For the last several weeks, the Gospels have enshrined a series of confrontations between Jesus and the elders of the people. Surrounding those verbal exchanges there has been an element of foreboding doom that, by now, has almost became palpable. Today, the Pharisees plot on “how they might entrap Jesus in speech.” The controversial issue they focus on is whether or not it is proper to pay taxes. The question is like those asked of politicians and church leaders today to try to get one side or the other to give simple answers to that complex question. Typically, though, Jesus throws the question back to the interlocutors. He knows their intention is to draw Him into the middle of the fray and, so, He does not engage in any debate.
What was the tax burden actually like in that time and place? In the first century of the Christian era, Jews paid taxes both locally to the Jewish temple as well as to the pagan government in Rome. Matthew records two separate instances depicting Jesus’ view on paying those taxes. The first incident is recorded in Matthew 17:24-27, where the collectors of the temple tax ask Peter whether or not Jesus pays that tax and, then, the other is enshrined in this weekend’s Gospel (Mt 22:15-21). First-century taxes can be differentiated between direct taxes levied by the Roman state that included land taxes (Lat. tributum soli) which were usually considered as a payment in kind and the amount due was based on a property’s total valuation or a percentage of the property’s agricultural yield. Rome also levied head taxes (Lat. tributum capitis) on eligible individuals that were paid in cash. Authorities also assessed unexpected direct taxes through periodic censuses, like the 6 AD census by Quirinius. Indirect taxes either went to Rome or benefited the province, city, or tax district where they were collected, and these were equally prevalent. Sales taxes, tolls, and duties on transported goods, for example, were paid in cash at city gates, port city harbors, markets, village fairs, and toll stations along trade routes.
The gospels identify two of those toll collectors: the disciple Levi also called Matthew (Mt 9:9-13) and Zacchaeus (Lk 19:1-10). In addition to other taxes or tithes, Jews had to pay the temple tax (Ex 30:11-16). This tax, valued at one half-shekel, was paid annually in silver coinage and subsidized the Jerusalem temple’s sacrifices and its upkeep. Set at one half-shekel, the tax was required for Jewish men beginning at the age of twenty (Flavius Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 18.312–313) and it amounted to two Greek drachmas or two Roman denarii, which was roughly equal to two days’ wages for a hired laborer (Mt 20:2). After the temple’s destruction in 70 AD, the emperor Vespasian converted the temple tax into a poll tax that was to be paid to Rome (see Mt 17:24-27).
Taxes were certainly burdensome and indirect taxes were cumulative and raised the cost of goods. Collection methods benefited local elites or the tax collectors or publicans themselves and so such tax farmers widened inequality. Abuses in collection were more often than not ignored. Occasionally, Roman governors demanded payment from their subjects to fund personal interests or specific political, military, or social needs. Such irregular taxes, like Pontius Pilate’s use of temple funds to build aqueducts in Jerusalem, were invariably detested and incited violent backlash.
Jesus gave his opponents the kind of response that has become classic, “…repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” As Christians we cannot cut ourselves off from the affairs of the world, but we should never compromise our beliefs and values. Our decisions and loyalties must be decided by recourse to God’s law and in accord with civic actions that promote the common good.
Nature and dignity 