That dreaded tax office!
‘Tell us, is it against our Law for us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?’
But Jesus saw through their trap and said to them ‘Show me a silver coin. Whose face and name are these on it?’ ‘The Emperor’s,’ they answered.
So Jesus said, ‘Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God.’ (verses 22-25)
Read Luke 20: 19-26
Tax time is coming around for us again. Many of us employ a tax consultant, firstly so that we will pay as little as we can legally get away with and, secondly, to ensure that we don’t get caught out by the tax office for trying to evade our duties as a citizen.
For us Christians there is a double whammy. We also have to pay to God what belongs to God. What does belong to God? In truth, everything belongs to God. If we looked at this from a selfish point of view, it could be quite devastating; we would have nothing to call our own. But that’s not the case.
Let’s look at what God has done for us. When we compare ourselves, living in this ‘lucky country’, with others in our world, when we begin to count our blessings (our homes, our jobs, our lives), when we remember that God did not spare us his own Son, who gave his life for us, we can begin to understand how gracious God has been to us. God asks us to share our good things with those who need to hear about his love and come to know him. He asks us to support our church and its workers. He asks us to be as generous as he is with what he has given us. The great thing is that the more we give graciously and generously the more he blesses us. That is his promise to us.
Dear God, thanks that you give to me so graciously and generously every day. Help me to give graciously and generously, both to my country through the tax office and to you through my gifts to my church and the community. Amen.
by Merna Thamm, in ‘Guidance for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2002)
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