Reading Matthew 22:15-22
In a recent article titled “A confident nation does not fear diversity” Reverend Charissa Suli, the
President of the Uniting Church, says:
“People who were born elsewhere and have chosen Australia as their home are our neighbours, friends and colleagues. Their stories are woven into the story of contemporary Australia. Our public discourse about migration should reflect this reality and avoid narratives of scarcity and division.”
Take a moment with the President’s words.
What thoughts and feelings do they generate within you?
(pause)
When you think about it the President’s words, they reflect not simply the reality of the nation but of this congregation. Not all of us here today were born in Australia.
This statement of the President is set against the context of a rather heated current political landscape in Australia, and across the world. Her words weave our faith right into the heart of this debate.
The Uniting Church has had a long history of engagement with political issues including how we relate to first nations people, distribution of wealth, gambling, domestic violence, refugees and asylum seekers, climate change and environmental issues, and the list goes on. The church has taken prayerfully considered theological and pastoral stances on many of these issues.
Sometimes these responses appear to favour a particular side of politics and on some occasions another side of politics. On this point I am reminded of a conversation with a colleague who highlighted that in Australia both the Labor and Liberal movements have Christian roots in the origin stories. How you personally feel about these statements is no doubt influenced by your political allegiances whether consciously or subconsciously.
Whilst the Uniting Church has rarely suggested to people how they should vote on an issue these statements on political matters invite us to engage in deeper theological reflection on the public political discourse.
In naming this context today I am doing so in direct response to an adage that is often shared with me that “religion and politics” don’t mix and for many people they would say the politics certainly do not belong in the pulpit. This view about the relationship between religion and politics is often associated with Jesus’ saying found in our reading today. “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
Unfortunately, the notion that Jesus is separating out the kingdom of this world from the kingdom of God misses the point that Jesus is being both religiously and politically nuanced. He was making a political and religious statement.
To wrap our heads around this better means unpacking a little bit of the first century context in which he was speaking. The first thing we should understand is that the two groups coming to Jesus were not natural allies.
The Herodians were a political faction loyal to Herod and the Romans to retain their authority. The Pharisees were devout teachers determined to be faithful to the Law despite the Roman occupation.
When these groups team up to confront Jesus, they choose to set aside their own differences to attack him as a common enemy. Jesus was the meat in their sandwich.
The aim of the question about taxes was not to get an answer but to trap Jesus. Jesus’ response was to ask them to show him a coin, and they bring out a Roman coin!
The Pharisees would have regarded these Roman coins as idolatrous. The coin contained an image of Tiberius, Caesar, considered as divine by the Romans. It had an inscription “son of the divine Augustus.” Notably the Emperors were sometimes also referred to as the Son of God. The point can be made that by simply producing the coin in the Temple, they had shown themselves up as hypocrites.
It is more than likely that the Herodians had no problem with the Roman coin, after all they had allied themselves with Rome. The question Jesus had been asked was whether they should pay Roman taxes? This was a census tax that was hated so much there had already been revolts against paying it.
I wonder if you can see the trap.
What will the Pharisees say if Jesus says ‘Yes’?
What will the Herodians say if Jesus says ‘No’?
The question was intended to back Jesus into a corner so that whatever his answer was Jesus would get in strife with both the religious and secular authorities. The New Testament scholar William Loader suggests that the two groups are trying to set up Jesus so that he will be executed.
Jesus’ answer cleverly avoids the trap. He was not going to be reduced to a slogan for either party. Yet, at the same, Jesus time confronts his adversaries with a conundrum in terms of their loyalties. "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
In trying to see behind Jesus’ words what should be patently clear is that Jesus believed everything belongs to God. All things were derived from God, even political power. Think about it in this way. The coin that they had produced bore Caesar’s image, but what bears God’s image? We do. Each every one of us, everyone who is our neighbour, regardless of wherever they were born.
The separation of religion from politics was a key issue at the time of the Reformation and the influence of Martin Luther on this topic means that many Protestants have misinterpreted this separation of the two kingdoms. Luther’s view of the two kingdoms though was a view that suggests that these were two ways in which God governed. It was not about saying religion is here and politics is over there!
In the scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, there is an intermingling of religion and politics that is constant. In the Old Testament God ascribed political power to even the foreign rulers and enemies like Cyrus in Isaiah and Nebuchadnezzar in Jeremiah. They ruled because God made it so, but they were also accountable to God for their rule.
In Jesus’ teaching there are often political ramifications, and this is highlighted in his words that we just heard. Give to God what belongs to God: everything!
If we consider that all things belong to God, including the way in which we structure our society, then as Christian people the way we live, who we vote for, what issues we choose to fight for, become for us both political and religious outworkings of our faith.
Even what we choose to pray for, or even not to pray for, in our prayers for the world indicates both a religious and a political stance! The words and phrases that we use indicate what we think about in terms of our allegiance to God and to God’s coming kingdom. When we pray ‘your kingdom come your will be done’, surely, we are praying for political and social change as well as spiritual and religious change.
The good news of Jesus infiltrates every aspect of who we are and should invite us into the deep pastoral and theological consideration of the issues that we are facing in our daily lives.
Returning to the words of our President Charissa Suli she uses one of my favourite phrases “political discourse”. For me this word discourse has layers of meaning. Discourse invites dialogue and discussion, deepening into deliberation, differentiation and decision. This discourse is directed towards discerning God’s desire, which is one of the values of our congregation.
Sadly, much of our public political conversation is reduced to unhelpful dichotomies. We hear sound bites, memes and slogans as opposed to deeply thought-out research, theological reflection, pastoral consideration, and discourse which listens to other points of view without attacking people.
For instance, this week I read an article by Peter McDonald, a demographer at the University of Melbourne, who pointed out that the policy decisions around immigration by all of the political parties are being made before we have the 2026 census data on how temporary residents actually affect housing and jobs.
Maybe the better question isn’t ‘what should the number be?’ but ‘what does our economy need, what does our education sector need, and what do we owe those seeking asylum?’
This is but one of the complex political issues that our country is facing and in each of these issues Jesus’ words are a reminder that God is all and is in all – people and situations. “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
What does this mean when seeking to regulate how Generative Artificial Intelligence is being used or trying to create guard rails in social media platforms that protect people from harm? What does it mean for funding of social support networks in contrast to user pay systems? What does it mean to consider the responsible use of public money or religious freedoms? And the list goes on.
Each of these should be a matter of entering into the public discourse in a way that leads us to discerning as best we are able God’s desire. Now I am not so naïve to think that through these processes we will all come to the same conclusion. The diversity of political views and even how politics and religion should mesh is significant.
However, returning to migration issue the President, Charissa Suli, offers these helpful words. “As followers of Christ, we believe every person is created in the image of God and worthy of dignity and respect. We pray that Australia’s conversation about migration and humanitarian protection will be grounded in those values and shaped by a vision of a society in which all people can flourish and contribute to the common good.”
These things might stand out for us as values to hold on to. Every person is worthy of dignity and respect. We are called to work on a “vision of a society in which all people can flourish and contribute to the common good”.
Jesus’ response to the Pharisees and Herodians avoided their trap and we are told that after Jesus words “they were amazed, and they left him and went away”. I imagine they walked away pondering what it meant to live in the context of the Roman rule whilst also acknowledging that giving to God what was God’s created a tension for them. Maybe they were reminded that the story of creation in Genesis pointed to God’s rule over all things.
And maybe as we walk away today, we might consider what is it in my life, my political views, and my spirituality that bears Caesar’s stamp and what in my life bears the image of God?
