Almost everyone who has been brought up in the church has heard of the "taxes to Caesar" story. "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?" they asked Jesus. Allegiance to the empire and to God is the issue. Jesus' patriotism is being called into question. I want to talk to you about when patriotism becomes an idol.

The setting is important. It was toward the end of Jesus' ministry, just before his death. His vision was focused. He was going to Jerusalem. There he would be confronted with life and death issues. There he would die on the cross. You catch from the teachings of Jesus that Surround this text, a kind of urgency, a kind of confrontation with ultimate questions, questions that probe the depth of one's being. There is in the parables and sayings of Jesus at this point, a question of ulti…