“If you have a king, this is how he will treat you. He will force your
sons to join his army. Some of them will ride in his chariots, some will serve
in the cavalry, and others will run ahead of his own chariot… Still others will
have to farm the king’s land and harvest his crops, or make weapons and parts
for his chariots. Your daughters will
have to make perfume or do his cooking and baking. The king will take your best
fields, as well as your vineyards, and olive orchards and give them to his own
officials. He will also take a tenth of your grain and grapes and give it to
his officers and officials…He will also take a tenth of your sheep and goats.
You will become the king’s slaves, and you will finally cry out for the Lord to
save you from the king you wanted. But the Lord won’t answer your prayers”.[1]
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| "August Ceasar, Son of God" |
Now these three remain: family, church and government; but
the greatest of these is government.
From the ancient Sumerian city-states to our modern republican
institutions, the first and greatest temptation of authority is the accumulation
of power. The consolidation of institutional
roles and dominion is the sin qua non of government. History teaches us that whether it be as Holy
Roman Emperor, Pontifex Maximus or ‘Defender of the Faith’, the continual
conjoining of kingly and priestly duties into the hands of a single office or
person creates a ‘Savior State’, that form of paternalistic government
promising to feed, clothe, educate and medicate the masses in return for their
allegiance.[2] In
this modern messianic state, voting therefore becomes a sacramental public confession
of faith.
I can almost hear the sovereign say, ‘as often as ye complete your ballot,
think of me.’ Is there no room in our
political paradigm to think differently, to consider a path of independence that
encourages believers to cease our reliance on the state as a redemptive agent while understanding that the life, ministry death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth may be the greatest political statement the world has ever witnessed?
As a Westerner, it is customary to associate the savior state
with Christendom; instead it speaks of her demise, as the Body of Christ
continues to function as an interest group instead of a transformative
institution. We fall at the foot of the magistrate in homage, seeking our piece
of the political pie instead of confronting the state with claims and rights
derived only from God. One of the greatest failures of institutional Christianity is our collaborative
conspiracy with bureaucrat power, carving out our political niche as Neo-Herodians. Into this political paradigm steps Jesus, whose own version
of politics refused collusion, resisted revolution and repudiated separatism. His political leanings don’t fit our
archetype, causing the Blue Dog Herodians and militant Pharisees to challenge his civic loyalty.
“’Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s
opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of
God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to
Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or
should we not’? But, knowing their
hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and
let me look at it.’ And they brought one. And he said to them, ‘Whose likeness
and inscription is this?’ They said to him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Jesus said to them,
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are
God’s’. And they marveled at him.”[5]
The tax referred to is the popularly despised and often
revolutionary poll tax. The weight of
this imperial tribute obligated Jews, bled dry by Rome, to declare partisanship
with either the Jewish liberation party, or with Colonial Rome and her
perpetrators.[6] The question by this strange coalition is
simple, “Jesus, where do you stand on the matter”? They dare him to choose. Agreeing to the tax means losing the popular
support of the people, rejecting Rome’s right to collect the tax is paramount to
treason. It seems they have finally trapped him, or have they? Like so many other
recorded instances, Jesus refuses an answer.
Instead, he poses a double question, “Whose image and whose inscription is this”? Its Augustus Caesar’s of course. In fact, the coin bore the head of the Emperor
and the inscription declaring him “Augustus
and Divine Son of God.” After
viewing the denarius, Jesus famously declares, “Render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” But what does this
mean? The answer may surprise us. Far from a polemic endorsing obedient
citizenship, Jesus invites the hearer to act according to his allegiance. “The imperative commonly translated ‘render’ (Apodote) is widely used in the New
Testament to speak of payment of debt or recompense, but occurs only here in
Mark, and is best read as ‘repay’.”[7] Jesus’ response is simple, “Repay the one to whom you are indebted.”
Who do we owe for our sustenance, health and protection, God
or Caesar? Who are we trusting with our
future, and who has earmarked our past? Jesus directs us away from political
entanglements requiring earthly allegiance while simultaneously rejecting the
divine right of kings. His response, coupled
with the Parable of the Vineyard, discards the state’s messianic aspirations and
relegates government to a mere tenant, subject to God. Jesus’ autonomy within the current political
system forces the modern reader of Mark to re-evaluate his own view of
government. Is our current involvement
with party politics colluding with empire?
Does our own political fervor not endorse a view of the state as savior?
Today, Congressman Paul Ryan boldly proclaimed that this
year’s election is the most important American Presidential election of our
generation. “We will be deciding what kind of country we are going to be and what
kind of people we are going to be.”[8] No we won’t.
I’m not giving government the power to decide that. It’s not her role. It is the church’s role to help shape and
form people through the regenerative work of Christ. If we truly want to see lives socially,
politically and economically transformed, we must cease the political fervor
demanding our time and attention, and join Christ on the political path to
Golgotha. May our greatest political act
find us picking up our cross to die daily in service to others.
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| Massachio's "Tribute Money |
[1] I
Samuel 8: 11-18.
[2]
Farrow, Douglass. “The Audacity of the State”, Touchstone Magazine, Jan/Feb
2010.
[4]
Modestinus, Herennias. Roman Jurist,
circa 250 AD.
[5]
Mark 12: 14-17.
[6]
Myers, Ched. Binding The Strong Man.
[7]
Ibid.
[8]
Ryan, Paul. Focus on the Family Broadcast, “A Conversation With Congressman
Paul Ryan”. October 2, 2012.
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