 As
tax day arrived this year there were protests around the
country. Angry taxpayers, frustrated over government bailouts
and Wall Street mismanagement, took out their frustrations in
cities and towns by shouting, waving placards and just making a
general nuisance of themselves. And who can blame them? Many
people do not pay their taxes so corporations can subsist. Our
taxes are paid for smooth roads, robust police and fire
departments and sparkling schools, among many other things. So
when we feel like our money is being railroaded away from us, we
can get testy. If you are angry about paying taxes for these
reasons than you get some idea of how first-century Jews felt.
They paid enormous taxes, not from their
wealth but from their poverty, and they paid them to a
tyrannical government that had forcibly subdued them. They
didn’t like it one bit. So when some of them tried to trap
Jesus with a question about money and to whom it should be
offered, there was understandable interest. But Jesus, unmoved
by the trick, looked at a coin, noticed that it bore Caesar’s
image and uttered the words above. Give to the emperor what is
the emperor’s and give to God the things that are God’s. So
today, as we wring our hands over the profligate federal
government once again raiding our pockets I want to remind you
of something. I want you to remember that all that you give to
God, your times, talents and money, is never squandered! I want
you to remember that the government may ask for our money but
God asks for our lives and if we offer them to God then we will
see our lives expanded ten-fold. We will experience God’s love
anew and we will see that we can play a small role in God’s work
in the world. As you put your taxes aside until 2010 remember,
God will never waste what you give.
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Prayer: Holy God, thank you for all that I have been
given and help me to give back to you. Help me to freely and
joyfully over what is mine to you in the sure and certain trust that
it will be used to your glory. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Text from file received by Phil Blackburn, First Presbyterian
Church]
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