Are you fascinated, as I am, by the election year we are in? How should we as Christians relate to the process? How does a person with dual citizenship in God’s Kingdom and the United States live?
In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees couldn’t stand Jesus but they found they couldn’t stop him. One way they tried was by asking him seemingly impossible questions. They played their favorite game: “Stump the prophet.” In Jesus’ day the people of Palestine were divided about how to relate to their Roman conquerors. Some wanted to overthrow the Roman government and establish a Jewish Kingdom again. Others collaborated with the Romans and collected taxes. The people resented the tax-collectors like Zacchaeus as the lowest of the low.
In his answer to his critics, Jesus also speaks to our involvment: give the government what belongs to them and to God what belongs to Him. The government will take its taxes. As Christians we participate in the government by paying our taxes, by obeying the laws of the land and by praying for our leaders. The bigger question for most of us is this: will we give God the things which belong to God? It turns out God wants more than our money and our vote. He wants our whole lives. What will we give God today?
