Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

"Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

Is it divine providence that this text should be assigned to us right at the height of a political season when there is so much talk about taxes? It's hard to say for sure. But it does give us the opportunity to talk a bit about the proper relationship between our obedience and service to the civil government and our obedience and service to God.

"Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's." Let's just begin by stating the obvious. Jesus does not say we shouldn't pay taxes. The government provides certain services to its citizens and its citizens are obligated to pay for those services.

And notice also that Jesus uses the name "Caesar" as a shorthand way of talking about the civil government. The "Caesars" were pagans. In no way do they subscribe to the "Judeo-Christian" scheme of things. Yet Jesus says, "render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's." Even pagan governments and rulers are God's servants. They may not realize it or recognize it, but God still uses them as His servants to carry out His purposes. And we may not disobey them just because they're not Christian. (more…)