The main point of this morning's Gospel passage, of course, is about taxes and the morality of the state's use of its citizens' funds. It is about what we allocate to the state, by compulsion and law, and what we allocate to God, by choice and by faith. That is all so obvious, so straight-forward, so beautifully self-evident and self-explanatory that it doesn't really invite any sermonizing.

But there is, I think undeniably another point as well being made, not as central, not as obvious, not, granted, the focus - but there nonetheless, and there boldly and baldly and importantly. Whatever we make of Jesus' response to those wily, wicked Pharisees, it was a good answer. Without a doubt. A good answer.

But was it a good question? Probably not. Oh, on its own, in isolation, just the question, it might well have been a good question. Are we obligated to pay taxes - should we, is it lawful, from a religious point of view, especially, as in their case, taxes imposed by an unelected government, by a dictatorship that was itself imposed? Is it lawful to support that by paying the taxes demanded? And what would be the alternative, the consequences, if you didn't? As I say, that might well have been a fairly decent question. But was that really their question? I don't think so. The Pharisees and the Herodians and so forth were not really asking Jesus a question at all, a legitimate and honest question. They were not looking for divine guidance on the morality of complying with state taxation or the advisability of opposing it. Some of what our taxes pay for are inarguably good, and some things are more problematic, possibly the foolish scheme or an influential congressman, funding some pet project with our public money. But that wasn't really the question here. The Pharisees, the Herodians, the Scribes, the Hypocrites, were simply trying to trap Jesus. It was a trick question, not an honest one. It was a trap, not an inquiry.

The Pharisees come together to collude on how they "might entangle Jesus in his talk". They do their best, and when he bests them, the Gospel notes, a little dryly, I think, "and they marveled, and left him and went away."

I am not surprised. I am not surprised that they did not prevail in the little trap, that nasty attempt to trap Jesus with trick questions, insincere questions, that attempt to set him up, to trip him up, to take him down.

The pharisaical mentality that sought to trick Jesus and twist his message is silenced by Jesus and his message, and they marveled, and they left him, and they went away.

Jesus will not be tricked or trapped, and his message will not be twisted or distorted so that prejudice and arrogance and hypocrisy and self-justification can prevail.

But sometimes people tried.

And sometimes people still try, do still dare. Try to change the message, dare to complicate it. Often it is people trying to justify themselves or people trying to judge others.

But, sadly, sometimes, it is we ourselves who do this. Oh, not arrogantly trying to justify ourselves like the Pharisees, and you know, often as not, not really doing it as a way of condemning others. More likely we complicate Jesus' message with the unintentional, but definite result of condemning ourselves.

The message is simple, and must not be complicated to add to our own lack of self-esteem, or complicated to suit our own purposes, no matter how pious those purposes may seem. You really do not need to know anything about so much of what occupies so much of the Church's time and attention - you do not need to understand any of the controversies or fights among all the various denominations through the centuries, you don't need to follow or even acknowledge all the theological debates and arguments that have swirled through the Church for 2,000 years and will for another 2,000 at least. Or those very complex issues rampaging through the Church in our generation.

No. No. Instead, just genuinely love and honor and obey Jesus and genuinely listen to what he says. We are allowed, asked, invited to bring out questions to him, all our questions, but the real ones, the legitimate ones, the ones we need answers to, not any silly questions or pointless questions or worst of all, questions designed to trap God, to manipulate him, to get him to say what we want to hear, regardless.

And religious leaders are no more exempt now than they were back then, and also do this just as much as any person in the pew. All of us, are tempted, occasionally, to seek for whatever reasons to complicate and confuse the Gospel Proclamation of Jesus, the truth of God revealed in Jesus. It ought to be easily understood, it was intended to be easily understood: God acting through Jesus offers us absolute, unconditional love and full acceptance, regardless, no matter what, without any preconditions, terms, or assumptions. He expects that we will in return love him in return, and act out that love in this world of ours.

All of the heroism of personal sacrifice, all of the greatness of personal morality, all of the grandeur of personal witness and ministry all fall into place, all then proceed in order, if we approach Jesus with complete honesty, ask the questions we really have and not the ones we think might complicate the message so that we can wriggle out of clear moral teaching or simple straight-forward expectations and requirements.

St. Augustine offered the now famous and largely laughed at and misunderstood statement: "Love God and do what you like." This sounds too slick, too glib, too risky. If there are trick questions, that sound like it might be a "trick answer", too easy, too simplistic. A less obvious point but a critical point in our Gospel today is that Jesus does, time and again, give simple answers, very simple answers to complicated questions. And we in our turn tend to marvel as well.