What make people with different backgrounds
or opinions come together? One of the reasons is that they have a common
concern. An example is the relationship between KUC and One Body in Christ. It
is the common goal of being an inclusive church bringing us together. In these
9 years, we have been enriching one another by learning to be a community of
hospitality. The gospel we ready today (Matt 22: 15-22) is also about a collaboration
between Pharisees and Herodians. Unlike our common concern of being an
inclusive community, it is the common enemy, Jesus, bringing Pharisees and
Herodians together. The common enemy transcends their religious and political
differences. In short, Pharisees gave respect to the Torah and were hesitant to
accept the rule of Roman Empire, while Herodians urged the people to accept
Roman sovereignty and spread messianic ideas which they applied to Herod and
his rule.
In order to remove Jesus from their eyes, Pharisees
and Herodians set a trap for Jesus by asking him a question, “Is it lawful to
pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” They knew the trick of this question very
well, for this was their debate also. If Jesus said yes to it, Jesus might lose
his trust among the Jews who were suffered different degree of oppression from
the Roman Empire and the tax system. If Jesus said no to it, Herodians would
have a good excuse to report to the Roman government that Jesus promoted a
revolutionary movement. This was not the first time that Jesus was entrapped. For
instance, Jesus was asked whether it was right to stone the woman taken in
adultery, and Jesus responded, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the
first to thrown a stone at her.” (John 8: 1-11). On other occasions, a lawyer asked Jesus,
“Who is my neighbour?”, and Jesus responded, “It is the one who shows mercy to the
people in need.” (Lk 10: 25-37) Jesus was used to reframe the question from the
challengers, and so, the challengers were turned to be the one to be asked. The
question that Jesus asked was not about political correctness, but very existential.
On this occasion, Jesus added a dimension to the question, that is, God. “Is it
lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”, and Jesus answered, “Give to the emperor the things that are
the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Unfortunately, Jesus’ responses are often misread. First, some interpret
that God and politics should be kept separate. Second, some emphasize that religion
is a matter of the heart, and that Jesus doesn’t really care about mundane
things like what you do with your money. Third, some hold that our duty as Christians is to obey the law no matter what it
is. These three interpretations are misreading, because they set a
boundary for God’s sovereignty and fail to be aware of that Jesus’ response is
to restrict the power of the emperor.
Psalm 24:1 says that "The earth is the
LORD's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." God is
the Lord of lords, and so, an emperor is nothing other than the servant of God.
He is accountable to God no matter whether he believes in God or not. We are
told to “give to the emperor the
things that are the emperor’s”, because this may support him to serve God
better. However, if he fails to honour his role as an accountable government, Christians are rightly to “obey
God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29) It is not because Christians represent God,
but because it is Christians obedience to God.
“Give to the
emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
means a lot to the people in Hong Kong, Belarus, Thailand and other countries.
Governments in these lands demand more from people than that they are entitled
to. They use law, force, police and punishment to threaten and compel people to
give to them the things that are not theirs, that is, human dignity. Such kind
of governments are thieves, not God’s servants. Thieves have no right to
ask for the things that are not theirs. There is time
not to “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s”. Instead we should condemn him.
In answering the question raised by Pharisees and Herodians, Jesus asked
them:
“Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a
denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose
title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give
therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s.”
Likewise, the government is asked what the image of people
is. Humans are created in God’s image. We have to show respect to everyone,
because showing respect to everyone is to respect God. Showing respect is more
than being polite and kind. It is about defending people whose dignity is
discriminated due to gender and sexual orientation, whose freedom is persecuted
due to political and religious stance, whose life is marginalized due to
poverty and disabilities, whose right is displaced due to ethnicity and
nationality. These are the people found in Thailand, Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict and other lands. Let us show our solidarity with people being deprived
of human dignity. You can consider visiting the Thai restaurants and Thai community in Kowloon
City. Talk to them. They may not support the protest in Thailand, but we at
least can hear different voices and make our appropriate responses.
Humans are created
in God’s image. It is not only a noun, but also a verb. It means imaging God. This
is the concern of discipleship in Matthew Gospel. Discipleship is more than being a good person. Rather people in the midst of darkness
can discern God’s presence through our commitment to human dignity.
May the Spirit of
God empower every one of us so that we are courageously to say NO to thieves’
request, and gratefully to say YES to God’s image in humans.
