“The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them . . . and call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that.” —Luke 22:25
“To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity…. The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbours, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practise this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence he wields in the [state]. This is the institutional path–we might also call it the political path–of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbor directly…” —Pope Benedict XVI
One of Jesus’ most intriguing dialogues occurs over the question of whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus is teaching in the Temple courts after riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and being hailed as the Messiah. Some religious people have decided to kill him, but they first want to discredit him in the eyes of the people. So they begin asking him in public a series of trick questions to trap him.
After some insincere flattery, they say to Jesus, “is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not.” They’re thinking if he answers “no” then the Romans will arrest him as a rebel and execute him. But if he says “yes,” he will appear to the people as a compromiser, or even a collaborator, with the hated Roman Empire. Something that the true Messiah would never do. So however Jesus responds, they think they’ve trapped him.
Jesus tells them to show him the coin used to pay the tax and to tell him whose picture is on it. The tax referred to here was the annual census head tax. It was one of the many oppressive taxes that the Jewish people had to pay under Roman occupation. And it had to be paid with a specific coin – a denarius. The coin the religious leaders handed Jesus pictured the head of the emperor Tiberius with the inscription, “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the divine Augustus.”
Jesus then says, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give back to God what belongs to God.”You see, the coin declaring Caesar Augustus as God and his son Tiberius as the Son of God was blasphemous and idolatrous. Faithful Israelites weren’t supposed to carry it on their person, let alone bring it into the Temple, as these questioners had done.
So, Jesus says, in effect — and we can almost hear the irony in his voice — give the blasphemous coin, which you shouldn’t even have, back to Caesar, since it’s stamped with his idolatrous image and belongs to him. Jesus has just turned the tables and caught the religious leaders in their own trap: they’re the compromisers.
But then he goes on to say, “and give to God what belongs to God”: that is, give God what is stamped with God’s image. And that’s you! Give God your whole self. Because you bear the image and likeness of the true God, as Genesis 1 tells us. In saying this, Jesus turns the entire conversation from a hypocritical plot to a powerful call to faithfulness — to the supreme command to love God with all that we are and do. Just the kind of turn that one would expect the Messiah to make. No wonder everyone was amazed.
Jesus is not saying that some things belong to the Government and some things belong to God, and that we should divide our commitments somehow between them. Jesus is saying that human beings are stamped with God’s image and all that we are and have and do belongs to God.
All that we are belongs to God and is to be given back to God in love and service. Part of what we give to God does indeed involve engagement with nations and governments. Not because our commitments are divided, but because we’re called as God’s servants to repair and redeem the world.
In Genesis 1 we see that God created human beings in his own image and likeness to be his co-rulers on earth. In ancient times in most places kings alone claimed to be the image of God. Which meant that the king alone represented God as ruler on earth. But in Genesis we see that all humankind bears God’s image. It’s not kings who are given authority to govern. But all of us as the human community are ordained as God representatives.
This is a wonderful affirmation of how much God loves and values us. Psalm 8 expresses astonishment that God enters into a relationship with us lowly humans and shares his glory and honor with us. It’s amazing, the Psalmist writes, that God even notices us. But he not only notices but cares for us and crowns us as his co-rulers. God didn’t create human beings as slaves or menial servants, but as his own agents and representatives with the capacity to love and the call to govern.
Chapter 1 of Genesis describes God creating and bringing order to the world. God separated light and dark, day and night, land and water. He brought forth vegetation, and made the animals and human beings. God brought order to the earth so the world would be just and productive.
But amazingly God leaves an unfinished part of this work to us. That’s what Genesis means when it says that God calls human beings to “subdue” the earth. God has given human beings the task in love to help bring order and justice to an unruly world. To help shape a world where people are in right relationship with God, one another and all creation.
Being made in God’s image and likeness also tells us what co-governing with God looks like. God isn’t a harsh dictator who lords it over humankind. In Revelations 5 we see that the One on the throne of the universe is the Lamb who was slain — the Suffering Servant who gave his life for humankind in love. Self-giving love sits on the throne of creation. That’s how God rules, as a suffering servant. As we see in Jesus, the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. God is like a caring shepherd of the sheep.
That’s what ruling in the image of God looks like. When we read in Genesis that humans are to exercise dominion in the earth, this is the picture we should see. God doesn’t authorize humans to plunder nature nor to coerce and subjugate our fellow humans. But to care for and tend to the earth and its creatures as a good shepherd tends the sheep, with self-giving love.
We do this by being examples of love and justice in our everyday lives, seeking to “be the change we wish to see in the world.” The early Jesus-followers had no power to influence governmental policy directly, but they modeled a new way of life that changed the world. Like them, we can demonstrate in our own everyday spheres of life the loving and just ways of God’s Reign.
We do this by sharing the Good News of Jesus and expressing compassion. By the care we give, the forgiveness we offer and receive, the peace we make, the sacrifices we bear in love. We devote heart-felt worship, love and faithfulness to God. We who have more than we need share our resources with others who have less, so that there is enough for all. We model respect, non-violence and equitable relationships across the divisions of nation, race and ethnicity. We exercise special care for the weakest and most vulnerable among us.
Such faithful everyday actions may seem small in our own eyes and are no doubt imperfect. But if we could see them as God does they would shine like precious gems. Our everyday acts of love and justice honor God, light up the world, and model God’s will for the nations.
We’re also called to prophetic witness, to speak the truth in love to governmental authorities on behalf of a more just and compassionate world. As followers of Jesus we engage the political realm with love and respect. We speak and act with passion and commitment, but, we do it with love, not with the hate and contempt that characterize so much of political engagement today.
To be angry at cruelty and injustice is a moral imperative. But rather than venting our rage on others, or nurturing anger in our heart, we allow our rage to be transformed. The Christ-like expression of our anger is to commit ourselves in love to work for justice, to set the world right.
Feeling rage at injustice is godly. But “our battle is not against flesh and blood.” The object of our anger is not people but false ideas, evil actions and corrupt institutions. The Christ-like expression of righteous rage is persevering commitment. To do what we can in love to bring a more compassionate and just world.
There are many examples in Scripture of God’s servants speaking to rulers about what actions they should take. The Old Testament prophets tell the Israelite government to lift up people living in poverty. They say to administer the courts fairly. To treat immigrants well. They tell pagan rulers to help the poor. They condemn governments for starting wars and for killing civilians. The Book of Proverbs instructs us to “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of those who have nothing, defend the rights of those who are poor and in need.” John the Baptist confronted King Harrod. Jesus prophesies against the wealthy and powerful, and he empowers the poor and marginalized.
Contrary to what some believe Jesus-followers are not authorized to take over running governments. Jesus rejected that diabolical temptation for himself and for us when he withstood Satan’s enticement in the wilderness to become a worldly ruler. And when he told Pilate, “my kingdom is not of this Age.” Meaning, “my Kingship is not like those of the nations.” And when he told his disciples, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them . . .and call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that.” Jesus says that his Kingship is expressed not by wielding worldly power but by self-giving love and suffering servanthood. We replicate Jesus’s way of governing by serving from the bottom, not by exercising dominance.
As followers of Jesus we participate in God’s charge to humans to order the world in love and justice, but in a unique way. For us, as for Jesus, ruling means servanthood from below. We don’t seek power for ourselves or advocate for our own religious interests, as if we were a political interest group. Instead we witness to governments in self-giving love and a Christ-like spirit of servanthood, helping the nations embrace more of God’s will. We do that by modeling the way of Christ in our church communities and non-coercively advocating for just and compassionate political changes.
As Jesus-followers the content of our message should be shaped by the character of God’s Kingdom:
When God’s Kingdom comes in fullness, the poor “will be lifted up” and “the hungry filled with good things.” So we call on governments now to work to end hunger and extreme poverty and to help bring about just and fair economic relations among people and nations.
In God’s Kingdom, “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” So we speak up for government policies that help bring a more peaceful, less violent world now.
In God’s Kingdom,“each one will sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one will make them afraid.” So we call on governments to uphold the personal dignity and physical and economic security of all.
In God’s Kingdom, “creation will be freed from its bondage to decay.” So we care for the earth as good stewards, and seek laws that respect and preserve the natural environment.
In these ways, the nations of the world – if they have the will to do so — can help prepare humankind for the coming of God’s Kingdom.
It’s easy to be alienated by politics today. Especially when we see Christians speaking and acting in ways that reflect badly on Jesus and the Gospel. We may think political engagement cannot accomplish anything good. But I grew up in the 1950s and 60s when the Black Church-led civil rights movement filled the streets and the halls of Congress.
I watched on television as Black Americans were repeatedly attacked and beaten as they marched nonviolently for the end of segregation and the right to vote. You don’t forget videos of police on horses viciously beating unarmed men and women with clubs. And using powerful waterhoses to knock down and injure peaceful demonstrators. Or White mobs yelling obsentities at little children trying to attend school.
These committed believers paid a high price for their activism, but they didn’t give up. And their sacrifice and persistence resulted in new laws protecting civil and voting rights. Their courage and success instilled in me a lasting belief in what political action in the Spirit of Christ can accomplish.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s I participated in the Jubilee 2000 movement, inspired by the Old Testament Year of the Jubilee. Jesus-believers across the world called on governments to cancel the debts that impoverished countries owed to rich ones. This would free money for governments to spend on the needs of their own people.
The Jubilee movement included Catholics, mainline Protestants and Evangelicals, Jews and Muslims. The Pope, Rev. Billy Graham and the Christian rocker Bono supported it. People of faith across the country flooded Congressional offices with letters and phone calls. The legislation was passed and debts were cancelled.
A faith leader from one of the countries that benefitted spoke to a group of us in Washington about the impact. I’ll never forget what she told us. “I want you to understand what you have done,” she said. By “you” she meant all the Jubilee supporters across the world. “Because of your efforts there are schools that now have teachers and text books. There are health clinics that now have doctors and medicine. There are children alive today because of what you’ve done.”
The Republican chair of the House Finance Committee thanked us for “giving me the opportunity to do the kind of thing I thought I came to Washington to do.”
Other major policies legislated after passionate advocacy by people of faith include, among others, the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), enacted under Republican President George W. Bush, which has saved 25 million lives around the world. And the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), enacted under Democratic President Barak Obama, which is providing medical insurance for 50 million Americans.
As followers of Jesus we advocate for just and compassionate policies. But too often we also must lift our voices in opposition to misguided government actions. This happened In 2017 when the President and Congress attempted, but failed, to end the Affordable Care Act, which would have cancelled medical insurance for tens of millions of Americans.
We must be alert to what our government is doing. When those in power seek to implement policies that withdraw aid for people in poverty or suffering ill-health, mistreat immigrants, undermine civil rights or harm the natural environment we are called to a prophetic role condeming cruelty and injustice. Like the prophet Amos, we cry out, “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream!”
By practicing Jesus’ way of love in our daily lives, and by calling on governments to “do justice and love mercy,” we “look for and hasten” the arrival of God’s Reign in fullness. The coming of “the new heavens and new earth, where love and justice will be at home.”
Marty Shupack, January 2025
Scripture references: Matthew 22:15-22; Genesis 1; Psalm 8; Revelations 5:6; Isaiah 42:1-4, 53; Ephesians 6:12; Proverbs 31:8-9; Luke 4:5-6; John 18:36; Luke 22:5; Luke 1:46-56; Luke 5:17-26; Isa. 2:4; icah 4:4; Romans 8:21; Deuteronomy 15:1-3; Leviticus 25; Micah 6:8; 2 Peter 3:11-13.