21 Pentecost

 

October 22, 2023

 

Matthew 22.15-22

 

+ Last week, in our Gospel reading, I was blunt—and honest—with you.

 

I told you then that I did not like the parable we were told by Jesus.

 

It was a difficult story that, by today’s standards, would’ve been torn to pieces by critics.

 

But if we’re patient in our faithful listening to these Gospels, we can almost be assured that for every one story we might not like—like last week’s story—there will be one that we really get.

 

Today, is one of those Gospel readings.

 

I like this Gospel reading.

 

In it we find Jesus being confronted by the Herodians and the Pharisees, both of whom are enemies of each other, but for this brief moment, they are ganging up on Jesus.

 

I love it when Jesus and the Pharisees go head-to-head.

 

Actually, I feel kind of sorry for the Pharisees.

 

They think they’re really smart and clever, but they’re really not.

 

They begin their argument with a compliment of course.

 

Yes, that’s the way to begin.

 

They know: a compliment will truly throw off the person you are about to trap.

 

But Jesus is too smart for them of course.

 

He turns their question back on them. Jesus asks about the coin.

 

He asks about a coin he, if you notice, does not carry.

 

Nor does he ever touch it.

 

As we know, Roman coins were ritually unclean in the Jewish culture.

The emperor Caesar was viewed as a god, and that made them unclean to good, pious Jews.

 

Using the coin as his reference, he lets them have it.

 

Give to God’s what is God’s, he says.

 

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

 

It seems he is making a clear distinction between the religious and the secular to some extent.

 

He seems to be making that distinction between God and government.

 

But…not really.

 

The real point he is making here can be found when we put it all in perspective.

 

Jesus and every good, loyal Jewish male there on that day—including the Pharisees— was required to pray a prayer every day.

 

Jesus no doubt prayed that prayer that morning, as did every devout Jewish male (and no doubt many Jewish females) that day.

 

The prayer is a simple prayer.

 

It’s called the Shema

 

“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

 

The Shema is, of course, the summary of the Law.

 

It is a summary of all belief for a Jew. It essentially renders to God, what is God’s.

 

But if you listen closely to what the Shema says, you realize: Jesus’ statement really isn’t an either/or statement.

 

He’s simply saying that once what is God’s is rendered to God, there is nothing else.

 

There are no other options for those of us who belong to God.

 

For those who love God with all their heart, all their soul and all their might, there is nothing else.

 

Rendering anything to Caesar’s is simply not an option.

 

For us, it is a matter of realizing we don’t have the option of turning our Christianity on and off.

 

We are always followers of Jesus, we are always children of a loving God, in everything we do.

 

Everything we do and say begins and ends in following Jesus.

 

We don’t have the option of being a Christian when it suits us and being secular when it doesn’t.

 

We are a follower of Jesus all the time—in everything we do and every aspect of our lives.

 

And it is important to remind ourselves of this.

 

So what does it mean to live a life in which we give to God what is God’s?

 

It meant to do what we do best as Christians.

 

It means to love fully.

 

It means loving God fully.

 

It means loving others fully.

 

It means loving ourselves fully.

 

It means living that love out in our lives.

 

For this love that we have received from God is God’s love.

 

And we must render that love to God and to others.

 

I know.

 

It sounds so simple.

 

It sounds so basic.

 

We wonder why we ever thought it was hard or why others thought it was hard.

 

But it is a lot harder than it sounds.

 

Rendering the things that are God’s to God is not easy.

 

It is much, much easier to render the things to Caesar that are Caesar’s.

 

It is easy to let the establishment stay established.

 

It is easy to be chameleons to some extent, to change ourselves to suit whatever situation may arise so that we can quietly fade into the background, or so we can hold on, for a moment, to the control we have worked to maintain.

 

It is easy to be a Christian on Sundays and to be a “regular” person the rest of the week.

 

It is easy to say we’re Christians, but it’s not always east being a Christian.

 

But for us, who follow Jesus, being anything other than a follower of Jesus is a sell-out.

 

It truly is a turning away from Jesus and all he stands for.

 

It is, essentially, a way in which we turn our Christianity on and off like a switch to suit our own personal needs.

 

It is hard to be a Christian in every aspect of our lives.

 

It hard to love God in all things.

 

It is hard to love our neighbors in all things.

 

It is hard, very often to love even ourselves in all things.

 

But that is what it means to render to God the things that are God’s.

 

It means giving to God all that is God’s.

 

And we belong to God.

 

We are the conduits of that all-loving, all-accepting God.

 

We are the bearers of that radical, all-powerful love of God.

 

So let us truly render to God what is God’s.

 

Let us live out our lives in the love we have received from God.  

 

Let us live fully in this holy and all-consuming love, sharing what we are nourished on here with everyone.

 

And with God’s love within us, let us be that radical Presence of love and acceptance to all those we encounter.

 

Let us pray.

Holy and loving God, help us in what we render to you, that it will be fruitful and will further the Kingdom you have established here among us; we ask this in the name of Jesus your Son. Amen.