The Question about Paying Taxes
“15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus 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.
I love this question in verse 17 asking Jesus whether it is lawful to pay taxes? It makes me laugh. I guess people have always expected a lot of assistance from others without paying for it! This is very funny.
Paying taxes has been a huge part of my life because I married a most wonderful woman who has had her own tax accounting business for decades. One of the many things I love about my wife, Linda, is that she never cheats on filling out tax returns for clients. She is as honest as the day is long. Do it right, be honest, and follow the laws, is the way she has always lived her life!
Jesus’ response to the legality of paying taxes is important for all of us to remember. “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” is Jesus’ response in verse 21. I thought of this response of Jesus when the Supreme Court recently decided to outlaw abortions, reversing the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortions. Now I have always been against abortions simply as a means of birth control, while I believe and support abortion in those times when the physical health of the mother is clearly in jeopardy or the life of the fetus is unsustainable when born.
The Supreme Court said that abortion is unconstitutional and a matter to be decided by the states and the voters in the states. This has quickly resulted in some states outlawing abortion even when the mother is going to die if she continues to carry the fetus. Other states have also outlawed abortion when the fetus cannot survive birth or life after birth. Today we are seeing states create new, very different, and sometimes conflicting definitions of the beginning of life. So when I consider Jesus’ statement that we are to give to “the State” (to Caesar) the things that are “the State’s” (Caesar’s) and to God the things that are God’s” I wonder if, in this recent abortion ruling of the Supreme Court, we are not giving too much authority to the State and too little to God.
My point is this: when we increase the power that the State has in our religious and moral lives, are we not also diminishing the separation between the Church and State? I am against abortion simply as a means of birth control, but I am also against the government making decisions that should be religious and moral decisions made by each of us in the presence of God. I say this also because I have lived in foreign cultures where the State has unfettered power over the religious and moral lives of its citizens. It is not pretty. In some cases it has forced women to have abortions, and in other cases it rules over the lives of all women in every aspect of their lives, including access to education and healthcare, employment and pay for employment. My point is that, in some countries, the state or government continues to rule over all aspects of the lives of women because the vast majority of decision makers are men who think about women in very inhumane, subservient ways.
I am in support of letting the things that are within the purview of the government remain in the government, while the things that are within the moral and religious responsibilities and decisions of all people remain within the commandments and will of God. Today our culture is led largely by a Judeo-Christian culture, but a day could come when another very different “culture of leaders” leads us. I fear that this is a “slippery slope” when we let the government define our moral decisions and responsibilities before God based on the individual states in our country, rather than on the will and commandments of God.
We need “to give therefore to government the things that are the government’s and to God the things that are God’s.” When I die I cannot tell God to let me enter heaven because I did what the government told me to do. Regardless of what the government says to me, I still must live under the authority of God. All of us have to be people of the Word of God and listen to what God wants us to do without government laws taking over from God.
What do you think?
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.
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