Paying Taxes - Matthew 22:15-22

Was there a particular food you hated to eat when you were a kid?  I hated peas and bread crusts!  I would try to slip the crusts to Whiskers, my black lab, who was always poised under the table by my chair. I would slide peas off the plate and conveniently hide them, just under the rim, out of site.  Sometimes I would get away with this trickery, often I did not.  The punishment was to sit at the table until I finished every bite.

As adults, we find some things difficult to swallow; taxes for instance.  We explore every legal option available to avoid paying more than we need to pay.  Like peas, taxes are part of our life, if unpleasant to many citizens.  We see the value of each but that doesn't mean we enjoy them.

When Jesus was asked about taxes and if He paid them to Caesar or not he said, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's..." He further told His listeners they needed to acknowledge the authority of Caesar.  He recognized the taxes paid for the benefits citizens received, like roads to travel on.

There is more to the scripture verse quoted above.  The last part of the sentence is, "and to God what is God's."  Perhaps Jesus is referring to the tithe with this statement.  As citizens of this land we have responsibility to our nation to pay taxes and the privilege to tithe to our God.

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