Give God What is God's

Sermon for 21A Pentecost

Proper 24

October 22, 2023

 

 

Last week, I was off at Virginia Theological Seminary to celebrate my alma mater's Bicenntenary. It was fun to visit with a few of my friends, and walk around the campus without a care in the world. No paper to write. No tests or chapters to read. I could just enjoy myself. 

Now I'm back and just in time for the passages in Matthew's Gospel where we witness Jesus having repeated run-ins with people who want to trip him up. Yeah, good luck with that!

It is also coming at a time when there is a war raging in the Middle East. The October 7th attack by Hamas, which was horrific in its indiscriminate slaying of Jews in Israel, has been met by an awful retaliation of bombings of Gaza, which has killed thousands of Palestinians. 

The Holy Land...is not so holy. It is hell. And I pray for the violence to stop. 

All of this was on my mind as I wrote this sermon. See what you think. 

 

Text: Matthew 22:15-22
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There’s a woman we’ve been praying for this year who recently passed away after a relatively short illness.

Her name is Lucy Morgan.

Lucy was a friend of mine and a journalism colleague in Tallahassee.

Back in the 1990s…when I was working in public radio…Lucy was the bureau chief for the St. Petersburg Times…now the Tampa Bay Times.

The St. Pete Times holds the distinction of having been one of the best newspapers in the state…and Lucy was among their Pulitzer Prize winning journalists.

She was called the “Dean of the Press Corps” not just because of her long-tenure as a bureau chief…but because she was a formidable presence…and not a person to mess with.

She was quick-witted…funny.. and was dogged in her pursuit of the truth.

And…like any good journalist…she had an ethical core that demanded fairness in her quest to get to the bottom of a story.

If there was one thing Lucy could not abide…it was those journalists who liked to play the game of “gotcha.”

Lucy didn’t feel the need to set up her interview subjects for the purposes of entrapping them.

In the world of political reporting…liars would become quickly self-evident.

Armed with facts…a good ethical reporter has no need to play “gotcha.”

Those reporters who liked to play the “gotcha” game earned Lucy’s disdain…and by extension…the rest of us in the Capital Press Corps would also shun and shame them for their behavior.

The “gotcha” style of questioning is more about the ego of that journalist…the insecurity that makes them need to play a game in order to feel like they have the power and the upper hand in the interview.

It has nothing to do with getting the information the public needs to know.

That same kind of egotistical power playing is on full display in our Gospel lesson this morning.

Here we have this unholy alliance of the Pharisees and the Herodians coming together against their common irritant: Jesus.

At this point in Matthew’s Gospel…Jesus has already run afoul of both groups with his triumphant ride into Jerusalem…mocking the Empire… and his table-turning in the Temple.

He’s a threat to the status quo…a rebel with a cause.

The Herodians would have allegiance to King Herod Antipas…the King installed by the Roman Empire…the oppressors of the Jews.

Herod’s also the one who arrested and then beheaded John the Baptist.

The Pharisees represent the rule-keeping religious sect of Judaism…who see Jesus and his disciples not keeping with the proper order of things…and calling into question “the way things are.”

These two groups are looking for ways to trip him up.

So, they send some underlings to harass him.

After his inquisitors put on a show of flattery…they try to zing Jesus with their “gotcha” question:

“Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor or not?’

What a set up!

If he says, “No”…the Herodians can accuse him of sedition against the Emperor.

If he says, “Yes”…the Pharisees hope it will undermine his credibility among the occupied Jewish citizens by making him look like a Roman sympathizer.

The denarius…the coin Jews had to use to pay taxes to Rome… not only had the image of Tiberius Caesar; it proclaimed Caesar to be divine.

Such a phrase was highly offensive to the Jews and they resented this idea of Caesar being “divine” in any way.

Jesus isn’t interested in their gotcha question.

He knows what they’re trying to do.

Afterall…this is the Jesus who has earlier in the Gospel flipped over tables in the Temple… so he’s not playing.

He takes their gotcha question and turns it inside out.

“Show me the coin! Who’s head is this?”

“The Emperor”

“OK…well…then you give this secular object representing secular things with this secular authority’s image to the secular authority. And you give to God those things with God’s image what is owed to God….”

And what bears this image of God?

Well…look in the mirror.

The thing God desires is us…the whole of us.

Every part of us.

Our good…bad…and even our ugly us.

All our love… all our heart, all our mind, all our soul…all our strength.

As it’s said in Luke’s Gospel, for God… the very hairs on our heads are of more value than the cost of sparrows in the market place. (Luke 12:6-7)

The image of Caesar on the coin…just like the images we have of our founding fathers on our own currency …are fine for earthly commerce.

But God deals in hearts and minds…not silver and gold.

Jesus’ answer raises for us the importance of seeing the difference between what poses as powerful in our secular society versus the power of God which is over and beyond all that worldly authority.

This language is putting before us the tension that we must live into as citizens in our society.  

We must negotiate how to move from this place…this safe haven where we confess a belief in the risen Christ and come to God’s table to remember Christ’s work through the cross to bring us into relationship with God…and allow that to shape our actions when we leave here.

That includes how we put our earthly income to use and how we confront the systems and structures of our world.

What are the values we carry from here that inform those choices about our finances and what we take out into the public life?

The group that writes our Prayers of the People often wrestles with this…especially as we contemplate the writing prayers for “the nation and all in authority.”

We talk about where the needs are in our community and the pressures that weigh on our elected officials.

We also recognize that we live in a pluralistic society…so we don’t seek a Christian theocracy.

But we know that if our leaders would work from a basic level of following the words of the prophet Micah…to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God… our world would be a kinder and more equitable place for all people.

We might actually bring about a society where all people have equal access to food…shelter… and education.

Where our differences in age…income…orientation…skin color…national origin…are seen through eyes of awe and delight instead of fear and suspicion.

This is the dream that we would hope would bring about peace for all…and end such conflicts as we are seeing play out in Israel and Gaza…Ukraine…and Sudan.

Praying for our leaders…seeking peace and justice for all people…helps to form us and the guide us in the decisions we make.

By asking for God’s guidance for others…we’re directing our own hearts toward making this a better society…and helping us to put our resources to the best use for everyone.

May we lift those prayers in hopes of God’s will being manifested on earth as it is in heaven.

In the name of God…F/S/HS.