Currency

Matthew 22:15-22

The question of taxes is a divisive and heated issue, not just now but also in the time of Jesus as is seen in this week’s Gospel with the imperial tax.

The discussion was intended to put Jesus between a rock and a hard place, with nowhere to turn. But Jesus refused to play that game.

Jesus plays a different game, that of a life centered in God, the Kingdom of Heaven which has a different “currency” than does the kingdom of the world.

His currency is that of love, forgiveness, compassion. And what bears God’s image, and therefore belongs to God? You and me. We are to offer all of ourselves to God, which we do at each celebration of the Eucharist.

We tend to tell ourselves that if we get all of our worldly concerns met, we’ll have time for the concerns of God—loving and serving our neighbors.

That’s not the way it works in the Kingdom of God. We are to first seek the Kingdom of God, and to give first the currency of love, mercy, humility, compassion, and faithfulness to God.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.