Matthew 22:15-22 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Sunday, July 5, 2026 “Give to God the Things that Are God’s”
“What do you think of Donald Trump?” No, I don’t plan on starting a debate or discussion on that topic right now. I am thinking of a time I was asked that question. I was at our booth at the Tucson Festival of Books when someone came up to the table and asked me that question. I was a little worried about how best to answer him. You can probably understand why. There are a lot of people who have very strong feelings about our current president. Those strong feelings come in both positives and negatives. Some people think that he can do nothing wrong, and some people think that he can do nothing right. I was not at the Festival to talk about Donald Trump. I wanted to talk about Jesus and about this congregation of his people. I was worried that the question was a trap. Does it make sense that the question would come to mind when I read about and think about what happened to Jesus recorded in Matthew 22? I know the question that came to him was a trap. People with strong feelings on both sides had plotted together. There were some, the Herodians, that were apparently supportive of the Roman rule in the land. Others, like the Pharisees, wanted to get rid of the Romans altogether. That way they could be in charge and the Israelite people could govern themselves once again. Even though they had opposite political views, these two parties had the same view of Jesus. They did not trust him. They did not like him. They wanted him out of their way. They wanted to trap him in his words. But they didn’t tell him that. They told him: “You are the best.” “You are truthful. You teach what God’s Word says. You don’t worry about who is asking you questions or who might be listening, you just say what is right.” Amazingly, what they said at first was completely true. That’s an excellent description of who Jesus is and how he lived among them. But they didn’t actually believe that, they just wanted him to answer their question. They wanted to put him at ease and throw him off their own impure motives. Then they came with their question. Not “How do you feel about Donald Trump.” Not even “How do you feel about the King?” Instead their question is a little more subtle, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Briefly explained, Caesar was the Roman ruler. He was above Herod the king, from whom the Herodians got their name. But Herod could rule only because he had the permission of Rome and Caesar. And that was pretty dependent on Rome getting taxes from the land. So Jesus could upset most of the Jews and definitely the Pharisees by saying that people should pay taxes. Remember, they thought anyone ruling over them was an insult to them as God’s chosen people. Or Jesus could agree with the Jews and Pharisees and upset the Herodians and potentially any Roman officials that would be told about this. That’s the trap. Jesus loses. The Pharisees don’t even need to win, they just want Jesus to lose. Doesn’t it kind of feel like even as we just reached the 250 th anniversary of the birthdate of our country that political discussions all feel a little bit like this sort of a trap? If you haven’t spoken to someone about politics, you try to be especially careful until you figure out whether they’re on your side or not. Of course, not everyone worries about such traps. They think their opinions deserve loud proclamations. On the one side, “How dare you celebrate America with someone like that in the White House.” On the other side, “I can’t believe that you are so un-American that you won’t even celebrate the Fourth of July.” And it can be confusing, and it can be disorienting, and it can be really hard to know what to do. So let’s listen as Jesus responds to this trap. He leaves everyone impressed. They walk away from this whole incident amazed. They can’t find anything wrong with the answer he gives. He starts by having them bring the coin, the denarius, used to pay the tax that they are so worried about. And right on that coin, as they are ready to admit, is the face and the inscription of Caesar. The fact that they had such a coin was an indication of the blessing that they had from Caesar’s rule. But that was not the end of the discussion. In a response that has become relatively well known to many, Jesus gives them an answer: “Therefore give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”