15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 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. 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 are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” 21 They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.
– Matthew 22:15-22
Earlier this week I stared down the long, nearly empty hallway of the art deco U.S. Post Office in the center of Minneapolis. Once bustling with customers at an array of counters, the massive building now stands as one of many visible reminders of the gutting of public life by government leaders who are currently dismantling the United States of America. It is not coincidental that the politically appointed leaders creating policy to the glory of Mammon are frequently called “czars” – etymologically a direct descendent of the Caesar that Jesus names when he tells his challengers that they should “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
Nearly identical versions of today’s lectionary reading appear in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which means that both Matthew and Luke thought that Mark’s story was important to preserve in the early years of the Jesus movement. The first shared element of the story is the political and priestly class collaborating with Roman imperialists trying to set a trap for Jesus. The second shared element is the nature of the trap: trying to force Jesus to side either with the argument that taxes (or tribute) should be paid to Rome or that the money should not be paid. The claim that the money should be paid would anger the Jewish community, who felt the weight of the Empire that was not providing anything like constituent services to them. The claim that the money should not be paid would be a subversive claim that could serve as a pretext for Herod’s supporters to turn Jesus over to Rome for punishment.
A key difference in their respective tellings is that Matthew, like Mark, uses a Greek word, kēnsos, that refers to a Roman census tax. The parallel word used in Luke’s narrative is phoros, translated as “tribute” in the NRSV, which frankly, was protection money. Oppressed people paid phoros or tribute which was part of the Empire’s booty for victory; paying tribute is paying for the privilege not to be destroyed by the Empire.
When I look at the gutted post office, the huge cuts being faced by public services, and the evisceration of voting rights in the United States in tandem with the wealth being amassed by Trump’s czars, it feels very much like “taxes” are being replaced by “tribute.” This sense, call it my disgust, is amplified by the release of the new apparently, but not authentically, golden dollar coin featuring the living president’s face next to the inscription “in God we trust.” It is ironic that this newly minted coin contains not one iota of gold: “The coins have a golden colour but do not contain any actual gold. According to the US Mint, they are 88.5% copper with the balance being made up of zinc, nickel and a manganese brass outer layer.” While it’s possible to split hairs about whether or not it is hypocritical to call this glittering coin gold, the attempt to bribe an adoring public to worship the president is textbook idolatry.
Hypocrisy is the behavior that Jesus calls out when he is presented with the verbal trap in which his choices are to endorse Rome or plainly identify himself as a rebel. He asks whose image is on the coin that would be used to pay and is shown the picture of the Emperor Tiberius on one side with the words to the effect of “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus, Augustus.” These words, identifying the emperor as the son of a god, textbook idolatry, would be offensive to many practicing Jews and yet another angle on the plan to trap Jesus.
The good news in this Gospel story is that Spirit knows a way around the trap. There is more than one economy. The Pharisees and the Herodians who have set the trap see two of them. There is an economy of extraction and tribute, known to tyrants, imperialists and oppressed people everywhere at all times. There is also a market economy of mutually beneficial trade and exchange. I pay money to the farmer for food or the tailor for clothing and we all benefit. I pay taxes to my government and in exchange, as part of that transaction, I get a post office, roads, and schools. The trap of the Pharisees and the Herodians strives to categorize Jesus’ answer as either 1) No, do not capitulate to the extractive, tribute-demanding economy, or 2) Yes, accept the taxes for living in Caesar’s Empire as a transactional quid pro quo.
Jesus rejects both of these alternatives. The Greek for “give,” apodidomi, is instructive. It literally means to “give back.” It is not about trade and exchange. The coin of Caesar’s realm is extraction. Living in Caesar’s world, the only viable option is to return to him the coin that bears his image, with its claim of divine sonship. If Caesar values money and wealth for the sake of money and wealth, let him have it.
In the mind-blowing phrase that follows his comment about returning Caesar’s coin to Caesar, Jesus points to yet another economy, unseen to the Pharisees and the Herodians. “Give [back] to God the things that are God’s.” How can anything possibly be given back to God? How does one participate in God’s own economy? God’s economy is the antithesis of an economy of greed, extraction and hoarding. At the same time, God’s economy is far more generous than transactional quid pro quos of markets. This is a third economy of abundance, of free gifts, of hospitality, of repaying evil with goodness. I imagine the questioners and bystanders amazed, stunned by the insight that life could be lived in an economy defined by God and Spirit rather than Caesar or markets. Gobsmacked.
The economy of Spirit, like God’s polity, is countercultural. The way out of the trap of living within the lie that the world is defined by boundaries shaped by tyranny and obedience to it, is to tell the truth that life demands freedom and creativity, valuing relationships over material things. God’s economy is one in which we love each other and build a community that lifts us all. It is a world in which water is given to the least of these simply because they are thirsty. It is a world in which the first shall be last and the last shall be first. It is a world of neighborism in which neighbors care for neighbors simply because they are there. It is a world in which the post office exists not to turn a buck for its billionaire czar but to subsidize and sustain a community of neighbors.
A challenge of living under tyranny is finding a way out of the trap of extractive logic which cannot fathom an economy that does not yield profits for the wealthy to hoard. Another challenge is creating genuine community when there is not a fair market for equal transactions. The coins of God’s economy are love and justice. Jesus calls his followers to spend those coins extravagantly. What would it mean to see the image of God on the face of everyone who, in an economy and polity based on neighborism, is waiting to receive delivery on their packages of basic needs, justice, civil liberties, and freedom from fear? What if each of us could be an agent of Spirit’s cosmic post office, taking turns in delivering to our neighbors the practical signs of belonging to a beloved community? That would be truly amazing.
