Today is Holy Tuesday. It’s not the most celebrated day of Holy Week.

As for me and my household, it is Holy Crap Tuesday; the tax payment got mailed today. 

We met the April 15th deadline this year with no need for an extension, and for that we are grateful.

We are also not having to take out a loan to pay our taxes, which are practically the cost of a Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right. 

I’d much rather have new kitchen appliances, a jet ski, and a trip to Bora Bora than to seal up a check in an envelope and to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.

How appropriate that we take care of this yearly task today, for paying taxes is one of the very topics on which Jesus was questioned during the Tuesday of Holy Week.

When the Pharisees and the Herodians asked whether it was right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar, Jesus wisely responded:

‘Why are you trying to trap me?’ he asked. ‘Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.’ They brought the coin, and he asked them, ‘Whose image is this? And whose inscription?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.’ And they were amazed at him.”

Mark 12:15b-17

Matthew tells us that “they left him and went away” (22:22b). It’s not that his answer satisfied them. They were, as we might say, turd-stirrers. They were retreating to come at Him again, with new questions and reinforcements.

Today’s tax calculations are pretty darn clear. It might take an accountant to sift through it all initially, but I can follow how my figures added up on my return. There is no doubt as to what is owed to the government.

The federal government has seven tax rates. That sounds almost biblical.

And that makes me think, does God have a tax table whereby He calculates the cost of following Him? Are some required to pay more and others pay less? 

Earlier in His ministry, Jesus told the parable of the talents. We’re not talking about yodeling or buck dancing. A talent was an ancient unit of value, the heaviest or largest biblical unit of measurement for weight. 

In this parable, a master had entrusted his servants with talents, which were his own wealth and possessions, but he proportioned them to each servant’s abilities. Two of the servants invested their talents, reaping a return that doubled the initial investment. However, the third servant, who had received one talent, “went away and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money” (Matthew 25:18). While the first two servants were praised, the third servant was chastised, his talent taken from him, and he himself was thrown out of the master’s presence (Matthew 25:30).

Too many times, I’ve looked in the mirror and seen the third servant. The image staring back at me is sometimes one of selfishness and deceit and fear. It is the image of one who holds back and doubts what God can do. It is the image of one who is ashamed to admit all this.

It is the image of one who has to remind herself daily to surrender everything completely to her King. 

It is only then that the reflection changes, and the Spirit comes into view.

His perfect image is the one stamped on my life.

It doesn’t matter how much God has given us. Some may have more resources, and some may have more abilities – like yodeling and buck dancing. No matter your financial situation, skill set, time, or talents, He expects us to use whatever we have for Him and for His glory.

Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s (in the 22% bracket) . . . and to God what is God’s.

100%. He wants our all. He wants our life.

Nothing less.

But don’t worry. You’ll get it back plus some, both here, and in the after. 

And I’ve got a feeling it will be far better than Bora Bora.