1 Corinthians 1.18-25, John 2.13-22
Third Sunday of Lent, Sparkford
You may remember that back in 1989 Ken Dodd was tried for tax evasion. During the case, held in Liverpool, Dodd’s representative in court George Carman QC, quipped, "Some accountants are comedians, but comedians are never accountants". The trial revealed that Dodd had very little money in his bank account, but did have £336,000 in cash stashed in suitcases in his attic. When asked by the judge, "What does a hundred thousand pounds in a suitcase feel like?", Doddy replied, "The notes are very light, M’Lord." [1]
While this court case rumbled on I was working in an office block which overlooked Liverpool’s Queen Elizabeth Law Courts, across a large public square dominated by a massive monument to Queen Victoria. I worked for the Department of Trade and Industry but the two floors above us housed the Inland Revenue - and the officers who had put together the case against Ken Dodd.
Every day of the trial Doddy left the court building with a large crowd of well-wishers cheering him through the square, while above them from the tax office, lines of civil servants hung out of open windows booing and jeering him. On the day that Dodd was acquitted of all charges the boos from the tax officers were louder and bitter; but the enormous crowd on the square was jubilant. Beneath Queen Victoria’s stern gaze an impromptu street party broke out with the vindicated Ken Dodd at its core. As I watched this astonishing scene through our office windows I thought, it shows just how much ordinary people love seeing someone turn the tables on the taxman.
Now, I’ve always thought that that episode has a very strong gospel feel to it. For one of the great themes of the gospels is Jesus turning the tables on the taxman. He did it in the Temple, as in today’s gospel reading. He did it when the Pharisees asked him about paying taxes to the emperor; he did it in his observation about the widow’s contribution to the treasury, in the call of Matthew, and in his meals with tax-collectors and sinners: each time, here is Jesus turning the tables on the taxman.
Turning the tables. Reversing the positions of adversaries. The phrase is often used when the weaker position subsequently becomes dominant. But Jesus turning the tables on the taxman didn’t mean he broke the law. It meant that he was operating from another system of law altogether - God’s law of love which puts God and neighbour first, well before financial rules and regulations. He challenged those who claimed to be operating under God’s laws but who were actually caught up in the ways of the world in which the tax system is a mainspring.
So Jesus turned the tables on the scribes, those pious types who liked to be noticed in the market-places, who loved having the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets. Jesus saw how they got their wealth and status through their involvement in the temple tax system: he noticed how, although they knew this system kept the poorest people in poverty, the scribes turned a blind eye. Jesus said, ‘Those devouring the homes of the widows and praying at great length for show, these shall receive condemnation in greater abundance.’ [2]
And on the day he watched people putting money into the treasury, with the rich ones showing off their large donations, and a poor widow coming and putting in the tiniest amount, Jesus turned the tables on the temple tax beneficiaries by observing ‘I tell you that this widow, the destitute woman, put in more than all those donating to the treasury; For all who donated out of what they have in abundance, but out of her poverty this woman donated all she had whatsoever, her whole livelihood.’ [3]
In this way Jesus revealed the injustice in the temple tax system which took the last pennies from the poor widow. By criticising their unjust behaviour he turned the tables on those who acted pious but whose wealth was directly linked to in her poverty - and he made a few enemies, who began looking for ways to silence him.
And so to the story of Caesar’s coin in which the Pharisees and the Herodians tried to trip Jesus up by asking him whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor. They were trying to turn the tables on this Jesus who had been challenging their faithfulness to the laws of God.
Their question was designed to force Jesus to say something which either incriminated him as a supporter of Rome - and thus against the Jewish people, or as an opponent of Rome - and thus able to be either made to join them in their political struggle or handed in to the authorities as a dissident. But Jesus cleverly sidestepped their trap. As they showed him the coin used for the tax he asked, ‘Whose head is this, and whose name is on it?’ ‘Caesar’s.’ ‘Then render the things that are Caesar’s to Caesar and the things that are God’s to God.’ [4]
Here is Jesus showing his disinterest in the oppositional politics of his day, and his absolute commitment to the greater laws of God. This little episode revealed that the Pharisees and the Herodians were focussed entirely on their opposition to Roman taxation, rather than on their obedience to the laws of God. Jesus’ teachings showed how God’s laws transcend all earthly politics but also deeply influence the behaviour of those who obey them. Love for God and love for neighbour is a universal rule, embracing everyone unconditionally.
Now, on the day when Jesus turned the tables of the money-changers and the sacrificial animal traders and drove them out of the temple, he said, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ [5]
Jesus was angered by the way the people had allowed the worship of God in the temple to come second to the system of taxation represented by the temple traders. The disciples remembered the words of scripture, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ Jesus was zealous for the temple where the commands of God - commands to love God and love neighbour - should be upheld above all. Jesus was angry for the disobedience of the temple authorities acting as if they were operating under God’s laws but who in reality had subjected themselves to the ways of the world in which the tax system is a mainspring.
His opposition to the temple tax system got him crucified in the end. Those who set the temple tax laws set out to destroy the One who in his very body represented the laws of God - the laws of love for God and neighbour. But they didn’t have the last word. ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’, Jesus said to them, speaking of the temple of his body. [6]
The resurrection of Jesus was his ultimate table-turning act against the taxmen. For the ways of the world manifested in the tax system died with him on the cross; and the ways of God open out for eternity in the lives of those who embrace his law of love.
The Widow’s Mite shows that tax systems hurt the people on the lowest incomes; the story of the call of Matthew, a tax-collector, reveals that others caught up in the system get damaged too. Tax-collectors were Jews reviled in Jewish society because their daily work involved them taking money from their own people and passing it on to Rome. It didn’t help that some of them relished their role, for it could be lucrative. Shamed, despised, treated with contempt, tax-collectors were people to avoid. So imagine the effect Jesus had on Matthew when he invited him to follow him.
For this was Jesus turning the tables on the tax-collector Matthew - in a good way. While everyone else avoided or condemned Matthew, Jesus showed him trust, Jesus lifted from Matthew the veil of shame which shrouded him and enabled him to hold his head up again, to know himself affirmed and loved. In being so gracious towards Matthew Jesus turned the tables on the culture which perpetuated the shame which tax-collectors were forced to endure.
In the eyes of the self-righteous, tax-collectors and sinners were all contaminated people. Which is why the Pharisees questioned Jesus’s practice of eating with them. But Jesus turned the tables on the Pharisees by suggesting that it was their attitude that was toxic, saying, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I came to call not the upright, but sinners.’ [7]
Some Christians today give time and energy to turning the tables on the taxman: campaigners seeking to change tax rules impoverishing the most vulnerable members of our society [8], pensioners, taxi drivers and road hauliers together lobbying parliament about fuel tax rises [9], conscientious objectors campaigning to have the military part of their taxes diverted to a peace fund [10], supporters of Christian Aid campaigning on the issue of tax dodging by multinationals [11], and advocates of the Robin Hood Tax wherein a proportion of the transactions of international banks are diverted to support public services, fight poverty and tackle climate change [12].
Other Christians, maybe you and me, perhaps relate more to Doddy, who following his court case would come onstage and introduce his act with the words, "Good evening, my name is Kenneth Arthur Dodd; singer, photographic playboy and failed accountant!” [13]
When it comes to turning the tables on the taxman, maybe we’re keen to join the campaigners, or perhaps we feel more like Doddy, or the widow, or Matthew - or even the temple traders: just people trying to get along financially, caught up in the system, trying to do the right thing by our donations to church and charity.
The message is that in financial matters we should always try to put God’s law of love above every other concern. But however we choose to go about this, we are unconditionally loved by Jesus, and called to join him in a life of neighbourliness and mercy.
Notes
This is a rewrite of Turning the tables on the taxman preached at Bridestowe and Lydford, 11 March 2012.
[1] Wikipedia: Ken Dodd: Tax evasion court case
[2] Mark 12.40 in David Bentley Hart, The New Testament: A Translation.
[3] Mark 12.43-44 in David Bentley Hart, The New Testament: A Translation.
[4] Matthew 22.15-22 in David Bentley Hart, The New Testament: A Translation.
[5] John 2.16.
[6] John 2.17-22.
[7] Matthew 9.10-13.
[8] Church Action on Poverty: Churches call for Fair Taxes in the Budget.
[9] Fair Fuel UK campaign.
[10] Peace Tax Seven campaign.
[11] Christian Aid Tax Justice campaign.
[12] Robin Hood Tax.
[13] Wikipedia: Ken Dodd: Tax evasion court case.
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