“Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” That’s what Jesus said to the Jews when they tried to snare Him with their devilish temptation. “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?” And by that they meant legally right according to Jewish law. Not God’s Law, mind you, or Roman law. They couldn’t care less about either of those. That’s why Jesus called them hypocrites. They only pretended to care about their duty toward God…or the king.
Jesus doesn’t fall for their tricks, though. In fact, He lets them fall into their own trap by addressing the very things that they pretended to care about. Just what did they owe to God and to Caesar? And to answer that question, He pointed them to an image and an inscription. The Roman denarius, or penny, was a silver coin that equaled a soldier’s pay for a day. The emperor Tiberius Caesar had his likeness engraved on it, along with his name. That name and image said, “This is mine!” The holder of that coin may use it for his personal transactions wherever it was legal tender. But in the end, if the emperor wanted it back, you forked it over. So there you have it, plain and simple says Jesus, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.”
But then our Lord cuts to the chase. He takes the Sword of the Spirit, which is His word, and drives it straight into their stony hearts. He did it with the hope that they would repent of their hypocrisy, and believe God’s Truth. What really matters, in all this talk of tribute and taxes, is not what they owe to Caesar, or any other earthly ruler, but what they owe God. It’s very much like Jesus told His disciples whom to fear in Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,” He said. “Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” In other words, “[Render] to God the things that are God’s,” and you will not fear or worry over the tributes that kings will take from you…even if it is you own body and life.
The words of Jesus to the Jews are directed to us, as well. Yet the question left unanswered here is: what are the things of God that we might render to Him? Since Jesus points to the image and inscription of Caesar to indicate his things, it is logical to do the same for the things of God. What bears His image and inscription?
Well, of course, we think of the crown of His creation: man. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” And we remember, too, how God inscribed on the hearts of Adam and Eve the Holy Law to which they so willingly conformed themselves.
The problem is that God’s image in us is broken; it was smashed to bits when Adam sinned. For all divine purposes, we can say it was lost. And the Law engraved in our hearts is blackened by that same original sin. We cannot render these things back to God any more than we could pay our taxes with wooden nickels and I.O.U.s. (Would that be nice?) Uncle Sam would reject those payments as worthless junk. So, too, God rejects as worthless any offerings we render of ourselves.
No, we must confess our worthlessness before God, and repent of offering Him our fake and worthless righteousness. We have nothing that we could render to God…
…except Christ Jesus!
Jesus is the very Image of God, as St. Paul says in his epistles. Jesus is the very Word of God, as St. John says in his gospel. Jesus alone could render to God the things that God required of us all: true fear, love, and trust in God. So perfect and complete was His oblation that He rendered even Himself as the repayment for all our debts to God.
How ironic were Jesus’ words to the Jews when He said, “[Render] to God the things that are God’s.” It was Tuesday of Holy Week when He said them. Within two days of His speaking, the Jews would render up to God His very own Son on the cross, fulfilling Jesus’ words. How wonderful and well did the Holy Spirit speak through David in Psalm 2 when he prophesied of that event:
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Yes, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” For what does it mean to “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” and “Kiss the Son” but to come to Christ in contrite faith and love to receive forgiveness and mercy from His hand? Like penitent Magdalene, who wept over and kissed the feet of Jesus, trembling in the joy of His love. She departed in peace to render to God a new heart and life created anew in Christ.
That is our joy and worship, as well. We who have been “buried with him in baptism…were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” We have “put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” In that righteousness and holiness that is by faith in Christ, let us live and serve God. Our hope is not in ourselves, for we have nothing to render to the Lord for all His benefits to us. But in that contrite confession, let us take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. For there, in that blessed Chalice, Christ offers to us the very Blood that was offered up to God for our sins. Then cleansed and renewed, depart in peace, knowing what St. Paul knew, that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform four lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
To Him be all glory, power, and dominion, forever.
Amen.
