. Which will ultimately set the stage for chapter 23 in his famous monologue of the seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees. Chapter 23 is the climax of Jesus’ conflict with Israel’s religious leaders, so remember as we look at these three challenges against Jesus here in chapter 22, that these events are building toward his famous indictment, or charge, against them in chapter 23, that’s the context of our passage today, and the passages that we’ll look at over the next few weeks.

Luke sets us up

Our passage today, is also recorded by Mark and Luke in their Gospel’s, but there aren’t any substantial differences, except that Luke gives us a more detailed lead up to this first challenge. So if you would, turn with me to Luke 20, starting in verse 19,

19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

Luke describes that “at that very hour” the scribes and chief priests “perceived that [Jesus] had told his parable against them”. So, this is our transition from the last 3 parables to this next challenge.
Luke also seems to indicate that these next 3 challenges were probably made against Jesus on the same day, hence the phrase “at that very hour”. So we’re presumably still inside the Temple, with Jesus surrounded by large crowds in what we commonly refer to as the Gentiles’ Court, the larger courtyard of the Temple that was the least restrictive.
We also see that the Jesus’ 3 parables have further enraged Jerusalem’s religious leaders, that “the Pharisees went” out “and plotted how to entangle him in his words.” Again, their motives are manifestly evil. Luke said that “they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.”

Unlikely bedfellows

In fact, they’re so intent on getting rid of Jesus that the Pharisees team up with a new political group. Back in Matthew 22, verse 16 we read that,

they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians,

Now, the Herodians are only mentioned a few times in the NT and we don’t know a lot about them in detail, but it isn’t too hard to infer their allegiance simply by their name. The Herodians are believed to have been a Jewish political party who supported Herod Antipas, who was the ruler over the district of Galilee, where Jesus was from. And as you can imagine, their allegiance to Herod and to Rome would have been in severe conflict with the vast majority of the Jewish people. They were probably viewed by most Jews as traitors because of their allegiance to Rome, so it’s important for us to realize just how significant it would have been for the Pharisees to have teamed up with them to attack Jesus.
You might say they were unlikely bedfellows at the very least. In fact, in many respects they would have been enemies of one another, but Jesus apparently had the power to bring these political enemies together. Apparently, the old proverb, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” holds true here. So despite their deep divisions the Pharisees and the Herodians were willing to make an “unholy alliance” to take down Jesus. Which, again, demonstrates just how intent Jerusalem’s leaders were on exterminating this Galilean preacher.
So, now, this coalition has come to “entangle” Jesus by his words, “pretending”, as Luke writes, “to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said.” That they might “deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.” They want to get Jesus to say something that’ll get him in trouble with the Roman authorities, so that they can get rid of him.

Flattery

And their chief strategy to entangle him by his words will be flattery. They’re going to try and flatter Jesus in order get him to say something that’ll get him into trouble with the Roman authorities. The Oxford dictionary defines flattery like this, “excessive and insincere praise, given especially to further one's own interests.” Proverbs 29:5 says,

5  A man who flatters his neighbor

spreads a net for his feet.

There are two components to flattery that make it sinful. The first, is that it gives insincere praise, or unjust praise, it gives praise where none is due, it’s double-speak. The second, is that insincere praise is given usually to serve a person’s own interests, to acquire unjust gain, to advance one’s cause, or to avoid criticism or condemnation, or to gain followers. Politicians might flatter their voters in order to get their vote. Employees might flatter their boss to gain favorable treatment. Children might flatter their parents to get what they want. Flattery plays off another’s pride to get what it wants. And this is how the Pharisees and the Herodians intend to get what they want. Read there, again, in Matthew 22, starting in verse 16,

16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

In fact, in the two challenges that follow this one, a group of Sadducees and a lawyer will purposefully address Jesus as “Teacher”, seemingly to continue their attempts of flattery toward Jesus to catch him in his words. They’ll give him a title that they don’t think he deserves in order to flatter him.
And here in verses 16 and 17 they lie to him, they tell him that they “know that [he is] true,” and that he’s teaching “the way of God truthfully.” All the while, they don’t believe any of it, at all, no wonder the Pharisees sent their disciples, because they had to know Jesus would never buy any of it! But they continue to lay it on thick, we know that “you don’t care about anyone’s opinion,” that “you’re not swayed by appearances.” In other words, they knew that Jesus was bold and unafraid to speak his mind, but they wrongly assumed that Jesus prided himself in these things. They figured that if they just stroked his ego a little bit that they could provoke him into saying something that would get him into trouble, but they were very wrong. Look at verse 18,

18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites?

Jesus immediately recognizes their malice, their evil intentions behind their flattery, and so he calls them hypocrites! Psalm 12:2 says it well,

2  Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;

with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

The Pharisees and the Herodians are “concealing their true motives under a cloak of respectful religious inquiry.” (R.T. France, Matthew, p. 833)

Are taxes to Caesar lawful?

But Jesus decides to play along anyway. So let’s look at their question again in verse 17,

17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

Now, before we look at Jesus’ answer I want to give us some backstory to this issue of Roman taxation, so that we can really feel the challenge of this question, and how it could have easily put Jesus in hot water had he not answered it shrewdly.
As I mentioned before, the Herodians were a Jewish political party, and they probably supported Rome’s taxation, while most Jews (including the Pharisees) were adamantly opposed it. In fact, when the Romans initially imposed this tax on the Jews back in AD 6 two men named Judas of Galilee and Zadok, who was a Pharisee, responded by leading a violent revolt against Rome. The revolt was brutally crushed by the Romans of course, but that revolt would later become the inspiration for the famous Zealot movement a few decades after Jesus, eventually leading to the war of independence in AD 66, resulting in the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 at the hands of the Roman Empire. These Zealots were a group of nationalists who taught that God alone was the ruler of Israel and argued that no taxes should be paid to Rome. (Military Wikia, Judas of Galilee) They believed they were under no obligation to pay this particular tax because they believed the Roman Empire was an illegitimate government, that instead God was their king, so they argued that it was unlawful to pay this tax.
So when they ask Jesus,

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

They’re not asking whether or not it was lawful in the eyes of the Roman government for them to pay such taxes. As Jews, they’re asking Jesus whether or not they’re obligated to pay taxes to Caesar as God’s people who are under the Torah. This is a contentious church versus state question that they’re asking. And most of them, except maybe the Herodians, already assumed that what Rome was demanding of them contradicted their their theocratic belief that only God was their king. That the Romans had no right to impose such a tax upon them.

Census tax (a tribute)

And this wasn’t any ordinary tax, this was what we call a census tax, a tax based merely on the fact that you were a Jew in the land of Palestine. It was a tax that very clearly communicated that they were taxing them simply because they owned them. Luke, in his account, even speaks more plainly when he rightly calls this tax a tribute to Caesar.
So, my point, is that the subject of taxation by Rome was an incredibly inflammatory topic. That the Jews had to pay taxes to Caesar was a daily reminder of their subjugation to Rome. That Rome had their boot firmly planted upon their necks. And don’t forget, the birth of our own nation was also closely tied to an issue of taxation, that the colonists felt that they were being taxed without representation, that they felt abused by Great Britain, and that taxation was emblematic of that abuse. And so it was, similarly, for the Jews, to a much greater extent.
And I’m not arguing here for the legitimacy of the American Revolution or in support of Israel’s refusal to pay tribute to Caesar, what I want us to see is that the Roman tax was a very sensitive subject, that these questioners were essentially dropping a proverbial grenade at Jesus’ feet. They’re asking him a no-win question, in one sense, in public. It appears that no matter what he says he either faces a crowd that could turn on him, or a Roman government that could come down upon his head, because remember what else Luke said in chapter 20, verse 20, that,

they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

They had malicious intentions.

Jesus’ response

But let’s look at how Jesus responds, starting there in verse 19,

19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

Jesus famously avoids the trap that they have set for him, yet he doesn’t evade the question, he answers it, and how he answers it undercuts their position. And how does he do that? He attacks their assumption that it’s impossible to be both loyal to God and loyal to the government. You might say they’ve created a false dichotomy, or a false dilemma. In other words, it’s not true that if you refuse to pay the tribute that you’re being loyal to God and disloyal to government, and it’s not true that if you pay the tribute that you’re being loyal to the government and disloyal to God. Jesus is saying, “that’s a false dilemma.” You think that for me to say it’s lawful to pay the tax, is being disloyal to God, or that for me to say it’s unlawful to pay the tax is being loyal to God. That’s not true, that’s a false dilemma. It’s a problem that doesn’t exist!
Instead, Jesus tells them that they can do both. Now, there are certainly instances where one must decide between obeying God and obeying government (we could point out many examples in both the OT and the NT), but this isn’t one of those cases.
Jesus is saying that it is Caesar’s prerogative, it is his right, to levy a tax against his subjects, no matter whether it’s seen as oppressive or not, and that it’s their job to submit to it, by paying it. And he illustrates this by asking to see one of their coins for the tax. And it says that “they brought him a denarius.”

Idolatrous coin

Now, we’ve talked about Roman currency before, but a denarius was equivalent to one day’s wage for a common laborer (about $8). It was a silver coin with a picture of Tiberius Caesar (i.e. the Roman Emperor) on the front, and a picture of him sitting on his thrown on the back, in royal robes. On the front of the coin was inscribed, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus”, and on the back “High Priest”. So to the Jews this coin what incredibly idolatrous! It clearly violated the first and second commandments, to have no other gods before Yahweh, and to not make for themselves a carved image. They were so offended by this coin that Rome even let them use a separate copper currency for their day-to-day buying and selling.
So then Jesus asks them in verse 20,

“Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

In other words, shouldn’t you be glad to give this coin back to where it came from?! But Jesus’ bottom line is that it’s Caesar’s prerogative to levy a tax against them, and because his face is on the coin is evidence of that very fact, so “render” or “give back” to Caesar the things that are his, for it is possible to be subject to the emperor as ruler, while at the same time honoring God as God.

Conclusion

Moreover, we know that to be subject to our governing authorities, is to be subject to God himself, assuming, of course, that our governing authorities are within their God ordained sphere of authority, such as their right to tax. Because, as the Apostle Paul would later explain, “there is no authority except from God, and those [governing authorities] that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed.” (Romans 13:1b-2a)

Prayer

Help us in our day to faithfully sort out these same type of issues pertaining to submitting to our governing authorities, where it’s biblical and appropriate, while also being willing to obey you rather than men when the governing authorities overstep their bounds. May our desire be to ultimately please you, and may we have charity toward one another in these things
Lord, also guard us against hypocrisy in our lives, let us not have lips that flatter, or that we would use flattery as a device for evil
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