Whose face do you see?

Death and taxes, the two absolutes in life as they say. So, since it’s true that these two things can’t be avoided, it seems like we need to have an approach to each that is rooted in faith, and when it comes to death, well I think Jesus has shown us the way we can approach the reality of death through his own death and the promise of the resurrection. But, what about when it comes to taxes, has Jesus given us an approach to paying taxes that is both faithful and lawful? Well, in our Gospel today I think we can glean some insight from Jesus that will help us do just that.

So, to break it down for you, our Gospel today tells us about a story where Pharisees and Herodians are trying to entrap Jesus with a question. Typical… Religious leaders in the Gospel of Matthew have a long history of testing Jesus in the hope of getting him to say something incriminating. Only this time they are conspiring with Herodians, AKA Roman loyalists, so there seems to be literally no way out of the question that they pose to Jesus, “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?"

Jesus seems to have one of two options, either condone the empire by saying yes, thus giving the Pharisees exactly what they need to finally discredit Jesus’ authority, or Jesus can engage in outright sedition, by encouraging his listeners not to pay taxes, thus giving the Herodians exactly what they need to convict Jesus with breaking the law.

But Jesus won’t allow himself to be trapped in an either or situation. He knows the nuance of this scenario and the implications so he asks for a coin they typically used to pay taxes. And he says, “Whose face do you see?” They identify the person’s face as Caesar, the emperor. And that’s when Jesus’ mic drop moment happens. He says, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."

Jesus takes their either/or and turns it into a both/and. It’s brilliant, and it leaves everyone speechless. But, I think it’s Jesus’ first question that really gives us something to think about, “Whose face do you see?”

Because as people of faith, we can use that question to reflect on whether or not we are seeing the face of God in what we think, and do, and say. Like when you are upset about the driver in front of you and you speed up to give them the stink eye, you can ask yourself, whose face do I see in that other driver? Or better yet, if you do go through with giving them the stink eye, whose face would they see? Is it the face of God? Or when you look in the mirror, whose face do you see? Do you see the face of God whose image you have been created in? Or turning the conversation back to taxation, whose face do you see when you pay your taxes? Is it the face of God in the person on the street corner who could benefit from public housing, universal healthcare, and a strong social safety net? Or do you only see the face of those who use the tax system to exploit the poor and further enrich the wealthy?

When we look at all of the ills of our society from racism to exploitation to violence, it can feel like God’s face is absent. How can we as people of faith then even participate in these corrupt Godless systems? In those moments where it is difficult to see God’s face, maybe instead of looking away, we need to look again.

In our text from Exodus today, Moses is kept from seeing God’s face because if he sees God’s face, he’ll die. And that story rings true for our society as well because seeing God’s face isn’t hard because God is absent, but because seeing the face of God means we’ll have see God in the places we’d rather not look. I think about this personally whenever I look into the eyes of the person experiencing homelessness. It's almost too much to bear and I look away because to see the image of God in that person’s face means that I must die, or at least I must die to the idea that I am where I am and they are where they are because we somehow deserved it. That individualistic, merit minded part of myself must die until I see my interconnectedness and oneness with the suffering people of the world.

With our eyes focused on the face of God in those who suffer, that is how we can then navigate the oppressive systems of our world without legitimating them. The faces of the empire might be printed all over our currency, but God is ruler over all things, and our obedience is to God.

Unsurprisingly, Martin Luther, the forefather of our church, had quite a bit to say about this. He wrote, “The Christian submits most willingly to the rule of the sword, pays his taxes, honors those in authority, serves, helps, and does all he can to assist the governing authority, that it may continue to function and be held in honor and fear.” But that obedience has its limits and Luther also wrote, “But if, as often happens, the temporal power and authorities, or whatever they call themselves, would compel a subject to do something contrary to the command of God, or hinder him from doing what God commands, obedience ends and the obligation ceases. In such a case a man has to say what the apostle Peter said to the rulers of the Jews, “We must obey God rather than men”.

And this all matters especially right now when it comes to the issues in front of us as Illinoisans. We have a constitutional amendment on our ballot this year, the Fair Tax. This ammendment could change our tax system in Illinois from a flat tax where everyone pays the same rate of income tax, to a graduated income tax, essentially meaning that people with higher incomes would have a higher income tax rate. I won’t say which way I think you should vote on this issue, but I would encourage you to consider whose face you see as you cast your ballot. Do you see the face of God? The one who shows themself to us in the oppressed, the marginalized, and the exploited? Or do you see the face of the exploitative oppressor?

As Christians we are citizens of the kin-dom of God while simultaneously being citizens of the kingdom of this world. As dual citizens then we paradoxically pay taxes the empire has imposed upon us while simultaneously actively resisting the empire and working to promote the alternative kin-dom free of oppression, violence, and exploitation.

The task in front of us is not an either/or proposition, it is a both/and. We are to, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." Through it all, the hardest part is to keep our eyes focused on God whose face we will surely see in the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. In this way with our eyes on God who rules over all the systems, we will move closer to God’s kin-dom that is making it’s way into the world. Many have fallen through the cracks of our system, but it’s through those very cracks that the light of God is coming into our broken world. Amen