Sermon Proper 24A
October 16, 2011
Matthew 22:15-22
Rev. Jeff Springer
Being defeated in their frontal attack on Jesus before His disciples, the Pharisees try a different tact. They send both their disciples and the Jews who were loyal to the occupying government Rome via Rome’s puppet king Herod. These were the Herodians. A common cause or enemy will create strange alliances or bed fellows as the old figure of speech says.
The Pharisees were at odds with the Herodians because they recognized only one Heavenly King and that was Yahweh and on earth the line of kings from David. Jesus lineage from David fit the bill but not for the Pharisees who were looking for a conquering messiah like we expect in Jesus second coming. The Herodians were quite satisfied with Roman rule for they knew anyone who would challenge it would be crushed. The Herodians were not interested in rebellion or revolution but peace. The Pharisees hated the Herodians because they exacted taxes from the people and that they supported a pagan gentile sovereign.
The disciples of the Pharisees, who presumably had not yet challenged Jesus, and the Herodians came to Jesus as wolves in sheep’s clothing. They began with compliments that any Rabbi or Pastor today would love to hear. Such as you teach the truth truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Perhaps they thought they could soften Jesus up with these compliments in order to take him off guard so they can lay their trap.
And the question they lay their trap with is, “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
The problem is they did not know Jesus read minds and that He knew the deception and malice in their hearts. Consistent with their compliment earlier that Jesus is not swayed by the opinions of others He calls them Hypocrites a Greek word used to portray actors, people who portray themselves in a way that may be opposite of what they really think. They really did not think Jesus was all that virtuous and he had the authority do what he did or said.
Their real purpose was to entangle Jesus to change popular opinion of him from good to bad. If he said simply yes then he would look like he sided with the unpopular Herodians and lose his following. If he simply said no then he may be brought up on charges of treason against Rome, a capital offence. Ultimately, Jesus does receive capital punish for his claim to be a king, the king of the Jews which is written on a placard above him on the cross.
To put it into a more modern understanding, the followers of the Pharisees and the Herodians are like the television media today that asks questions of political candidates in so called debates. It seems the real purpose is not to ask questions to help the American people but instead the questions are designed to trap or trick a candidate into saying something unpopular or disqualifying them.
If only these candidates had the wisdom of Jesus. Jesus knowing their hypocrisy answered the question perfectly. He first asks them for the currency they use to pay the tax and then asks them whose image and subscription is on the coin. They answered Caesar. Then Jesus said render or give back unto Caesar what is his and render to God’s what is God’s. And at this answer they marveled. Jesus had walked right through their trap unscathed.
Jesus made the obvious clear. If it has Caesar’s name and image on it, it is his creation, it belongs to him. Who is made in the image of God? What has its name upon it through baptism? Answer mankind. Mankind is his creation and belongs to Him. This is an answer neither side could dispute.
The issue here comes down to headship and subordination. These are terms that are foreign to our egalitarian American culture. No one wants to assume responsibility and no one wants to be placed under the authority of another. This was not necessarily the case in the time of Jesus when there were Kings or even the time of Luther 1500 years later. What has replaced authority and headship in the 20th and 21st centuries is power. Unlike authority, power is something that is not granted but taken. In order to be powerful one must dis-empower someone else. People who use power without authority are the ones who abuse it.
Headship rather is a granted position of authority, granted divinely and it is exercised not through power as much as responsibility. The exercise of headship is defined through giving of oneself for those he is responsible. The head can not act autonomously because it needs the body. And its responsibility is to take care of the body. Jesus Christ, the Lord God, is the ultimate example of headship. In every encounter we see Jesus exercising his headship. In today’s Gospel he reminds his opponents that they are God’s creation and so is their neighbor.
The Pharisees , Scribes, Chief Priests and even King Herod have been granted positions of Headship. But how are they using them. Are they being just? Are the showing mercy? Are they acting selflessly? The answer is no. And still there is another problem whose authority are they under who are they subordinate too? Who are they accountable too?
If you do not as a head practice subordination then you will misuse your authority. Everyone is accountable to someone else even if it is to God, as Jesus refers Pilate too.
Subordination in our culture also gets a bad rap. We see it sometimes interpreted as submission in our English translations but really the Greek is closer to the meaning of subordination. Another misconception is that a subordinate is inferior and the head is superior. The fact is there could be a subordinate who is much more qualified and experienced than the one who has been placed as head over him. As the name implies it is an ordering that defines the relation of the one who is giving and the one who is receiving, for to be subordinate to someone is to receive from someone in the biblical sense.
All of this has fourth commandment implications. “Honor your Father and Mother” what does this mean? We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them.[1]
There is actually a simple way to do headship and subordinate audit or examination. At the end of the Small Catechism is a section called the table of duties. Organized according to station or office both heads and subordinate offices are given with the applicable word of God. One can easily see if one is a Father for instance what his responsibilities to his family are or if one is an employee what is due his employer.
Our Lord has set up this order so that we may receive His daily bread both from the spiritual kingdom and from the temporal or civil kingdom. In the spiritual kingdom our Lord has given us spiritual fathers such as Pastors who are accountable to him. In the civil kingdom Lord gives to us paternal fathers who head families and civil fathers such as elected authorities, both of which are ultimately accountable to God.
One might say, “What if these authorities or heads abuse their authority?” If they are absolutely evil, God will act to curb that evil. They are ultimately accountable to Him. We should look to the example of Jesus who suffered unjustly much at the hands of the civil and religious leaders yet he did not cry out unfair, but he prayed. He trusted in the Father to deliver him and the Father did for the benefit of us all.
As our Head Jesus gives his very life for us the body, this is what is also expected of Christian husbands in relation to their wife. They are to love their wives as their own body.
Isreal’s church leaders did not see Jesus as their head and so they rebelled against Him which ultimately was a rebellion against God. However, Jesus did die for their rebellion and he died for your rebellion when you have chosen to fight instead of endure and allow the Lord who sits at the right hand of God to be our champion and fight for us. And Jesus died when we as Father’s and heads have not acted responsibly and selflessly. In Jesus name you are forgiven and free to be a head and to be a subordinate in the way our Lord intended. Amen
[1] Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord : The confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (352). Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
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