Life....With God's Help / La Vida....con el ayuda de Dios: What Do You Have in Your Wallet & on Your Refrigerator?

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA, 19 Oct. 2014, Proper 24

Year A RCL: Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22

Give to God the things that are God's.

What are the things of God?

The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, who works with our Bishop Scott Benhase, says^¹ “...God wants...nothing less than to come & abide in your heart...God loves you. God keeps your picture in the divine wallet & on the heavenly refrigerator.” That's such a delightful image of what belongs to God: YOU!

We have images in our reading from Matthew that are less than lovely. The emperor’s image on the money people use to pay taxes is a less-than-lovely image to the Pharisees, who are religious leaders; they take seriously God's command that says not to make images of other gods. The emperor & many of his people think the emperor is a god.

The other lovely-LESS image is the Pharisees, who are trying to trick Jesus,^² to trap him. They ask their questions to get Jesus into trouble either with the emperor/the government or with the people. The Pharisees bring along the Herodians. Pharisees think it is wrong to pay the tax. Herodians don't like paying but see the benefit of keeping on the good side of the government.^³

So, if Jesus says "Yes" then people will be angry. If he says "No" what will happen? He'll get into trouble with the government.

I wonder why Matthew tells us about the Pharisees asking Jesus about taxes. In 5 other chapters, Matthew (Chapters 12, 15, 16, 19 & 21) tells of other times they test Jesus. So why is this tax story important to Matthew?

Who remembers what kind of work Matthew did

before Jesus called him as a disciple?

Was he a fisherman? A shepherd?

He was a tax collector! We know this from Matthew 9:9.]

Matthew has keen insight about paying taxes AND about the people collecting taxes. He knows both sides of the coin:

He knows some tax collectors cheat & can over-charge as part of their pay.^⁴

Matthew knows God's grace & love that we receive through Jesus.

He knows what Jesus teaches in this lesson:

paying taxes isn't the issue.

The issue is how much we live in God's love.

Since we all pay taxes, we can understand this can be a hot topic. Raise your hand if you pay taxes so we can see how much we have in common.^⁵

Kids/you who didn't raise your hands, why didn't you raise your hands? Don't you pay your taxes? I'm pretty sure you do. Have you ever bought anything in a store? Then you have paid a tax – sales tax.^⁶

Paying taxes helps us have roads, schools, firefighters, police & other resources to help us. Long ago people's taxes paid for protection, security, & peace^⁷ AND, as we read in 2 Kings 12:4-5, to repair the temple in Jerusalem. People gave voluntarily to support the temple. That voluntary offering is a gift from the heart.^⁸

When we know tax money is wasted, it bothers our hearts. [As a college senior debating how tax money is spent, I found in my research a case of a grant from taxes being given to a community to fill in a cranberry bog to use the land in other ways. Later, another grant of tax money went to them to create a bog in that same place so they could grow cranberries!

I am sure the emperor did not spend tax money on cranberries. I do know that some folk who received taxes did not always use the money as promised.^⁹ In whatever way the emperor used the taxes, the Pharisees dislike paying & they dislike what Jesus tells people about how to live in God's love. They dislike how Jesus includes all kinds of people.

So the Pharisees ask is it OK in God’s law to pay the taxes.I would like to think the Pharisees somehow think they are serving God with all their heart, all their soul, mind & strength as they plot to trap Jesus. However, I'm not that naive.

We tend to think naive people are not quite with it & it's easy to trick them. “Naive” tends to be a pejorative term. Exploring this word lately, a friend & I have discovered interesting aspects to it: naive people are innocent & they make good leaders!

Maybe they are good leaders because their innocence keeps them open to other people's ideas. Naive people have the innocent trust implied by the French word that gives us our word naive. The French word means "having a natural simplicity & honesty."^¹⁰ It is from a word that means "being part of the nature of a person from birth, native, inborn..."¹¹

What a gift to have a leader of honest simplicity.

Jesus has honest simplicity. He is a good leader. We know Jesus has keen intelligence, which is another quality naive people may have.

Pharisees lack honest simplicity. They complicate issues. Their trap to get Jesus into trouble fails. With his keen intelligence, Jesus knows their reason for asking, so he asks simply & wisely for a coin & says: Whose picture is on this coin? Answer: the emperor. So give the emperor his stuff & give God what belongs to God.

What belongs to God, what has God’s

“picture” on it is YOU!

The Bible tells us: God creates us in God's image. God the Holy Trinity is a Holy Unity. God is love. We are made in the image of that Holy Unity of Love. That picture of you on God's refrigerator shines forth God's love that is in you, the love we know through Jesus. How do we live this love?

In a fun music video on its website, Church of the Spirit in Kingstowne, VA, illustrates how to “Love the Lord Your God”: The video emphasizes “the big 4”^¹² - the 4 BIG words: Love, Welcome, Forgive, Serve. Beside the words, the video adds: One another. Lyrics in the background say: “I will love You Lord with all my heart, with all my soul, mind & strength.”^¹³

To help us love God, Jesus invites us to share the love & strength that come from Holy Communion. As you walk out those red doors to serve God as Jesus' hands & heart (as one of our Lay Eucharistic Visitors has said), I see your love & inner strength. I see smiles that radiate God's love. That love that shines from your picture that God keeps on the heavenly refrigerator & in the divine wallet.

What do you have in your wallet & on your refrigerator to help you stay close to God? Here are some tangible images being distributed by our young Acolytes that may help you. You could put them in your wallet, on your fridge or in a book!

As a symbol of giving to God what belongs to God, I encourage you to draw a heart on the colorful paper & put it in the offering plate. You might even write a love note to God.

1 Logue, Frank. The Rev. Canon to Our Bishop Scott Benhase. “Render unto God what is God's”. http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2014/09/26/19-pentecost-proper-24-a-2014/ Accessed: 14 Oct. 2014.

2 Note: Imagery influenced by “Kids Pay Taxes Too!” http://www.sermons4kids.com// Accessed: 14 Oct. 2014.

3 The New American Bible for Catholics. P. 1046.

4 Harper’s Bible Dictionary. Gen. Ed: Paul J. Achtemeier. P. 841.

5 Note: Idea & questions from “Kids Pay Taxes Too!” http://www.sermons4kids.com// Accessed: 14 Oct. 2014.

6 Ibid. “Kids Pay Taxes Too!” http://www.sermons4kids.com// Accessed: 14 Oct. 2014.

7 “Jewish Antiquities”. Book 14. Chapter 2:2,3. & Ch. 8:3. The New Complete Works of Josephus. Revised and Expanded Edition. Translator: William Whiston. Commentator: Paul L. Maier. Note: Flavius Josephuswas a Jewish priest & historian, who wrote in the 1^st Century of Christianity.

8 Ibid. Harper’s Bible Dictionary. P. 648.

9 Ibid. “Jewish Antiquities”. Book 14. Chapter 2:2. The New Complete Works of Josephus.

10 http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/naive. Accessed: 16 Oct. 2014.

11 Ibid. http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/naive.

12 “Love the Lord Your God.” YouTube video. http://www.thechurchofthespirit.org/?p=2531. Accessed: 16 Oct. 2014.

13 Ibid.

Bibliography

Dios Habla Hoy: La Biblia. 2^daEd. Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.

Harper’s Bible Commentary. General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1988.

Harper’s Bible Dictionary. Gen. Ed: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1985.

Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/naive. Accessed: 16 Oct. 2014.

http://www.sermons4kids.com/tricky_questions.htm. Accessed 14 Oct. 2014.

http://www.wordcentral.com/cgi-bin/student?book=Student&va=naive Accessed: 16 Oct. 2014.

Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.

“Kids Pay Taxes Too!” http://www.sermons4kids.com// Accessed: 14 Oct. 2014.

Lectionary Page. http://www.lectionarypage.net/. Accessed: 7 Oct. 2014.

Logue, Frank. The Rev. Canon to Our Bishop Scott Benhase. “Render unto God what is God's”. http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2014/09/26/19-pentecost-proper-24-a-2014/ Accessed: 14 Oct. 2014.

“Love the Lord Your God.” YouTube video. http://www.thechurchofthespirit.org/?p=2531. Accessed: 16 Oct. 2014.

The New American Bible for Catholics. South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.

The New Complete Works of Josephus. Revised and Expanded Edition. Translator: William Whiston. Commentator: Paul L. Maier. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications.n1999.