Tides, Taxes, Tithes, and Tidings of Great Joy

A line from this coming Sunday's text has been rolling around in my mind. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?" Followed by Jesus' response of, "Give therefore to the emperor what is the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."(NRSV)

What does it mean to be a people of faith who live in a system of taxation? It definitely means something different for myself as an American in a modern era than it did to a people who lived under Roman occupation.

For many in the United States, there is a feeling that taxes are oppressive, but for the Jews of Jesus' time, they really were oppressive. The taxes were financially crippling, taking animals, land, or forcing people into slavery if they couldn't pay.  (See first 3:09) And there certainly wasn't representation or seeing value for the taxes paid.

Knowing that, it's easier to understand how tempting it would be when asked, "Should we pay Caesar's tax?" for Jesus to say "No.The taxes are both unjust and Caesar is not God, regardless of what he claims."

But Jesus didn't.  Jesus did not come to create an uprising, to use force to battle Rome and overthrow their terrible, oppressive yoke. Jesus came to free us all by his own death and resurrection. His words of giving to God the things that are God's "assert[s] the sovereignty of God that was the basis for Israel's ultimate freedom." (Senior, Donald; ANTC Matthew)

And now here we are, living in God's kingdom, both here and not yet here. How do we deal with taxes and money? How do live into lives of justice in a complicated world?

I do believe in the idea of the common good. I believe in giving my tithe back to my church both for the ministry at Elim proper, but also for the ways we as the Saint Paul Area Synod and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America "work for justice and peace throughout the earth." I'm sure if I took a fine tooth comb to the various budgets, I might not agree with every little detail, but overall I really do trust and believe in the work of my church on all three levels, done in the name of Christ.

I also believe that there are things that can only be achieved through combining our monies through taxes. Martin Luther often spoke of the idea that a well-run government is a blessing from God. Through government we have transportation access (from roads to mass-transit), education (from Head Start to land grant Universities), civil order (from police to courts to National Guard), protections for our most vulnerable (including the most basics of food, shelter, medical care), defense (our armed services), etc.

Do I agree with the all the choices my city, state, and national government make? No. There are a lot with which I disagree, from something as broad as how we proportion our budget to something as specific as our slowness to acknowledge, let along address the racism that leads to a disproportional number of black men being shot and killed by law enforcement. For me, my concerns are deeply informed by my Christian faith, even as I know others who share my concerns who are Jewish, agnostics or atheists. And just as I know there are other Christians whose faith leads them to place importance on matters of government that are quite different than my own.

It's complicated to be a good government with so many conflicting ideas of what government should and shouldn't be involved in. It's complicated to be a good citizen, paying my taxes when I have so many concerns about my tax money being used in ways that don't feel like they are for the common good or that work toward justice and peace throughout the earth. And yet I do pay them, and not only because I have to, but because I do think it is the right thing.

But I and my fellow citizens have options available to us that weren't available to Jews in occupation under Rome. I can vote, and do. I can read, discuss, and ponder life and policy in preparation for voting, and do. I can be a part of non-violent advocacy groups, and I am.

Above all, I can do exactly what Jews of Jesus' time did. I can recognize that Yahweh is the creator of all: skies, stars, seas, and soil; tides, taxes, tithes, and tidings of great joy; plants, people, possibilities, and peace. I can pray, and do, that God's Kingdom come, God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.