Rendering onto Caesar: separation of church and state
crafty Jesus takes on his opponents
and their difficult questions
and then trounces them! In all of the Synoptic Gospels we have the story of the
question about paying taxes one of the most
difficult Jesus faced and the phrase
that he used his reply: "render unto Caesar" has become
almost synonymous in Western culture with the idea of the separation of
church and state
First thinking though about how our presuppositions about that idea
impact our reading of the story, you see
the separation of church and state became a big issue at the time of the Reformation
and it resulted in the Lutheran doctrine of
the 'two kingdoms'. It also became a big issue at the time of the
French Revolution which bloodily separated church and state
all Western countries nowadays
pretty much separate church and state though in some
the UK and New Zealand the issue is fudged
but it is part of our
underlying cultural presuppositions
so is Jesus': "render unto Caesar"
talking about that?
Well, we'll look at Mark but the story is in all 3
synoptic gospels. Mark chapter 12
verses 13-17 we begin
with a set up trick question
they thinly disguise their trick question with flattery
verse 14 "and they came and said to him
teacher we know that you're sincere and show deference to no one
for you do not regard people with partiality but
teach the way of God in accordance with the truth
the lawful pay taxes to the Emperor or not?
Should we pay them or should we not?"
Verse 15
"but knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them:
Why are you putting me to the test. Bring me a denarius and let me see it."
Show me the money! Verse 16
"and they brought one. Thenhe said to them
Whose head is this, and whose title?' They answered
'The emperor's.'"
Now, the NRSV there issimply not right. It is not
whose head is this, Jesus says, nor is it as the NIV has it "whose portrait is this?"
The word is ikon and it is an image
and that's important
because Jews took the commandments
seriously, and right there at the start to the 10 commandments
is the one forbidding images
they took it so seriously, that the Romans
even allowed them to mint their own bronze coins
with no images on them
The trouble was, the Imperial poll tax had to be paid
with a silver denarius
minted in Lyons at the Imperial Mint and imperial coins
had images. Around the time of Jesus' birth
the result of this was a major rebellion
against Rome. Luke chapter 2 verse 2
describes the census
the taking of a register for the poll tax which led to the revolt
the person who led the revolt was
Rabbi Judah of Galilee and the Romans had difficulty putting the revolt down
then thirty years or so later along comes Rabbi Jesus of Galilee
and at least according to Luke the issue
of tax was one of the things he was charged with when they brought him before Pilate
"We found this man perverting our nation, forbidding us to
pay taxes to the Emperor and saying that
he is the Messiah, a king." Luke 23:2
So is this "render unto Caesar" business revolutionary Jesus?
Jesus' opponents here are
two groups who are very different the Pharisees and the Herodians
Pharisees are determined to obey the law of God
come what may. The Herodiians are
busy collaborating with Rome and making a good thing of it.
The enemy is divided, so when Jesus says bring me a denarius and let me see it
it was a Herodian who got it, probably
probably from his purse the Herodians being rich Whose image with inscription? Jesus says
well the image was off the ruling Caesar when the coin was minted
it was most likely a Tiberius denarius, but we're not sure
and similarly with the inscription
in the cases of Tiberius it would have read Caesar Augustus Tiberius
son of the divine Augustus, so both the inscription
and the image was blasphemous
yet the Herodians carried such coins
which were anathema to the Pharisees
but is it in fact even more than this?
you only needed bronze coins for every day life
silver coins were only really needed for two purposes
commerce on large-scale and
paying your poll tax to the Roman authorities
is Jesus, is he saying,
you Pharisees and Herodians
who have the possibility of doing commerce with silver coins
wouldn't you be better thinking about the people who only use bronze coins in
everyday life
then argue about paying taxes
is it Jesus once more condemning the rich
and being more deeply revolutionary than we like to think
certainly the Western reading is more comfortable
but is it right? Presuppositions are dangerous things!
Bye for now