Sermon: Whose Image Is This?

 Matthew 22:15-22
Whose Image Is This?
James Sledge                                                                            October 22, 2023 

I saw an online post the other day that said the gospels report people asking Jesus 183 questions but that he only answered three of them directly. I haven’t done any research to see if this is in fact the case, but it certainly is true that Jesus often answers questions with a parable or a question of his own or, as in our case today, with a little verbal sleight of hand.

It’s easy for us to miss some of this because we aren’t familiar with the nuances of the tax in question. This particular tax paid to Rome was generally detested by people in Israel. To make matters worse the tax had to be paid in Roman coin which typically had an image of the emperor and included an inscription that said, “Emperor Tiberius Augustus, son of divine Augustus.” The coin was regarded as blasphemous by many devout Jews because it could be considered to be breaking the first two commandments, one against having other gods and the other against idols.

Because of this, the coins and the tax could be political hot potatoes. Some, who advocated resisting Roman rule urged people not to pay the tax. Such a stance was considered treasonous by the Romans of course, and those who question Jesus are using this to get him in a no-win situation. By asking if it’s lawful to pay the tax – lawful referring to the Jewish law – they hope Jesus will either make a treasonous declaration by saying it’s not lawful, or to take a stand that would be unpopular with his audience.

But Jesus puts his questioners in a bad light right at the start. He asks them to produce this blasphemous coin, and they have one on them. They’ve already revealed their hypocrisy before Jesus ever gives an answer.

Jesus then gives his answer that really isn’t an answer. “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” I’ve seen this taken to mean that Jesus is saying it’s okay to pay the tax, but I’m not at all sure that’s what he does.

Way back when I was middle school age, in a time when we didn’t think much about crime, our home was broken into twice in quick succession. My father suddenly took home security seriously, and he upgraded the locks, created a homemade alarm system, and he borrowed an engraving tool and engraved our name into anything valuable that had a place to do so. These inscriptions were obvious claims of ownership. Should a television set turn up at the pawn shop, we could prove it was ours.

In similar fashion, parents write names inside children’s jackets and libraries stamp their name onto books. Jesus refers to this sort of thing when he asks his questioners, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” Both things would seem to attest to their being the emperor’s, and so Jesus’ answer could seem to support the tax.

But this is one of far too many places where Bible translators don’t do us any favors. When Jesus says, “Whose head is this,” the word translated head has a more literal meaning of image. And in the Greek Old Testament that was the Bible for the first Christians and the gospel writer, it is the same word found in the creation story in Genesis where God says “Let us create humankind in our image.

So if having an image on something is a claim of ownership, what indeed are the things that belong to God? In addition, Jesus’ opponents and his audience know well the psalm that says, The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it… If the earth and all that is in it belong to God, what actually belongs to the emperor?

We Presbyterians have what is called the Book of Confessions. Confessions here refers to professions of faith, and the book contains ten such professions beginning with the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds and ending with “A Brief Statemen of Faith,” which was written to celebrate the 1983 reunion of two Presbyterian denominations who had split in 1859 as the Civil War loomed.

Amond the faith statements in this book is something called the “Heidelburg Catechism.” It dates back to the 1560s and is laid out in question-and-answer format. The very first question reads, “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” The accompanying answer begins, “That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”

This sentiment is echoed in the opening of “A Brief Statement of Faith,” formally approved by our denomination in 1991. “In life and in death we belong to God.”

We belong to God. So say our theological documents as well as scripture and Jesus, but I’m not sure many of us believe it. Modern people are more likely to think of themselves as autonomous individuals. We are independent actors who in large part create our own destinies, something that has become a big part of the American mythology about the self-made man or woman.

Notions of being self-made are of course patently absurd. No one creates their own talents, their own country of birth, their own family, their own access to resources. Life and much that goes with it is a gift, and Christian faith says that life is a gift from God to be used well for the ends of God. We are not our own to do whatever we will. We belong to God, and we have callings, purposes that we must live into if we are to make faithful use of the gifts God has given us.

What are you doing with your life that gives glory to God and advances Jesus’ agenda here on earth? We Presbyterians have long spoken of all people having vocations, callings that we are suited to and that in some way benefit the common good. You still hear such language occasionally with respect to things such as being a teacher or nurse or firefighter, but I’m not sure the average person thinks much about what they are called to do.

Vocation is one facet of stewardship, of life that is lived toward God and neighbor. So is how we use our money. Is money simply something to get me the things I want, or is it a way to express love of God and neighbor? And so I can ask the same question that I asked you about your life. What are you doing with your money that gives glory to God and advances Jesus’ agenda here on earth?

Jesus looked at the denarius and asked, “Whose image is this?” So too Jesus looks at us and asks whose image is on us. You have been wonderfully made by a loving God and fitted to be a blessing to those around you. What are you going to do with your life and your money to love God back and to continue Jesus’ work in the world?