Last week God was very angry
with Aaron and the people for making the golden calf to worship while Moses was
on the mountain with God. The people were impatient. Maybe Moses had forgotten
them. Or maybe God had. We do have a tendency to think that sort of thing when
our prayers are not immediately answered in the way we want.
But they did it this time. God
was ready to consume them all. Although Moses talked God out of destroying them,
God was obviously still very irritated. In the passages between last Sunday and
this one, God tells Moses to tell the people that a safe passage will be made
for them to pass into the promised land but God will not go up among them,
“lest I consume you in the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
But Moses, always willing to
talk with God, to argue with God, to even calm God’s anger continues in today’s
passage. “If you won’t go with me, who will you send?” God tells him that God’s
presence will go with him. But Moses persists: “If your presence will not go
with me, do not carry us up from here. For how will the people know that I and
your people have found favor in your sight if you are not there?” Moses demands
that God show him God’s glory. = not just the presence, but the glory – the
visible radiance and majesty of the Godhead.
God tells Moses that not only
will the Radiance of the Divine Majesty be shown to Moses but God will proclaim
the name “The LORD”.
“I Am Who I Am” was the name
revealed to Moses at the Burning Bush when he asked “Who shall I tell them you
are?” The actual name of God was so holy that it was not to be said. YHWH was too Holy; rather, the word Adonai (lord or master) or the
words LORD or GOD was substituted.
Moses asked for a declaration
of God’s presence and God responded not only by showing God’s glory but also proclaiming
the name of God. To see God, even if only the back of God, to have the Holy
Name proclaimed was an affirmation of Moses belonging to God, doing God’s will.
The Pharisees are a good example
of a “stiff-necked people”. They were persistent in trying to entrap Jesus. Today,
they ask, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
Jesus’ answer? Give to Caesar
what is his. Give to God what is God’s.
But did that answer anything? We
are today still asking the questions:
What belongs to Caesar? What
belongs to God?
Do we live in a world where
our spiritual and secular lives are divided? To many, that answer is yes, yes
we do. We have our church life and then we have the rest of our life.
It reminds me of the
Prosperity Theology. The idea is that financial
blessing/physical well being are the will of God for some people. If we
do good, we are given good. Sickness and poverty are caused by lack of faith.
Are you sick? Are you poor? Obviously,
your faith is lacking. The result of this thinking is that it keeps people from
feeling empathy or compassion for those they do not know who are sick or poor –
especially those who live in poverty. Any support offered is for the benefit of
the giver more than the one receiving.
Prosperity Theology is a good
example of the division between our spiritual and secular lives. God and Scriptures
are used to get what the person wants, not spiritually but materially. That
idea is the exact opposite of all the teachings of the Gospel, the Epistles,
and the Hebrew texts. Scripture points to the idea that God uses the believer,
not the other way around.
We can see that the Pharisees
question is a political one meant to separate rather than to unite. They were
trying to trap Jesus by his own words. His answer would either violate Jewish
law or Roman law.
The Roman tax was one imposed
upon all the Jews in Jerusalem. But on the coin of Rome was the head of the
Emperor of Rome. The denarius had Caesar’s image on it and it also had an
inscription calling the emperor the son of god. For a good Jew to carry this
coin would have been idolatrous. But the tax had to be paid.
For most of us, if we don’t
pay taxes, we can wind up following Jesus from a prison cell. It’s just reality,
at least for those of us who can’t afford the loopholes. The same was true
then. It was the law of the land.
But is that the main idea of
this passage? Give to Caesar’s what belongs to Caesar?
Perhaps Jesus was saying give
back to Caesars what is his. The NIV uses the term “give back” rather than
simply give. Return it. You don’t need it. Give it back. That is a difficult
idea for us to contemplate. How would we exist in a consumer market if we gave
back all our money to our government?
Or is the second part more
important? What does belong to God?
As I was reading and preparing
for this sermon, I ran across an article from 2004 by Rabbi Arthur Waskow from
the Shalom Center and he wrote about this passage from a Jewish point of view.
He told this story from the
teachings of rabbis who were in the same time frame:
“Our
Rabbis taught: Adam, the first human being, was created as a single person to
show forth the greatness of the Ruler Who is beyond all Rulers, the Blessed
Holy One. For if a human ruler [like Caesar] makes many coins from one mold,
they all carry the same image, they all look the same. But the Blessed Holy One
shaped all human beings in the Divine Image, as Adam was shaped in the Divine
Image … "in the Image of God." And yet not one of them resembles
another.
The
very diversity of human faces shows forth the Unity and Infinity of God,
whereas the uniformity of imperial coins makes clear the limitations on the
power of an emperor.”
He said to read the Gospel
story as it is written in Matthew. But then he retold the story adding one line
and a simple gesture.
"Whose
image is on this coin?" asks Jesus.
His
questioner answers, "Caesar’s!"
Then
Jesus puts his arm on the troublemaker’s shoulder and asks, "And Whose
Image is on this coin?"
Perhaps
the troublemaker mutters an answer; perhaps he does not need to. Not till after
this exchange does Jesus say, "Give to Caesar what is Caesars and to God
what is Gods."
Jesus purpose was not to
divide the material and spiritual. He was simply saying look at the coin. Does
it reflect the image of God?
What then, if we remember that
the first human – adam – was made in
the image of God and as a result, we all are made in that image of God? How does that affect our understanding of
“Give to God what is God’s?”
What if Jesus is calling us to
be active in our understanding of our sacred diversity, of the many ways in
which God’s image is offered to us? What if, as the Rabbi suggests, that we are
being called to not only look at but affirm our differences even as Caesar
“tries to reduce us to uniformity?”
“The very diversity of human faces shows forth the
Unity and Infinity of God...”
Look at one another. Look
around the room. See the diversity of our faces. Understand it is the divine
diversity of the image of God. In that image, there is a Oneness, in spite of
the diversity, simply because we all are in that image of God.
What if Jesus is calling us to
a deeper understanding that we are called to a more profound commitment to
follow God? A radical understanding of belonging to God? Like Moses. What about
an even more radical understanding that we belong to one another simply because
we love God, God loves us, therefore we love one another with all our
differences? Not in spite of but because of those differences?
Giving to Caesar’s what is his
suggests that we all act the same as Caesar, think the same, even in our
religious practices. But, giving to God what is God’s is understanding that
there are many differences with only one sameness – and that is, God.
When we expect all to conform
to an idea, a belief, a practice we hold as our own, or a race we are, we open
the room to division, not unity. Because that division makes it into Us and
Them.
To be divided because of
differences is more closely in line with following Caesar as if Caesar was truly
the son of god. And that is a total subversion of Jesus’ intention.
To fear another because we do
not recognize our own self within that other one is to fully profane the idea
of God. It is not our own likeness that we should seek.
It is no wonder that God was
so angry and put out with the people of Israel that the only thought was to
consume them. How many times throughout history has God wanted to consume the
human race, even as it is made in God’s own image? We are a stiff-necked
people, prone to our projections of grandeur, our sense of self-righteousness,
our pronouncements of superiority. We are stubborn and selfish, greedy and
impatient. We are weak and yes, we are stupid. Too often we practice our
religion as though we think that if we pray enough or give enough or give a
little to the poor that we will be rewarded with wealth and good things.
There is a major faultline in
that thinking. It threatens to destroy all for which we yearn. That Peace which
passes all understanding does not come to us through material wealth. Peace as
we desire it – that is, trouble leaving us – does not belong to those of us in
this Christian faith. Wealth does not either, for that matter. Moses certainly
had little peace or wealth. Neither did Jesus. We are not told to go and reap
the harvest and save it for ourselves in case we need it later. We are told to
give, then give more. We are told to love, and then love more. And then we are
told to love even more.
Some might call it
irresponsible to preach these words. What if someone gives all that they have
to poor Joe standing by the highway and then that person has nothing left to
live on? Should we do that? I cannot
say.
I obviously have not.
But I pray for those who have
no home, or are underhoused. I pray for those who are hungry. I work towards
righting those injustices that cause people to be without their basic needs
being met. I try to remember that words and actions matter. I know we can’t
just show up. We have to DO. So I do.
Most of all, I remember that
today, I am living in the kingdom of God. Now. Right now. I belong to God, I
yearn for God. All I am is for God. Therefore, all my actions have to reflect
that. I don’t always succeed but I try. Is that enough? I hope so.
As we gather at this table, to
be One in the body of Christ, we do so as individuals made in the image of God
called into being with one another and with God. And then we will go out in the name of the
Most High and Holy One into the world, as individuals made in the image of God
to be with others made in that Divine Image to do the work of that Divine One.
Give to God what is God’s.
Remember that we are to love God above all other things, first and foremost and
lastly. Remember that we are to love one another as God loves us. And just as
importantly, remember that you are loved by the One in whose image you are
created.
Give to God what is God’s.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment