Oration the 20th Sunday after Pentecost
Sovereign God, raise your throne in our hearts. Created by you, let us
live in your image; created for you, let us act for your glory; redeemed by
you, let us give you what is yours, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Oration for Thanksgiving
Almighty God our Father, your generous goodness comes
to us new every day. By the work of your Spirit lead us to acknowledge your
goodness, give thanks for your benefits, and serve you in willing obedience, through
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
First Reading: Isaiah 45:1-7
1 Thus says the Lord
to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations
before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him-- and the
gates shall not be closed: 2 I will go before you and level the mountains, I will
break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, 3 I will
give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that
you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your
name. 4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by
your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you,
though you do not know me, 6 so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is
no other. 7 I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the
Lord do all these things.
Psalm 96:1-9 [10-13]
1 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing
to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to
be praised;
he is to be revered above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are
idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
6 Honor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of
the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his
name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the Lord in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, "The Lord is king!
The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity."
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the
earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
12 let the field exult, and everything
in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
13 before the Lord; for he is coming,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with his truth.
Second
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
1 Paul, Silvanus, and
Timothy,
To the church of the
Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
2 We always give
thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3
remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and
steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters
beloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our message of the gospel
came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with
full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among
you for your sake.
6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution
you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you
became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For the
word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need
to speak about it. 9 For the people of those regions report about us what kind
of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a
living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
Gospel
Reading: Matthew 22:15-22
15 Then the Pharisees
went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16 So they sent their disciples
to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are
sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference
to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17 Tell us, then, what
you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" 18 But
Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test,
you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought
him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose
title?" 21 They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them,
"Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to
God the things that are God's." 22 When they heard this, they were amazed;
and they left him and went away.
…Give therefore to the emperor the
things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.
·
Should we warn
Jesus that the question put to him is a trap? No, he already knows it. Doesn’t
he say Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? He
knows that the question is primed and set for trapping him.
·
A simple thing
like taxes is what is involved. We pay income taxes and sales taxes and
property taxes. All of those are far more than the denarius coin used by the Romans for tax collection. We say that
taxes are the price of civilization, paying for roads, schools, health care,
and so many other things. What did Roman taxes pay for? Mostly for the pay of
the army, the imperial government, and the emperor’s household.
·
Now Jesus is
faced with a decision. He knows the trap is before him. The coin is Roman with
the emperor’s image and title on it, which would be blasphemous to the Jewish
people of the time. The title proclaims the emperor to be divine, no less than
a god, and the image could be called a “graven image” and a violation of the
Mosaic Law.
·
If Jesus agrees
that the tax is lawful, he’s siding with the Roman Empire which occupies the
land with repressive force; he’d be a traitor to his own people. If he declares
the tax is unlawful, he’s committing treason against the Empire and is liable
for punishment and maybe even death as a rebel.
·
What Jesus says
is a variation on “Don’t waste my time
with this trivia.” If it’s Caesar’s coin, let him have it back. Be sure then
to give to God what is God’s… which is everything!
·
It’s interesting
to note that the Pharisees who raised the question with Jesus simply walked
away. Matthew wrote They left him and went away. They weren’t interested in
what Jesus had to say and they were not drawn to him. Their retreat shows that
their intent was to trip him up, not to hear his wisdom.
·
Here we see
religion and politics mixed and that is a nasty cocktail any time. We’ve seen
it in our own day and in the recent past. Wars, persecutions, and pogroms can
all be tied to it. There’s no real need to name them. Our ancestors knew them
well and many here have seen and known them first-hand. (My own ancestors faced
it, although it was different than your ancestors’ problems. They spoke the
language but were despised by so many.)
·
The trouble comes
from the fact that our politics are the way our faith is lived out. As
disciples of Jesus, our code is what we call the Beatitudes. (Blessed
are the poor…) There is the call and the basis of the Kingdom of
God. The coin serves that call and that Kingdom. The problem comes when we
confuse the kingdom present and the Kingdom Coming. The Kingdom of God is seen
in the politics that protects the most vulnerable, although that is not always
the case in reality. The Kingdom of God is about love of God and love of
neighbor; the kingdom present (often called “Empire” by some) is about itself.
·
All this can be
tough to talk about. The affairs of church and state can be very complex. Our
earthly lives as both disciples and citizens can be confusing at times as we
appear to walk a tightrope. We have to learn to handle things in real world
situations where things are not so cut-and-dried as we might like. There may be
times when our discipleship conflicts with our citizenship, and none of us like
that.
·
There is no
simple solution to this issue, except to say that we remain disciple of Jesus
Christ living in the present moment in this place. We may have to live with
some tension.
·
One person wrote
a note a number of years ago. He works as a comedian and is a devoted
Christian. The insight of this man – Stephen Colbert – should make us think and
wonder. It is worth hearing: “If this
is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we’ve got
to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to
acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition,
and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”
·
Through it all,
never forget that God is with us every step with grace and mercy for all. And
we follow Jesus’ advice.
…Give therefore to the emperor the things that
are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.
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