Providence Lutheran Church, October 22, 2023

Providence shares their online worship on Facebook. The link is here: https://fb.watch/p0iftwPIlq/

Matthew 22:15-22

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. ¹⁶So 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. ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” ¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” ²¹They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²²When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

It is so good to be here this morning. I’ve worshiped with Providence a few times over the years, starting back when Pastor Patti-Sue was newer here and I was in my senior year of seminary. Thanks for being one of the places where I’ve experienced God over the years.

I want to share a seminary story with you this morning. Dr. Agneta Enermalm-Tsiparis taught New Testament and Greek until she retired during my second year. Dr. Enermalm was brilliant and always wanted us to do well. When we answered a question wrong during class—so, more than once in most lectures—Dr. Enermalm would say, in her lovely Swedish accent, “What an interesting way to be wrong!” She would then correct our thinking in the most gentle way possible, even when she was probably thinking something more equivalent to, “Bless your heart. At least you’re pretty.”

I have often speculated on times in the gospels when Jesus might well be thinking, “What an interesting way to be wrong.” The entirety of the last week of his life is high on the list, and this encounter with the Pharisees and the Herodians may well take the cake.

Now, it’s no surprise that people are being confrontational with Jesus. This is Monday of holy week. Jesus has had the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. He has flipped over the tables of the money changers. When the folks in charge asked him where he got his authority from, he refused to answer them. And Jesus stays in the Temple teaching people. So they’re out to try to stump him once again. I know they were on the wrong team, but I can see where they’re coming from, when you put everything in order.

Their last challenge failed because the crowds regarded Jesus as a prophet. This time, they think, they’re going to turn the crowds against him. What do they use? Taxes.

We might complain about taxes from time to time, but we at least live in a democracy where we have some say about where that money is spent. For these first-century Jews living in occupied territory, that money was going to Rome, where it paid for the soldiers who had conquered their homeland. Taxes were insult added to injury for them.

I want you to picture this group coming up to Jesus. A few men in robes that are showy enough that you know they have money and authority, who’ve been plotting together for a bit, walk over to the crowd where Jesus is speaking. They use their most sugar sweet voices to plant this trap: Teacher, we know that you are sincere and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality.

Just imagine answering the phone one day, to your friend who says, You’re the most fair judge of character I know and I’m just sure you’ll be able to help me sort out this little problem of mine, because you’re so wise, and gorgeous too! You know trouble’s about to start.

So the Pharisees and the Herodians continue: “Tell us, then, what you think: is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor or not?”

There’s a lot of cultural baggage for us to unpack here. Let’s start with “lawful”. They’re not talking about the laws of Rome. Of course Rome wants you to pay the Emperor. They’re quite clear on that. Instead, these folks are asking about the Scriptural laws. Do the religious teachings permit someone to pay the taxes to Rome, using the Roman coin that they demand?

The Temple taxes have to be paid with Temple money. The Roman taxes have to be paid with Roman money. Why is that, you ask? Simple. Each version of money has a different theology.

The United States prints “In God We Trust” on our currency. The Roman coins had a picture of the Emperor on them, with the caption “Tiberias Caesar, Son of God.” The coins themselves claimed that the Emperor was god. They violated the biggest and best of the 10 Commandments: don’t worship anything that isn’t God. Using these Roman coins was tacit to approving what was on them.

So, they wonder: what will Jesus say? Will he upset the Romans by saying people shouldn’t pay taxes? Will he upset the people by saying that they should? They think they have him caught in a trap.

What an interesting way to be wrong!

Jesus asks his questioners to pull out one of those Roman coins. In the middle of God’s own Holy Temple, in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of Jerusalem, these leaders and teachers of Judaism pull out an image of the Roman Emperor and his claim to be God, all there in coin form. Who’s messed up now, bringing an idol into God’s house?

The he asks them to show him whose head and whose title are on that coin. Tiberius Caesar, it says.

“Give to God the things that are God’s and to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”

Jesus refuses to give them a straight answer. Instead, he surprises them with wisdom they didn’t expect.

There are sermons upon sermons about what Jesus means by this phrase. Most of them are quite good, really. But I want to head down a different rabbit hole this morning.

Jesus says all this on Monday of Holy Week. On Thursday, he’s going to have a final dinner with his disciples and then be arrested by this group of troublesome questioners. They’re going to think that they finally have him trapped. They’re going to have false witnesses testify against him—and some true ones, too. They’re going to hand him over to those Roman occupiers, and watch as he is beaten, humiliated, and eventually killed. They’re going to think that they won.

But they are going to be surprised by wisdom they didn’t expect.

The One True God, whom they thought they were worshiping and protecting, raised Jesus from the dead on the third day. The One True God whose image and fingerprints are all over this created world didn’t let troublemakers have the last word any more than Jesus did.

Want to know the best part of the story? The Pharisees and the Herodians (and the Romans, for that matter) thought that they had lost. They thought that, when this Jesus movement outlived the earthly ministry of Jesus, they had failed.

Instead, they had won. Because when Christ was raised from the dead by the power of the Father, we were all given a new chance at life. Because Jesus Christ broke the bonds of death and hell. Because Jesus shows us that being made in the image of God means being filled with a life so abundant that death can’t hold it back forever.

Jesus didn’t just say that only the non-grumpy people would rise again. We confess that, on the last day, we are all going to be raised, the living and the dead. By setting Jesus up for death, these grumpy troublemakers set us all up for life.

What an interesting way to be wrong.

These guys really thought that they were wiser than God, but they didn’t recognize God in front of them. I wonder how often we set ourselves up against the best thing for us? How often does God think we’ve found an interesting way to be wrong?

You know what I mean. It doesn’t always look like a dramatic showdown. Sometimes it looks like asking God for a pony when you live in an apartment. Wanting God to be a superhero or fairy godmother who solves all our problems instead of the God who suffers with us and brings victory out of defeat. Asking for peace across the world, but not for peace in our own relationships.

The Pharisees and the Herodians were absolutely convinced that they were right. There was no room in them—at least at this point in their story—for humility or for the joy of being surprised by what God was doing. It’s important for us to be firm in what we believe, but it’s also crucial that we remember that God’s thoughts are always higher than ours. God has more going on than we can see or understand. That’s a very good thing, even when it bruises our egos to say it.

We’re going out into a world this week that is full of confusion and pain. We’re going to be faced with challenges we don’t know what to do with. We’re going to grieve with those who mourn and wonder how to help those who seem hopeless. And. And we are going out into a world that has been redeemed and will be made new. We’re going out into a world that is filled with the presence of the living God. I hope that God will surprise you with the joy of knowing you don’t have to have everything under control, with the peace that passes all understanding, and the love that holds us even when we don’t understand all the details.