Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

THE TRAP

            The question asked of Jesus in the Gospel – whether one ought to pay taxes to Caesar – is an attempt to trap Jesus. The trap plan by the Jewish hierarchy was motivated by the presumed attack by Jesus to them. If one has paid attention to the Gospel readings from the 25^th Sunday to the 28^th Sunday, one can discern that Jesus used parables to attack the Jewish hierarchy. Jesus had spoken three parables in which he had plainly indicted the orthodox Jewish leaders. In the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28-32), the Jewish leaders appear under the guise of the unsatisfactory son who did not do his father’s will. In the parable of the wicked tenants (Matthew 21:33-46), they are the wicked tenants. In the parable of the king’s feast (Matthew 22:1-14), they are the condemned guests.

            Now we see the Jewish leaders launching their counter-attack; and they do so by directing at Jesus carefully formulated questions. They ask these questions in public, while the crowd looks on and listens, and their aim is to make Jesus discredit himself by his own words in the presence of the people. In the framework within which the questioners’ minds are moving, escape seems impossible. By saying “Yes” he contradicts the holy people’s direct relationship with God and disavows their striving for political freedom. By saying “No” he places himself on the side of the Zealots who have developed a political theology of liberation for themselves; openly or secretly he becomes an agitator against Roman rule. On the political level occupied by the questioners, he can find no third possibility, no back door exit. But Jesus does not permit himself to enter into this level. He recognizes its legitimacy only by climbing over it and thereby relativizing it.

            Dear friends before I come back to continue our analysis on the trap set by the Jewish elders, let us have a look at taxes during the time of Jesus. There were, in fact, three regular taxes which the Roman government exacted. There was a ground tax; a man must pay to the government one-tenth of the grain and one-fifth of the oil and wine which he produced; this tax was paid partly in kind, and partly in a money equivalent. There was income tax, which was one percent of a man’s income. There was a poll tax; this tax had to be paid by every male person from the age of fourteen to the age sixty-five, and by every female person from the age of twelve to sixty-five; it amounted to one denarius – that is what Jesus called the tribute coin – and was the equivalent of the usual day’s wage for a working man. The tax in question here is the poll tax.

            The seriousness of the trap is shown by the fact that the Pharisees and the Herodians combined to make it, for normally these two parties were in bitter opposition. The Pharisees were the supremely orthodox, who resented the payment of the tax to a foreign king as an infringement of the divine right of God. The Herodians were the party of Herod, king of Galilee, who owed his power to the Romans and who worked hand in glove with them. The Pharisees and the Herodians were strange bedfellows indeed: their differences were for the moment forgotten in a common hatred of Jesus and a common desire to eliminate him. Those who insisted on their own way, no matter what it is, are bound to hate Jesus.

            I have heard some people interpret Jesus’ statement “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belong to God” as they should pay the temple tax so that God will have his own and the government tax so that Caesar will have his own. As a historian, I always have recourse to my historical records for the sake of certainty. History tells us that this question of tax-paying has a historical background. Matthew was writing between AD 80 and 90. The Temple had been destroyed in AD 70. So long as the Temple stood, every Jew had been bound to pay the half-shekel Temple tax. After the destruction of the Temple, the Roman government demanded that that tax should be paid to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in Rome. It is obvious how bitter a regulation that was for the Jews to stomach. The matter of taxes was a real problem in the actual ministry of Jesus; and it was still a real problem in the days of the early Church.

            But Jesus was wise with his response. With his unique wisdom, Jesus laid down principles and not rules and regulations. That is why some scholars deem his teachings as timeless. In Jesus’ wisdom whatever is given to God duly belongs to God and what is given to Caesar also belongs to God because God is Ruler over all earthly kings. Kings think they are sacral powers and claim divine attributes; Jesus demystifies this sacrality. God alone is Lord and earthly rulers at most receive a divine stewardship under which they are to ensure political order by God’s commission. Pope Boniface VIII educates us more on this in his encyclical “Unam Sanctam” (1300).

            They came to set a trap for Jesus but they return with solid education. If you have something to give, give to God or his rightful stewards. May God continue to guide us.