Christ the King Epiphany Church, Wilbraham

The Rev. Martha S. Sipe

October 18, 2026 / Pentecost 21 (Lect. 29A) 

Matthew 22:15-22

I remember, as a child, that my grandparents used to travel quite a bit.  And whenever they returned from their trips, they would bring back little souvenirs for my sister and me.  Most of those trinkets are long gone, though I still have a piece of petrified wood from their visit to the Petrified Forest.  But my favorite souvenirs from their travels were always the baggies of spare change that they hadn’t bothered to convert back to U.S. money.  They must have noticed how interested I was in foreign coinage because one year they gave me a map of the world that came with coins from many different countries.  There were silver-colored ones and gold-colored ones; there were big and small; there were smooth edges and grooved edges and wavy edges; they bore pictures of people I never heard of and words in foreign tongues and even unfamiliar alphabets; there was even one that had a hole in the middle – that was my favorite.  I remember examining those coins closely, and thinking about the cultures they represented.

So when Jesus said, “Show me the coin,” I started to wonder what that coin looked like.  We know from the gospel itself that it had a picture and title on it:  that of the Caesar.  The Caesar in question was the Emperor Tiberias, and the title read, “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus.“  Beyond that, historians say that it was about 2 centimeters in diameter, made of silver, and with a picture on the back of a seated female figure, believed to be Tiberius’ mother, personified as the goddess of peace.  That’s what the coin looked like.  But I invite you to think about the culture that the coin represented, just as I did with my map and coins as a child.

The coin was a denarius and it represented the amount that a laborer would have earned for a day’s work.  It was also the coin that was used to pay the poll tax – the fee assessed on of individual adults (typically men and sometimes women) living under Roman occupation.  Nobody really likes paying taxes, and the people of Judea in Jesus’ day especially hated it because, let’s just say, Rome didn’t really have their best interests in mind AND because the very coin itself made them uncomfortable with its claim that Caesar was the Son of God.  It really was a trap that the Herodians and Pharisees (who were on opposite sides of most issues, incidentally) were trying to set for Jesus.  If he said it wasn’t lawful to pay taxes, that would have gotten him in trouble with the Romans.  If he said it was lawful to pay taxes, that would have gotten him in trouble with the Judeans.  But wise Jesus made everyone happy with his answer:  Give to the government what belongs to the government, and give to God what belongs to God.  Except that that didn’t really make either party happy because he had avoided their trap.  And it doesn’t exactly make us happy because, let’s just say, Jesus’ response raises a whole lot of other questions for us.  Like how do I calculate what belongs to the government?  Well that’s easy, right?  The IRS makes that determination  And how do I calculate what belongs to God?   There’s a little more leeway there.  The biblical standard was a tithe (10%), but there are all kinds of reasons (both modern and theological) that the old 10% law might not be a good way to figure it.

But see, now I’ve lured you into a trap!  Because I’ve got you thinking first about what belongs to you!  (Draw circle)  The circle is what is mine.  

This is what belongs to the government:

This is what belongs to God:  

And everything else is mine!  

But the basic premise here is wrong.  When you start with the circle of what is mine, you miss what Jesus says without actually saying it:  Everything is God’s.  And yes, we honor God by paying our taxes (because taxes are to benefit the common good); and yes, we honor God by paying our pledge or making our offering or contributing money to organizations that help at-risk children of God and our vulnerable planet.  But everything belongs to God – and so we strive to use responsibly all that God has entrusted to us.  

And it’s not just about money.  I think Jesus knew that.  It’s another thing he said without actually saying it by asking whose image was on the coin.  Caesar was on the coin, Caesar was responsible for minting the coins, therefore the proper currency with which to pay Caesar was the coin.  But God isn’t interested in just our money.  God is interested in that which is stamped with God’s likeness . . . and that, my friends, is you and me.  We are made in the likeness and image of God.  We bear God’s seal our foreheads.  Just as I placed the seal on Noah’s forehead last week when he was baptized, so every one of us is marked as belonging to God.  We are the currency that God desires.

How we give to God the things that are God’s is a question that every person will answer differently, but I share with you my answer by placing certain offerings in this basket in the hopes that it will inspire you to think about what your own offering basket might look like.  And even though my whole answer isn’t money, I’ll start there.

• My checkbook represents my ability to earn a living and support myself and my family.  I offer it to God by trying to use and share my financial resources in ways that are pleasing to God.
• The blood pressure cuff represents my health.  I offer this gift to God by working to take care of myself so that I can continue to be of service in God’s good world.
• My watch represents my time.  I offer it to God by making good use of my time, neither wasting it nor cramming it too full so that I miss out on time to enjoy God’s goodness and love.
• This garden tool represents my love of growing things.  I offer this love to God by doing my best to care for our earthly home.
• These pictures represent the gift of family and relationships.  I offer them to God by being faithful and loving in all that I do.
• This collar represents the gift of my calling.  I offer it to God with the prayer that I may be a good faithful servant of the church.
• And finally – this one might surprise you – I offer my election ballot.  Jesus’ words about giving to the government what belongs to the government and to God what belongs to God might make it seem like there’s a separation between the two.  And indeed, in the working of our government, there should be a separation between church and state.  But if truly everything we have belongs to God, then participation in our civic life is indeed an offering to God.  I offer my ballot to God by doing my best to discern which candidates are best suited to uphold the common good and which ballot questions further kingdom values of mercy, justice, and peace . . . and then I vote.

This is the currency with which I give to God what belongs to God.  Your offering basket will look different than mine.  Just as different nations have different currencies, so do we all have different gifts and talents and skills and resources that might fill our basket.  But the point is – we’re all in.  Everything that is a part of us is claimed by God – and not because God needs it.  Caesar needed the poll tax to keep the Roman Empire chugging along.  Our government needs our tax money to improve and protect our communities.  God does not need our offerings.  But God wants them – wants all of us and every part of us – because that’s what we do for people we love.  We want to keep them close.  We want to protect them.  We want to shower even more gifts on them.

Give to God the things that are God’s – and as your heart draws close, you will find God giving you all the things that are God’s – forgiveness, presence, peace, and life.