This year the day we celebrate our Lord Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins happens to be the traditional Tax Day in the US of April 15th. While the IRS has extended it to April 18th, that does make it also cover Easter (Resurrection Sunday) on April 17th too. Some may cry that this shows disrespect for our faith, that the holiest week in Christianity is Tax Day. That when we should be focusing on our Savior, we have to file tax papers. Well Jesus did tell us to pay our taxes, “And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.” (Mark 12:14-17). So wherever you live, make sure you pay your taxes, you don’t have Scriptural support to neglect that duty. For the apostle Paul says, “Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” (Romans 13:7), and “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” (Romans 13:1-2).
Now I bet some of you would say that the United States was founded over taxation without representation, that England was taxing the colonies and monopolizing trade: making it so they could only buy English Tea and goods at inflated prices. You’d be right, but one of those very founders of America and who wrote (co-wrote, he wrote most of it but others like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin had a hand in it) the Declaration of Independence said, “two things are certain, death and taxes.” (Thomas Jefferson). If the writer said this, then its not something you will win against in some noble political crusade. Taxes are part of life and will be till Jesus returns and establishes his Millennial Reign.
So pay your taxes.
Is there perhaps any irony or intrigue to Tax Day and Good Friday overlapping? Perhaps. Its not the equivalent, but Jesus made a difficult sacrifice for us, and paying taxes does feel like a sacrifice, you don’t want to do it, but its necessary you do it. In a way Jesus paid your spiritual taxes. All of us had major back spiritual taxes, and the penalty wasn’t fines like with real taxes, but death and the possibility of hell fire! The Apostle Paul actually using fiscal terms to describe our salvation, “God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross,” (Colossians 2:13-14). So I have no qualms using taxes as a way to explain Good Friday.
Yes, when Jesus hung on the cross he endured so you’ll never have to pay spiritual taxes ever! Your debt is cleared. You get a spiritually tax free life and eternity! There is no purgatory waiting to collect more, no you are assured your spiritual taxes are cleared once and for all, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:24-28).
Interestingly, tax has a different meaning. To tax can mean to strap one with a heavy load, to wear them down, which is opposite of Jesus’ yoke, “Come to me,all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30). So perhaps the Lord wants us through this overlapping of tax day and Good Friday & Easter to discern a deeper meaning or appreciation for just what Jesus did at the cross. We should rejoice over what Jesus did for our sins like being told we shall never pay taxes again, that we are tax exempt! That is the kind of joy that should fill our hearts!
So remember, celebrate Good Friday, celebrate Easter, and pay your taxes. Amen.
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