The U.S. Internal Revenue Service chooses the weeks after Christmas to deliver its annual gift to every American household.
Despite reforms, federal income tax form 1040, with instructions, runs to more than 80 pages of text plus forms. It is a heavy reminder of our obligation to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.”
The government’s timing leaves something to be desired, alerting us to our financial obligations as we bask in the glow of gift-giving and postpone anxiety about how to afford our generosity.
At the same time, it is oddly appropriate, because the first Christmas was all about paying debts.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem rather than Nazareth because his parents were obliged to go to their ancestral city to be counted for tax purposes.
The star, the shepherds, the wise men, and the angelic host lend a religious significance to a journey whose sole purpose was to ensure that the Holy Family paid their taxes.
When Jesus, as an adult, asked to be shown the coin of tribute bearing Caesar’s profile, we can be sure that it was not the first time he had seen one.
Like the rest of his countrymen and women, he had been paying his taxes all along.
Nevertheless, religious leaders reviled him for socializing with tax collectors.
When Jesus chose one of them, Matthew the evangelist, to be an apostle, he may have been drawing attention to the obligation we all have to pay our debts, not only to government, but “to God the things that are God’s.”
When lottery winners are asked what they intend to do with their unexpected windfalls, they invariably answer, “First, I’ll pay off my debts.”
At year’s end the vast majority of us without winning tickets are faced with the problem of how to pay for their Christmas gifts, let alone for their federal, state, and local taxes, and other obligations.
The burden of debt can cripple self-esteem and destroy marriages, families, careers and even nations.
By way of consolation, the fundamental message of Christmas is that this infant in the manger was born to confront the debts of a bankrupt human race, paying with his life for our sins.
Headlines in today’s newspapers suggest that human nature and behavior have not improved much in the many centuries since then. Still, the permanent gift of Christmas is that the deepest debt we all owe has long since been paid once and for all, and we are free.
My favorite carol of the season is the Appalachian song that poses the question:
“I wonder as I wander out under the sky
Why Jesus the savior did come forth to die
For poor ornery children like you and like I...”
The answer to the carol’s question rings clear: to pay our debts and redeem our race.
I will try to remember that when I pay my own taxes.
David Yount is author of 14 books, including Spiritual Simplicity (Simon and Schuster). He answers readers at P.O. Box 2758, Woodbridge, VA 22195 and dyount31(at)verizon.net.