The Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity – Sunday 12 November A✠D 2023
✠ Psalmody: Jeremiah 29:11a, 12; Psalm 85:1, 7, 9, 11;44:7–8;115:11
✠ Lection: Proverbs 8:11–22;Philippians 3:17–21;St. Matthew 22:15–21
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
There is a distinction, a division between Church and State, one that is based on God’s design. There are three hierarchies, three stations, three estates of the order of life as we, as people, live in reality. Those estates are the family, the state, and the Church. The first two are distinct, yet also closely related, for it is God Who has given us the fourth commandment in which we are taught to honor father and mother. And the authority which God bestows upon those two most precious and vital vocations of the home is that which is exercised by extension in the vocation of the state, the governing authority. Without the Lord establishing the order of the home, there would be no order in the civil realm. Therefore, we should fear and love God so that we do not anger or despise our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them. Yet, even with this in full effect in the reality in which we live and breathe, the authority and ability of the government reaches but only so far.
What if our government refuses to hear our voices or even takes them from us through a denial of being able to vote or by fraudulent manipulation of elections? Do we still honor and obey it and pay our taxes? Do we still render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s? Yes, indeed, for that is God’s command that we do so and only He knows how He will make use of all things for our good and for the good of our neighbor. We are to trust what He says even when the government allows or even endorses evil such as issues 1 and 2 that passed just this week in Ohio. We praise God that the wicked constitutional amendment does not require the murder of children, for in such a case we shall be justified in lying to the government the way the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, did in Exodus chapter one when pharaoh demanded that all the male babies be slaughtered. For the sake of protecting life, they lied, and God commended them for it and blessed them with families of their own. If we get to the point of having to guard our young from murderous tyrants, we shall stand together even at the cost of our own lives for the sake of our little ones. Also, If the government tries to overreach its authority into the walls of our churches as it did in 2020 and demand that we not gather in worship around the One sure Measure of life eternal, we shall tell them plainly that we will not comply and instead that we would see Jesus. No mandate can preserve us as He can.
Those are those clear matters in which we are right and required to resist abuse of authority, but what about when the government is just plain dumb or foolish in their actions? What about if they are outright idolatrous, greedy, or murderous? Are we still called by God to honor them by doing something like paying taxes? That is the question at the heart of Jesus’ interaction this morning. The fact that the people in Judea in His day lived under such a pagan Roman government lent opportunity for the Pharisees to plot to entangle Jesus in His words. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” If He outright answered no, He could be accused of sedition against Rome and the gentile occupiers could handle their dirty work. If he outright answered yes, they could claim Him guilty of honoring Caesar, a man who set himself up to be a god.
Instead of falling for their trap, Jesus exposed a problem bigger than Caesar and all earthly authorities: hypocrisy. We commonly use that word in our day to describe someone who has a double standard. And it has been used, at least in the span of my lifetime, as a common accusation against Christians. We are accused of saying that all people should and are able to be perfect in this life while we don’t live those perfect lives ourselves. This is not true of Christianity. We confess God to demand that we be holy for He is holy while also acknowledging that we utterly fail to do so and need that very same God to bestow on us His grace and forgiveness. But we don’t abandon seeking to do good either. Therefore, the accusation is a misunderstanding of Jesus’ charge against true hypocrisy, for His accusers are under their own judgement. They seek to entrap the Lord with questions about the money that they themselves love. They seek to entangle Him with claims about honoring another god, that is, Caesar, while they themselves have no issue trusting for their good the icon, the very image of him upon the coins in their own pockets. Yes, this does reveal a double standard, but something much worse. Their own belief and trust are in outward righteousness and plots instead of in the mercy of the Lord as is only found in Jesus Christ, His Son, Who stood there before them. The hypocrisy, the mask, the front that they put forth is that in which they so foolishly trusted while their hearts were far from God. Their hearts were far from Jesus. Their hypocrisy was in their trust of the outside stuff while having no belief within.
Outward works only go so far, even the outward works that civil governments demand of its citizens and this is a most crucial point. The Lord has instituted earthly authorities as means of carrying out His will. As Christians, we understand well that God works through means in this life. Governing authorities are those means by which He maintains order in a world bent toward chaos. Those authorities are to reward those who do good and bear the sword upon those who do evil. This is their role, but since these authorities are comprised of fallen man, there are none, and will never be any, who exercise their authority perfectly. Some have been better at that than others. Some much worse. And some decline in their worth at a rate worse than others as we can bear witness. The crucial point that we must remember is that the left hand kingdom, the realm of civil authority and government can only carry out its duty by coercion. It has authority over our bodies in that it prohibits us from doing this or requires us to do that. But by its coercion, it cannot turn the unwilling into the willing, but only require the unwilling to obey.
God’s kingdom is not so. None of us are forced to be Christian. You are not a believer in Jesus because of coercion, but of grace, and grace causes a much different response in its recipients. You are not forced to live by outward works while making yourself a white-washed tomb inside by the rot of your unbelief. You are not even forced to be here. You have the ability to resist God and go off on your own. You can trust in the state for your good or even your own works, but neither can or will do what Jesus alone can do.
Even the best freedoms that we have in this country are but temporary. This government, this nation will not stand forever, but the kingdom of God shall and it is to live and thrive in it that we are to strive in accordance with the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Earthly authorities cannot change a single human heart, but God can and does. You are proof. Christ feeding you now is proof. His kingdom, through the forgiveness of sins and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit does what no government can do: create in you a clean heart, one with a wellspring of life that willingly and joyfully obeys the Law of God and matches the inside with the outside. For that prize, it is good to cast off the masks of all things in which we foolishly trust and place our faith in He alone Who is trustworthy.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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