Render

Luke 20:19-26
Psalm 102:1-28

The scribes and priests are still trying to trip Jesus up. The plan is to get him to spout treason against the Roman government, then hand him over (a scheme that eventually more or less works). In addition to solving the problem of their authority in the Jewish community, it gives them a chance to show the occupying power that yes, they do cooperate with the efforts to bring order to the streets.

"Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?" They said, "The emperor’s." He said to them, "Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s."

They were expecting sedition from Jesus, but instead got accommodation. The line “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” becomes a template for Christian conformity. Obey society’s laws in your public affairs, obey the church’s teachings in private. It allows for a separation of religion and politics, each in control of its own space, cooperating vigorously to keep order all the way across the system. The business of religion in this case is not revolution. The best it can do is offer some comfort where the government seems to let people down, but it should do so without complaining.

Another interpretation of this would be that sending the denarius back to Caesar is done without enthusiasm. The Christian cooperates only as much as required. Stay under the radar, don’t give them an excuse to throw you in jail, and lead your radical life in the space left over as you stay within those lines. After all, this is one of Jesus’ clever parries with the Pharisees, designed to leave them with empty hands, the catch sliding out and straight back into the river.

But explain this to me. What exactly is Caesar’s, beyond this coin with his picture? Caesar did not create the world and the people and animals in it. If Caesar’s laws harm God’s children, is Caesar staying within the lines of his domain, or is he interfering with God’s? Jesus’ rhetorical ruse may be even more clever than it looks on the surface. One can give the coin to the Emperor, but in the end it doesn’t matter because it all comes back to God.

I then end up asking whether I wouldn’t rather maintain a bright line between the church and public policy, politics, all that. Human nature is such that you want your preachers (or elders, deacons, choir directors, etc.) in the game, but wish the other guys would stay out of it. I can’t stand it when Two River Baptist Church runs a crypto-Republican rally, but I’m very proud that Rev. Stacy Rector leads the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing. In the end I have to make an argument based on the substance of the activity, not the form. Some Christians are active in politics and public affairs in destructive and self-aggrandizing ways. I have to make that case. It’s harder than saying “preachers out.”

The evening Psalm 102 has one of my favorite images, the little owl in verses 6-7:

⁶I am like an owl of the wilderness,

like a little owl of the waste places.

⁷I lie awake;

I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.

⁸All day long my enemies taunt me;

those who deride me use my name for a curse.

⁹For I eat ashes like bread,

and mingle tears with my drink,

¹⁰because of your indignation and anger;

for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.

This little guy might be the same kind of owl: Athene noctua, called the Little Owl, common in the Middle East.