“Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God’s.” – Jesus Christ
This verse seems to be used constantly to berate Christians into not only paying their taxes but to also try and make them feel good about paying their taxes, since it was Jesus who said it. There are so many things wrong with both of those assertions, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Let’s start with the case of one Christian arguing to another Christian that they should not mind higher taxes, or progressive taxes, according to this verse. Specifically, they are arguing that we should vote for a political candidate who plans to do just that. They actually want the higher taxes on rich people, and the rich people should not mind, because we should “render unto Caesar.”
The first thing we should consider here, is who is who in this little mini-parable. It seems that the first Christian wants to be Caesar, or at least support the rise of a Caesar, to whom we all should then be obligated to give money to. I didn’t read anything in the parable or its context to suggest that Caesar was a good guy in all of this, that it was a good thing for him to be collecting taxes. Caesar (pick one) was the guy who burned Christians at his parties as human candles, to save even more of the taxes he collected for more important things, like exotic lions to eat more Christians at the Circus Maximus.
Jesus wasn’t saying we should vote for Caesar so we can pay him taxes, he was saying that when the evil, murdering, thuggish, tyrant Romans came looking for their blood money, you should pay them what they want instead of stabbing them in the eye and crying ‘Revolution!’ Why? Ah, now the important part.
Render unto God what is God’s. That’s the real crux of this verse. That’s where the Jews who were trying to trip up Jesus got tripped up themselves. They were arguing to keep, deservedly so, the fruits of their labors from Caesar. But Jesus said to give to God what is God’s. What is God’s? Everything. Which Christians can say that some part of their lives is their own and not God’s? Specifically though, I think he was talking about our hearts. That is, don’t worry about your money, it’s not important compared to the spiritual connection with God, and the state of your heart. It’s nothing squared, so let Caesar have his bits of metal that will rust, that will fade and disappear. I’m the Son of the God of the Universe, I don’t need “taxes,” I want your heart and soul, bought and paid for with my blood.
I don’t even think Jesus was saying “revolution” was out of the question, but that’s another topic for another day. The important thing was that the Jews were consumed with the occupation of their lands by the Romans, when they should have been consumed with the renewing of their hearts and minds through communion with the Most High God.
In summary, this verse says nothing to me about the actual morality of taxation. For a discussion of the morality of taxation, see “The Morality of Taxation.”
1 comment:
No, actually this was NOT the sense in which I was using the verse, although I agree that writing limited word count comments on Facebook pages when internet is slow and unwieldy does not lend itself to expressing oneself well.
I have used the render unto ceasar verse to indicate it in the same sense that you mention it here--that Christ called us to follow him NOT a certain political ideology. When I made the comment on FB, I was using it ironically to point out that much of Jesus's ministry was to point us toward a focus on the spirit, yes, but also on an attitude of humility. He pointed out over and over again that we are not to store up riches on earth but in heaven, said that it was harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for a camel to enter the eye of a needle (using classic hyperbole), told the rich young ruler that he should give away everything he owns and follow him, making the point that we are often too attached to our worldly goods...
Caesar was an oppressive government, yes, and I'm not defending him or any other goverment form of taxation, but I am saying that you think the most important thing in an election is whether people in higher income brackets might have to pay higher income taxes, when the past administration has consistently acted very much like Caesar, undermining basic human rights (such as the right not to be tortured or to be profiled because you have a Muslim sounding name or a darker looking skin), committing many of the tax-payer's dollars to an injust war, while cutting programmes that would help lower income people (who are NOT all poor because they are lazy....)...
I'm just saying we might want to think more carefully about that verse and what Jesus was saying and the root motivations behind why we are voting the way we are.
That's not to say that Christians MUST vote one way or the other, but that it's more complex than taxation of higher income people just being evil wickedness or "Marxism"....
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