Render Unto
I
have noticed, for some time now, many Christians complain about the taxes being
implemented in order to pay for the new health care system. Christ addresses a similar matter when the
Pharisees asked Him about paying a poll-tax to Caesar Tiberius. Christ acknowledged that the question imposed
on Him was a trap but answered the question using His typical Christ-like
fashion, with a demonstration. He told
these religious men to bring Him a denarius, the coin used to pay the poll-tax,
and simply asked whose image was inscribe in the coin. They responded with the
obvious answer, Caesar’s. Here we get
the famous, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Luke
20:25 NIV) Seems simple enough but let us take a closer look at this poll-tax
to see the gross injustice involved to see why it can be compared to our
current situation here in 2013.
This
poll tax was something that was imposed on the Jews by Tiberius Caesar for
simply living in the Roman Empire, which was not a choice for the Jews because
they were conquered (Ryrie Matt 22:17). The Jewish people believed Canaan was
theirs by right because God had promised it to them. According to the Jews to
impose this tax to live there was in direct opposition to the will of God. In addition this tax did not go back to the
people or help their nation state in any way but rather went directly into the
Emperor’s pocket (Ryrie Mark 12:14). One
could understand the outrage with simply with these facts alone but there is
more.
The
coin used to pay this tax was a, as mentioned earlier, denarius. This coin was worth roughly a day’s wage for
the average man (Ryrie Mark 12:15). Today that is $58 dollars, based on minimum
wage earnings for eight hours before taxes are deducted. This is a good bit of money for those of us
who are used to the college standard of living.
On one side of the coin was the image of Tiberius with the inscription,
“Tiberius Caesar Augustus, Son of the Divine Augustus.” On the other side was a
picture of Tiberius’ mother, Livy, with the claim that Caesar was High Priest,
the man who made sacrifices to atone for the nation’s sin (Ryrie Mark 12:15).
Caesar on one side of the coin was claiming divinity and on the other to be
High priest; two very serious crimes in the Jewish community.
So
far Tiberius has: taken the Jew’s land that was promised them by God, taxed
them a day’s wage for his own personal use, claimed to be their High priest,
and claimed to be divine. No wonder the
Jews hated the Romans like they did; yet
what does Christ say to do about the tax? Pay it. Christ, who claimed to be the only divine, had a right to be more upset than anyone about the accusations; yet what did He say to do? Pay it. Paul echoes this teaching in
his letter to the Romans, “Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is
due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” (Romans
13:7 NASB). We are to pay are taxes even
if they are unjust and to complain about is complaining about a direct
commandment from Christ Himself. I am
not saying do not exercise the right to vote against such things, I am not here
to take a stance on socialized health care. What I am saying is the things of
this world will pass and we will live under a just and fair King one day, but
until then let us live with an eternal mindset and remember just what money is,
metal and paper. He has promised and
proven He will take care of us. “and to God what is God’s,” including our faith
for provision.
