PROTEST OR PROCLAIM -- Devotional for April 15, from "Good Seeds"

The Pharisees asked, “Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Knowing their evil motives, Jesus answered, "You hypocrites! I know what you’re doing! Show me now the coin used for the tax." When they handed him a Roman coin, He asked, "Whose picture and title are stamped on it?" "Caesar's," they replied. "Well, then," He said, "give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God." (Matthew 22:15,17-21)

April 15th could hardly be called a holiday, though every American knows well this date as the deadline for filing their income taxes. Now, Jesus was no politician, and the Pharisees were banking on that fact as they tried to trick Him into saying something incorrect about Israel’s fiscal policy, thereby damaging His credibility among His followers. But the religious leaders were once again silenced by the practical wisdom of the Son of God – a wisdom we could surely use today: 1) God has established human government, so submitting to it is submitting to Him. 2) God knows our leaders by name (indeed, He’s the true “electorate”!) 3) There is a higher loyalty than to earthly kingdoms, and that is to the King of heaven. “We need not fear what man can do to us” (Hebrews 13:6), for “shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25). And He will do right by all who trust in Him, regardless of what wrong they suffer at the hands of an inept or evil government. We see by today’s passage that protesting taxes is not a recent phenomenon! Of course, these days we pay taxes that are administered by elected representatives, while back in first century Judea citizens were forced to give arbitrarily inflated tribute to a foreign government that had usurped their theocracy and stolen away their freedoms. Nevertheless, citizens of modern nations have to put up with more than their fair share of unfair taxes. “No taxation without representation!” was the battle cry of the colonists as they dumped English tea overboard in Boston harbor, refusing to pay the exorbitant import tax Mother England had attached to it. This was the straw that broke our forefathers’ backs, driving them to demand – and fight to the death for – freedom from oppressive British tyranny. Now the tea party idea has again struck a cord with many Americans, and what better day to hold their non-violent protests than on our “National Tax Day!” The outcry from the conservative element of our citizenry, many of them avowed Christians, is deafening! Oh if we would proclaim the name of Jesus with as much passion as we protest the inequities of government!