A homily on Matthew 22 : 15 - 22.
In the Name etc..
"Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said." Today's story is placed between the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, and the Question about the Resurrection from the Sadducees. Jesus has been speaking to large groups, made up of various elements of the population: chief priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, and a larger group simply described as "the crowds." Jesus's disciples appear as well. The Pharisees, the priests, and the Sadducees react with astonishment or resentment to Jesus's answers. The crowds apparently alarm the priests, "because," as it says in chapter 21 of Matthew's Gospel, "they [the crowds] regarded him as a prophet." The implication is that the "crowds" approve of what Jesus is saying, as apparently the priests and others do not. We remember that at this point in the Gospel, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and is approaching his trial and Passion. The "crowd" at this point is still with Jesus, but we know that soon, before Pilate, the chief priests will persuade them to turn against Jesus.
"Then the Pharisees went out and plotted to entrap him in what he said." Entrapment. We hear about entrapment of one sort or another all the time. Police officers pose as customers to entrap drug dealers and pimps. Journalists prod public figures into making indiscreet remarks -- a kind of entrapment, it seems to me. Criminals and con artists entrap victims in fraudulent schemes. Entrapment is a common technique of many people, no matter what side of the law they are on. And, often, it reveals behavior which deserves to be exposed.
The Pharisees clearly regard themselves as on the right side of the law, and Jesus on the wrong side of it, and they have made up their minds that they are going to collect the evidence. As far as they are concerned, Jesus is going to give them the evidence, out of his own mouth.
And so they approach Jesus. "Teacher, we know that you are sincere..." Do they? If they know that Jesus is sincere, then they must also think that he is guileless, that he could not possibly be aware of their own insincerity. The Pharisees actually describe Jesus accurately: "You teach the was of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality." If they are accurate in their description, there is actually no need to say so, since Jesus knows this already. So the Pharisees are trying to lower Jesus's guard, by approaching him in this apparently friendly, respectful way. But our Lord is not fooled by this, as he soon makes clear. He is ready for them.
The Pharisees ask, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" Jesus replies, in true rabbinical fashion, with another question. "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?" Exactly the right question, of course. If Jesus is the person whom the Pharisees have just described him to be, there is no need to test him with such a question. They would expect, and get, a true answer. But of course, it is not a true answer that they want. They want an incriminating answer, which will spring a trap on Jesus.
"And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them [again in true rabbinical fashion], 'Whose head is this, and whose title?' They answered, 'the emperor's.' Then he said to them, 'Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.' "
Notice what is happening here. Jesus is not exactly answering the Pharisees' question -- "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?" The Pharisees expect a Yes or No answer, and they don't get one. Jesus, true teacher that he is, is not limited by his questioners' limitations, is not bound by their narrow view of what law may or may not be. The question also betrays a certain anxiety. If Jesus answers wrongfully about the emperor, it would not only put him in a difficult position, but them too. After all, what are they doing, asking a prominent teacher a question which could be interpreted as sedition, as indicating a possibility of disloyalty by anyone in the society?
So Jesus, aware of all this, is not drawn into their trap. "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." This distinction never occurred to the Pharisees, preoccupied as they likely are with staying on the right side of the emperor.
Is it a distinction which occurs to us? Or do we find ourselves, inadvertently I'm sure, like the Pharisees, putting our Lord to the test? Perhaps, sometimes, we do not want to give to God what is his? Or are we like the crowd, enjoying the spectacle of Jesus taking on the establishment, but, when the real choice comes, siding with the establishment in the end? Or do we get a certain enjoyment from watching a prominent teacher risking being entrapped by the law, without taking such a risk ourselves? Questions like these, and more, come to mind when I hear today's Gospel. It tests our own sincerity, our own openness to the teaching of Jesus. Are we merely to be amazed, like the Pharisees were, who "left him, and went away?"
In the Name etc..
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