Matthew 22:15-22

Proper 24, Pentecost 21 | 22.October 2023 | Matthew 22:15-22 | Evan McClanahan |

For the past three weeks, we have heard harsh parables that enraged the enemies of Jesus. All three parables were told after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, spoken in the Temple itself. Matthew records these parables one right after the other, heard in one teaching lesson, each one no doubt more enraging the Jewish leaders more than the previous one.

There was the parable of the two sons, one who changed his mind and served his father while one lied about serving his father. There was the parable of the tenants in the vineyard who killed the king’s servants and then his son, trying to trick the king into sending the son’s inheritance. Then last week, we heard the parable of the wedding feast where the invited guests turned on the king and killed his servants and it was the “good and bad” alike who ended up populating the feast.

Those three rapid-fire parables are the last straw for the leaders in the Temple who realize that these parables are about them. They, in fact, resemble prophecy more than a harmless parable, and recall that before the first of these three parables is spoken, Jesus affirms his authority. Remember that Jesus’ authority was questioned and he asked them about John the Baptist’s authority. When they refused to answer where John’s authority came from, they bore public witness to Jesus’ authority and that raised the stakes of what he was about to say.

And what he said in those parables is devastating. I’ll be honest, given the horrific events in Israel in the last two weeks, I have not wanted to emphasize just how devastating these parables are. But their meaning is clear: the Jews in Jesus’ day rejected the messiah, had added to God’s Word, subjected the people to non-scriptural laws, and used the Law of God to justify themselves. Jesus is criticizing the Jews for their unfaithfulness to God’s Word and he is predicting their utter destruction. He is saying God’s blessing will be removed from them and “given to the dogs,” the Gentiles.

If you don’t believe me, here are recaps of these parables, the meanings of which absolutely not being lost on the Jews. Our reading this morning proves it.

• In the first parable, it is the Gentiles who first rejected God but who changed their minds. It is the Jews who say they will do the work of God but do not. Jesus clearly says the Gentiles are in the right.
• In the second parable, God is the landowner who gives Israel to His people, a land of abundance. But they kill the prophets and then kill the son, so God will destroy Israel as he did the tenants.
• In the third parable, God is the father of the groom who invites Israel to the wedding banquet. But they reject the wedding of the son and are therefore destroyed. It is the Gentiles who populate the wedding feast.

For all of those who have an image of Jesus as a non-political, non-confrontational, peace-at-all-costs figure, they have not read these two chapters of Matthew. (By the way, the next two are even harsher!) Jesus is sticking his finger in the eyes of the religious leaders, publicly, for all to see, just ahead of the biggest Jewish festival of the year. This is not a polite challenge, the kind of challenge we see with the Syro-Phoenician woman or the woman at the well. Jesus is removing God’s blessing from Israel, placing it in the hands of the Gentiles, and saying Israel will be completely and utterly destroyed.

And for that, he is marked for assassination. Jesus must be killed. He speaks truth. He is shining a light into the shadows. He is fearless and cannot be intimidated. So, in what is almost certainly a ploy that had been kicked around for a while, they deploy the nuclear option. They ask Jesus about taxes. The plan is to pit him against either his Jewish followers or his Roman occupiers. It is obviously a cynical plan, in no manner an attempt to seek the truth, making their flattering words before the question is posed an obvious scheme.

Jesus understands that if he says it is lawful to pay taxes, it is saying the cruel occupying Romans are, in fact, legitimate and have the right to collect taxes. That would pit Jesus against his Rome-hating Jewish followers. If he says it is not lawful, his cynical enemies will turn him over to the Roman police as an insurrectionist, one planning on using his large crowd of followers to overthrow the government.

Jesus is no dummy. So he calls out the trap by asking for a coin, an unclean coin with the image of a false god on it, a coin in the possession of his accusers making them also unclean. And then he makes a statement that has two meanings. On the surface, Jesus is saying that in this fallen world, we pay something to the Caesar, that the sovereign religious state of Israel is no longer a reality, that the people of God will live in hostile terrain, and the tax is a fealty payment that simply must be made.

But on the spiritual level, I would suggest Jesus is being subversive. Nothing actually belongs to Caesar. We are only playing along as if it does. All things are God’s. Therefore, on the surface, Rome cannot accuse Jesus of leading an insurrection because he plainly says that Caesar should get his due. But his followers can see Jesus as one who is still faithful to God, as Jesus’ answer is vague enough to be heard in more than one way. So the trap does not work; the enemies of Jesus are foiled once again. This is why they resort to false allegations of blasphemy.

So where does that leave us? Is this a text about stewardship? After all, money is mentioned. Well, kind of. But less about the division of money going to God or Caesar and more about how much of our lives we give to God. After all, the three previous parables are about sons, tenants, and wedding guests bailing on God, ignoring Him, or even mistreating Him. We are surely called to give our whole lives to God, our treasure being a reflection of that.

This is also a demonstration of Jesus’ shrewdness. We can be faithful to God even as we navigate hostile terrain. We don’t have to throw God overboard the first time we encounter opposition. So there are valuable lessons we can learn in these words of Jesus.

But this trap is laid because of the incredibly harsh allegations Jesus has made about the Jewish leaders. And the point of all three is simple: obey the father by listening to God’s servants and rejoicing in this new thing God is doing, the marriage of God to potentially every human being on earth via the sacrifice of Christ. What is so tragic about the events in Israel is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ explicitly puts an end to enmity between tribes. Those who accept Christ did and still can, set aside centuries-old tribal grievances. Those who follow Christ see him as God the Father’s ambassador. Those who trust in Christ may still have minor disagreements, but there is no need for war, for terror, for murder, for revenge.

That is not to say there is an equivalence between, say, Hamas and Israel. Far from it. But our prayer is that the solution to peace is for all men, whether they are Jewish or Muslim, Buddhist or atheist, Hindu or agnostic, is found in Jesus Christ, the son of the landowner, the groom in the parable. While it may be impossible to imagine now, peace is possible. But man must give to God what is God’s: and that is our whole life. Our pride, our sins, our traditions, our desires. That is how we have peace in our own lives. And that is where peace will be found everywhere else in the world, too. Amen.

Pastor Evan McClanahan

First Lutheran, Houston