Giving to God All That God Deserves

Scripture — Luke 20:20-26 (NRSV)

So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose head and whose title does it bear?” They said, “The emperor’s.” He said to them, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were not able in the presence of the people to trap him by what he said; and being amazed by his answer, they became silent.

Devotion

I find it ironic that one of the things I do in Lent each year is to prepare to pay my federal and state taxes. Though I get lots of help from my wife and our accountant, nevertheless I end up spending a couple of evenings doing something that brings me little joy. I wish I could turn it into some kind of Lenten discipline, something that would redeem the experience. But, so far anyway, that hasn’t happened. (Though, to be honest, I have been working on living into God’s peace in such a way that I don’t get cranky with my wife while I’m working on the tax documents. I guess there’s a kind of “Lentenness” in that effort.)

Of course, I’m not the first person to fret about paying taxes. Jews in the time of Jesus disliked doing so, not only because of taxation’s financial burden, but also because their taxes supported the Roman government, the oppressive overlord of the Jewish people. Some Jews believed that faithfulness to God meant they should not pay taxes to Rome. Of course, the Romans didn’t take well to that line, regarding it as seditious. So, any debate among Jews about paying taxes was messy, both theologically and politically.

The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sought to exploit this situation for their advantage by setting a trap for Jesus. They asked him, “Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (20:22). If Jesus said “Yes,” then many would consider him unfaithful to God and God’s kingdom. If Jesus said “No,” then he would be in trouble with Rome. Jesus’s opponents seemed to have put him in a bind from which he could not escape.

But Jesus was not to be tricked. Sensing the motivations of his inquisitors, he asked to see a denarius, the Roman coin used to pay taxes. He asked, “Whose head and whose title does it bear?” to which the questioners answered, “The emperor’s” (20:22, 24). (In fact, it’s likely that the coin in question also identified Tiberius Caesar as “son of God.”) In response Jesus said, “Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (20:25). By saying this, Jesus not only escaped from the trap that had been set for him, but also showed that the Jewish leaders possessed a coin bearing the emperor’s image – indicating their own sell-out to Rome.

In this devotion, I’m not going to delve into the issue of paying taxes. We could have fun wondering what to do with our coins that say plainly, “In God we trust.” But now’s not the time for this. Rather, I’d like to reflect with you on the last phrase in Jesus’s saying, “[Give] to God the things that are God’s.” This speaks to much more than the question of taxes. It challenges us to consider what we owe to God and what it might mean for us to give to God all that is due.

How would you answer the question: What do you owe to God? What things in your life are God’s? When I reflect on this, I think first of my physical body. I remember what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:20: “For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” This verse suggests that we owe to God more than just our bodies, however. We have been bought with a price. We, our whole selves, body and soul, mind and heart. God, who created us and recreated us through Jesus Christ, rightly claims all that we are, every single bit. According to Ephesians, our very existence is for the praise of God’s glory (Eph 1:11-14). Moreover, as Paul writes later in this letter, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Eph 2:10).

What do you owe to God? What things in your life are God’s? Everything! God deserves all that you have and all that you are. This doesn’t mean you should spend all your time in church, however. It does mean that you should offer to God every part of your life, all day, every day. This way of living doesn’t come naturally to us. Yet as we are formed by the Spirit of God, it can become increasingly instinctual. We can learn to give ourselves to God in our daily lives much as we do when we’re gathered for worship.

In Lent, many Christians decide to give up something they enjoy. We do not do this to earn God’s favor, since that has already been given to us through Christ. Rather, by giving something up, we are learning to give to God all that we are. We are saying, in effect, “God, you matter more to me than this thing I value. Help me learn to love you more than all my other loves.”

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Taxing Issues (Luke 19:1-10; 20:20-26).