Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title? ‘They answered,
Matthew 22:18-22
‘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.’” vss. 20-21
Jesus seems to imply that some things belong to the emperor and that some things belong to God. It’s a clever answer to the question asked by the Herodian’s, and they’re puzzled about how to respond to it, so they just go away. We might like Jesus’ response but it isn’t necessarily what most people believe. In general, folks in our day think that all things belong to them, and they don’t like to give any of those things away. We really resent giving them to the emperor in the form of taxes–we pay as little as we can. And most of us don’t like giving our things to God either–in our minds that’s voluntary, and if we can avoid such giving we do. Of course the truth of the whole matter, and this is what makes this story fun, is that all things do belong to God. And once we figure this out, we are able to adopt generous lifestyles and our lives are transformed. Instead of trying to figure out how to hang on to stuff, we dream up ever inventive ways of sharing it with others and giving it away. And once we discover the joy of giving we can’t imagine why it took us so long to get started.
Thought for the Day: When did I discover the joy of giving?
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