What to Do About Bad Government

Luke 20:25 (ESV) He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Bashing the government and its leaders is one of America’s favorite pastimes. Of course, we are not alone in this. People all over the world and throughout history have done the same. Political leaders, sometimes well-meaning but often self-interested, make decisions that affect everyone in the nation. It is nearly impossible to make a decision that benefits everyone. It is truly impossible to do it all of the time. So, our leaders get the brunt of our frustration. Sometimes that frustration will move to the level of public verbal opposition, then to outright disobedience. Many of those who oppose the government feel justified for their disrespect and violation of law.

If we think we have grounds for such insolence in America today, it is nothing compared to the first century Jews. They were a nation occupied and forced to pay taxes to the Roman government. That government was invited in by cruel King Herod the Great who pretended to be “one of them” but was not in any respect. The taxes were heavy and the people received virtually no benefit from them (or so they thought). Though there many reasons for the Jewish people to oppose the Roman occupation, the taxes garnered the most emotion.

The Jewish leaders saw this issue as an opportunity to either: 1) win the people’s support away from Jesus or 2) get legal grounds for Jesus’ execution by having him oppose the payment of taxes. So, to try to tap Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” (vs 22) If Jesus said, “Yes,” the people would hate him because he endorsed the Roman taxation. If he said, “No,” the Jewish leaders would have hundreds of witnesses of Jesus telling people to violate Roman law. His response was brilliant: “Whose image is on the coin?” As the Jewish leaders had to confess it was Caesar’s, Jesus gave the response above: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” The trap was defeated. They got more benefit from that government than they realized. Jesus did not endorse the Roman government or its policies, but showed that people had to pay taxes to Caesar because it was his coins they used for legal tender.

The obvious application for us is to pay our taxes no matter how we feel about our government. Yet, it goes beyond that. Of course, there are many aspects of all of our leaders and their decisions that have been less than ideal for us. They are easy targets for criticism. However, we have received much from our government that we take for granted: security, highways, parks, economic protection and facilitation, support for millions of worthy causes, and the list goes on. Elsewhere in the New Testament we are commanded to obey and pray for our leaders (Romans 13:1-7, I Tim 2:1-4, I Peter 2:2-13-17). We can and should exercise our voice in shaping our government’s policies and futures, but ultimately, let’s be sure we honor our leaders… and, yes, pay our taxes, too.