GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 3:12-13
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” 13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
There was a firm structure for the tax collection system in Rome. Rome did not demand an unreasonable amount of money from its citizens; most of its income went to paying the salaries of public servants and soldiers, and for the making of roads. However, to carry out the process of collection, opportunities opened up for corruption. The Publicans (Latin publicani) were Roman nobles or knights who purchased the rights to collect taxes from specific provinces. Their payment to Rome for these rights was the actual source of the money that paid soldiers and senators and so on (no one on this level is mentioned in the New Testament). Each chief tax collector (Latin princeps publicanorum) like Zacchaeus reported directly to these Publicans (Luke 19:2). Under the chiefs were ordinary tax collectors like Matthew (Greek telonai, Matthew 10:3). In older translations, they are sometimes referred to as “publicans,” but they were at the bottom, not the top, of the tax-collecting chain. Some of these men came to John to be baptized and to ask what they should do to show their repentance and their faith.
When John said, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he didn’t condemn collecting taxes. Nearly all of the income of any honest government comes from taxes. The reason people hated tax collectors was that there were virtually no restrictions on how they carried out their duties. They could charge whatever they wanted to. They had to be sure that the Knight (the highest of the publicani) got what he expected and that the local middle-man, the chief tax collector, got his cut as well. If the local tax-collector (the lowest guy) wanted to be paid for his work, he had to collect that much, too, but few if any tax collectors collected only their fair share. This is why John said, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to.”
For the average Christian, there are applications of this lesson in everyday life. The most important is that no one is to be excluded from the kingdom of God based on who they are or what they do for a living. If someone has come to know Jesus and wants to join a congregation, we can extend the hand of fellowship to them, allow our pastor or his team of elders to instruct them in Christian doctrine, and when they have been instructed, welcome them to the Lord’s Supper and everything else that full fellowship in the Christian Church offers.
But this isn’t the only application of the text. The most rampant criminal corruption in our nation, in almost any nation, is so-called white-collar crime. This is the greed and corruption that infects ordinary business owners and corporations of the Western World and the industrialized Far East. Ordinary petty theft is usually the result of someone driven to sin because he doesn’t have any other means to support himself, or someone driven to stealing because of some other external force in his life. Most drug use in America (leading to petty theft, waste of resources, prostitution, and other sins) is not the result of young people experimenting with pot or alcohol, but is a case of adults of all ages who can’t afford the pain medication they need to combat the strain of work injuries or military injuries and wounds. Or people just need to get away from the pain of loss—death of a child, death of a marriage, death of hopes and dreams. Opiates and other street drugs are far less expensive and far easier to obtain than prescription medications, and it doesn’t look like that fact will change anytime soon. Christ offers peace in the forgiveness of sins, but the devil always finds a way to sell indulgences or meth or whatever it is that makes people think they can buy momentary peace instead of just trusting in Christ for true peace.
So much for small-time, petty crime. The bigger problem, white-collar crime, is often masked by a self-righteous attitude that says, “Whatever is good for my company is good for my country,” but it’s really a search for any excuse to make more money at any cost. Greed consumes people with sins against most if not all of the Second Table of the Law.
● Fourth Commandment – going beyond the laws of the nation for profit.
● Fifth Commandment – Causing physical or mental harm or keeping the needy away from insurance, medicine, or other necessary things for the sake of profit.
● Sixth Commandment – Causing strife or divisions in marriages because of the pursuit of greed, or creating discord in the marriages of employees because wages are kept to a bare minimum with little or no needed benefits.
● Seventh Commandment – Every kind of greed violates the command not to steal.
● Eighth Commandment – Greed causes many to slander the good names of other people for the sake of profit.
● Ninth Commandment – Nearly every kind of greed is a violation of the command not to covet our neighbor’s house and belongings.
● Tenth Commandment – Greed can cause employers to ‘poach’ or ‘headhunt’ the employees of other companies that may cause damage to their companies or businesses, all because people become obsessed with getting ahead, as if there are no moral considerations—divine or human—when it comes to earning a living or running a company.
Listen to Luther’s explanation of just a few of these commandments:
“We should fear and love God that we do not take our neighbor’s money or property, or get it by dishonest dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and means of income.”
“We should fear and love God that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, or give him a bad name, but defend him, speak well of him, and take his words and actions in the kindest possible way.”
“We should fear and love God that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, or obtain it by a show of right, but do all we can to help him keep it.”
“We should fear and love God that we do not force or entice away our neighbor’s spouse, workers, or animals, but urge them to stay and do their duty.”
Earn your keep, and encourage the people around you to earn theirs. Rejoice when they earn a profit, but don’t envy them. And if you should happen upon more money than you need, think about the future—the future of God’s church, the future of your family, and even the future of your own health. Use the gifts God gives to his glory.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota