Thought for Today
2 Chronicles 24:9 A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for the LORD the tax that Moses the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.
Nehemiah 5:4 And there were those who said, "We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king's tax.
Matthew 22:17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" . . . 19 Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" 21 They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."
Happy (?) Income Tax Day. Some of you may have filed your 2025 Income Tax forms long ago. You may have already received refunds, indicating you made an interest-free loan to our federal government by paying too much already. Others may have already mailed checks for taxes due. And, certainly, some of you will be making a mad dash to the post office some time today to get your forms postmarked in time. Just to make things more interesting this year, the government recently revised the rules and procedures for postmarking mail.
I cannot ever remember hearing anyone say how happy they are to pay taxes. The truth is that every citizen of every nation pays taxes. Governments never operate at zero cost and expense. They are also probably universal truths on about the same level of universality as gravity that “there is never enough money to do what needs to be done,” just as “there is never too much money for politicians to find a way to spend.”
Many of us live in states that also have an income tax due today. In some states, even certain cities have income taxes. For what it’s worth, the idea of a graduated income tax has long been controversial. The 16th Amendment “was passed in 1909 and ratified in 1913, effectively overruling the Supreme Court’s earlier decision in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. (1895), which had struck down a federal income tax because it was considered a ‘direct tax’ that required apportionment among the states.” (Copilot Search)
Irrespective of how one feels about graduated income taxes, about the subject of exemptions, exclusions, brackets and everything else associated with income taxes . . . happy (?) income tax day.
Thankfully, at least our modern, computer-dominated world does have an app for that. There are several computer programs allowing one to prepare and file one’s income taxes. Most also assist in electronically filing one’s income tax returns. The computer programs don’t necessarily make one any happier about having to pay taxes, but they do lessen the pain of all the paperwork.
Truthfully, it is impossible to completely separate our spiritual lives from our ‘civil’ lives. There is much discourse about ’separation of church and state,’ but the Church exists within the state, i.e. with a few notable exceptions, most modern nations are not theocracies. As Christians, we cannot compartmentalize our responsibilities to God separately from our responsibilities to the governments under whose authority we live our daily lives. That has always been true throughout history for people of all faith traditions.
The verses above from Matthew’s gospel demonstrate that even Jesus faced the same issue. Matthew tells us that Pharisees, their disciples and some Herodians went to trap Jesus. The basic conundrum posed in “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" has both spiritual and civil implications. A simple answer of “No” would have Jesus proclaiming sedition against the Roman occupation authorities. The tax in question is “κῆνσος, ου, ὁ literally census, enumeration of people and property for taxing purposes; in the NT, taxes charged on the basis of such assessment (poll) tax, tribute.” (Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon)
A “Yes” answer, however, posed a spiritual problem. Kings obviously have the right to tax subjects. For the Jews, God was their only sovereign. Only God had the right to tax them, to pay a census tax to the emperor would be an insult to God.
Jesus’ response above sets the standard for all of us today. Render unto the civil authorities the things which are their due. Render unto God what is God’s. Know the difference. So, today, Happy Income Tax Day.
Stay safe, love God, trust God,
Pastor Ray