It’s tax season. It is said that the only two sure things are death and taxes. You know the story of Jesus well enough to know that he does die by crucifixion. And, from our gospel reading it looks like not even Jesus is immune from taxes. The strange thing is that in the particular tax there it seems as if it is voluntary. Some collectors of the temple tax come to Peter and ask, “Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?” Does that mean that not paying the temple tax is an option? Maybe Jesus was immune from taxes – but he pays them anyway.
This particular temple tax is worth
noting. At the time of Jesus it was
generally assumed that all loyal Jews would pay the two-drachma temple tax,
precisely who should pay, how often, and how it was related to scripture was
disputed. How much a drachma was worth
in those days is debatable. Everyone
agrees, though, that it is a small amount of money – less than a dollar.
It originated with Nehemiah 10,
where leaders of the Jewish population took it upon themselves to make a yearly
donation to support the temple. Later
the Pharisees considered every male Jews throughout the world liable for a
small annual fee, and they rooted it in Exodus 30. The Sadducees thought it should be a
voluntary gift and not an imposed tax, from which priests were exempt. Historians of the era, Josephus and Philo say
that Jews spread throughout the Roman empire also contributed to the
temple. The reclusive Qumran community,
understood the tax to be a one time only contribution.
So, when Peter is asked if Jesus
pays the tax it is an interesting question, and it could categorize Jesus into
a particular sect of Judaism.
But we also have to remember that
while Matthew writes about events that happened in the 30’s of the first century,
he is actually writing from around the 80’s.
There was a different religious tax then. You’ll remember that the Romans destroyed the
temple in the year 70. So, that would
mean that for Matthew’s readers there’d be no more temple tax, right? I mean, how can you pay to support what isn’t
there?!?
Well, the Romans weren’t so
nice. The Roman government had imposed a
corresponding tax of two drachmas on all Jews for support of the temple to
Jupiter in Rome. Now we’re talking a
matter of conscious. Could you, a Jew;
or could you, as a follower of Jesus, pay a tax to support a religion that was
not your own? That sort of thing doesn’t
happen in the United States but it does happen in other countries. How does it feel when your hard-earned money
is used by the government in ways you find offensive? In our case we live in a democracy. But what if it was a country where you have
no say at all? I don’t like having my
hard earned efforts taken to support something that is opposed to me, and then
I don’t even have any say in the matter.
Money is an interesting thing. It is the fundamental way in which we live
and convey value from one person to another.
If you have money you have power.
You can do things. You can make
things happen. If you don’t have money
then you have little power.
Money
can be used foolishly. Money can be used
to exploit. Money can let you get away
with things.
Money
can also equip you to help others. It
lets you make a positive difference in the world.
Money
can also be fundamental in helping us make value decisions. If a car is damaged in an accident the
insurance company will make a decision if the repairs will cost more than the
car is worth. There, money is a
practical tool to determine if it’s a worthwhile investment of resources.
Good or bad, practical or foolish,
money is an interesting thing, especially when it comes to its relationship
with faith. Money helps us – you and me,
humans – get things done. But does God
need our money?
Could God not also get things done
by other means? Of course! And that creates a very complicated thing for
us. Money is so central to our
lives. God invites us to use our
resources and abilities for good, and yet God doesn’t actually need any of it
at all. There’s nothing we can buy, do,
donate, or make that God can’t get done by some other means.
Does that mean we should just
stop? Should we stop using our money to
help other people – perhaps stop giving to charities and church; or perhaps
stop helping a parent or friend; or perhaps stop helping our children, even if
they are very young.
We live in this strange duality
where so many depend on us and yet our money and efforts are simultaneously
completely irrelevant!
Jesus says to pay the temple tax so
as not to cause offense, even though the tax itself is nothing. And the early Christians being forced to pay
taxes to support the Roman temple to Jupiter should do so without a pang of
conscious.
With this bizarre contradiction we
move a step back and look at the initial story in our gospel – the inability of
the disciples to cure an epileptic, Jesus successfully curing the epileptic,
the disciples asking why they couldn’t, Jesus says because they have little
faith, and then says that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed they
could move mountains.
What?!?
On the cover of the worship bulletin
it says, “Jesus says that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed that you
could move mountains! Mustard seeds are
tiny. Does that mean that our faith is
even smaller than that of a mustard seed?
That is good math but flawed theology.”
These
passages from Matthew’s gospel do not make sense easily. But if you spend some time dwelling in them
you can see what is going on. We should
not infer the guilt-inducing conclusion that when hoped for miracles fail the
problem must be our lack of faith; and that if we had “enough” faith we would
be able to avert all tragedies and heal all afflictions.
Neither
can we infer that faith is somehow a power in and of itself that can do the
supernatural. It is God who acts, not an
attitude called “faith”.
Faith
as Jesus talks about it here is not a quantity at all; hence the tininess of a
mustard seed. It is instead a
relationship of practical trust with the God to whom we pray.
When
it comes to the power of money, or the power of faith, or the power of prayer
it isn’t about power at all. It is about
trust.
Let’s
go back to whether the followers of Jesus should pay the tax to the temple to
Jupiter. Yes, pay it so as not to give
offense. But is it actually giving
anything of real value? No. So don’t get fussed about it.
At
the same time, God has equipped you with tremendous power and ability. Your prayer, your abilities, your money, your
time, your emotions are all quite capable – when they are applied to the world
in an attitude of trust with God.
Said
differently, it isn’t how much – not how much as measured in earthly standards
– but the relationship of trust that it is applied with.
Your
time, money, and other resources are only as powerful as your application of
them in relationship with God. With God
anything is possible.
Ask
for God’s guidance in prayer first thing in the morning when you get up. As God’s guidance in prayer when you plan out
your calendar. As God’s guidance in
prayer when you put together your shopping list. As God’s guidance when you’re giving someone
advice, or making a medical decision, or figuring out a problem. God’s guidance will be with you, even if you
are having a hard time feeling it, and then you will always act in confidence.
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