Pentecost 23 Year A 2008
A sermon based on Matthew 22:15-22
In the name of Jesus; amen.
How many of you have at least one mirror in your home? How often a day do you think that you look into it?
The first house I ever remember living in as a child had a large living room and one wall was completely covered with mirrors. I remember my mother having to wash that mirror with vinegar and water and newspapers, but what I really remember is that I used to look in it all the time. The couch was right in front of it and if I was talking to someone sitting on it and I was standing my mother would have to remind me to stop looking at myself and look at the person who I was talking to.
What do you see when you look into a mirror? Whose image does it reflect?
The Pharisees and the Herodians set out to trap Jesus. They were two groups of people who made strange bedfellows. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the people and the Temple was their realm. The Herodians were those who followed King Herod, who was mostly a Roman puppet. In the Jewish world the Pharisees were the religious leaders and the Herodians were the secular leaders. They rarely if ever agreed on anything or worked together. But on this occasion they joined forces against Jesus.
He was becoming too popular with the people and they wanted to discredit him so they came up with a plan. They would ask him a question he couldn’t possibly answer without getting into trouble, like asking a man when he had stopped beating his wife.
If he answered that it was lawful to pay the tax the people would turn against him. Now we are supposed to pay our taxes joyfully no matter what the politicians say. Our taxes pave our roads; they educate our children, and ensure that when we call 911 someone comes to help us.
But paying taxes to the Roman Emperor was different. Those taxes financed an occupation by a foreign and ruthless government. The Romans may have built roads and kept order, but they did it with cruelty and with a swift iron hand.
When Matthew wrote his gospel, late in the first century his readers would have heard this story and thought back to the disastrous rebellion in 70 AD, that had been inspired by this tax. They would also have remembered that the Romans responded to the rebellion by destroying the Temple, the city of Jerusalem, and most of the city’s inhabitants.
On the other hand, if Jesus answered that it was unlawful to pay the tax that same vicious Roman government would have been all over him like white on rice. It would have been a treasonous statement and the Romans would have had him arrested and executed quickly.
It was a no win situation for Jesus, or so they thought. A colleague of mine pointed out the other day that if you are the Son of God you probably have a pretty high IQ.
The Pharisee’s disciples and the Herodians begin by trying to butter him up. They give him a compliment, then ask him the question they are sure will be his downfall, “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
The first clever thing that Jesus does is ask them to show him one of the coins used to pay the tax. Standing there in the Temple one wasn’t supposed to have such coins on their person. It was why the money changers set up shop outside the Temple, to change the Roman coins, with the image of Caesar, who called himself a god, into coins that were acceptable inside the Temple.
It’s clever because it showed that he didn’t have one, but they did. The very people who were supposed to trick him into either speaking against the government or God had the coin they weren’t supposed to have in the Temple.
The second clever thing that Jesus does is answer their question by asking a question: “Whose head is this (literally whose image) and whose title?” And when they answer that it is the emperor’s head he tells them to “give therefore to the emperor those things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Matthew tells us that when they heard what he said they went away amazed. It is an amazing story, but not because Jesus is more clever than the Pharisees or the Herodians, but because of the message that he gives.
We are responsible to give to the government that which holds its image. Now we could argue what things hold the government’s image, but I think it means that we are responsible for paying our taxes and obeying traffic laws. The government has put its seal on these things; its stamp.
But if we are to give to the government that which holds the government’s image then we are also responsible for giving to God that which holds God’s image.
I would bet that before you all came here today you looked into a mirror at least once. What you saw was a reflection of you, but it was the image of God that projected that reflection.
We were made in the image of God. The hair you brushed, the wrinkles, the scars, the blemishes, the eyes, lips, and nose; all those things hold the image of God.
Look around at one another. We are supposed to see Christ in our neighbor, but they are supposed to see Christ in us because we have God’s image.
So it stands to reason that what we are to give to God, literally render to God is us. We belong to God because God has imprinted his image on us.
Render yourselves to God. Do it through prayer, and service, and thanksgiving, and sacrifice, and love for one another. And when you look into the mirror remember that you are not alone; God is with you and in you turning sin into beauty and blemishes into grace.
Amen.
A sermon based on Matthew 22:15-22
In the name of Jesus; amen.
How many of you have at least one mirror in your home? How often a day do you think that you look into it?
The first house I ever remember living in as a child had a large living room and one wall was completely covered with mirrors. I remember my mother having to wash that mirror with vinegar and water and newspapers, but what I really remember is that I used to look in it all the time. The couch was right in front of it and if I was talking to someone sitting on it and I was standing my mother would have to remind me to stop looking at myself and look at the person who I was talking to.
What do you see when you look into a mirror? Whose image does it reflect?
The Pharisees and the Herodians set out to trap Jesus. They were two groups of people who made strange bedfellows. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the people and the Temple was their realm. The Herodians were those who followed King Herod, who was mostly a Roman puppet. In the Jewish world the Pharisees were the religious leaders and the Herodians were the secular leaders. They rarely if ever agreed on anything or worked together. But on this occasion they joined forces against Jesus.
He was becoming too popular with the people and they wanted to discredit him so they came up with a plan. They would ask him a question he couldn’t possibly answer without getting into trouble, like asking a man when he had stopped beating his wife.
If he answered that it was lawful to pay the tax the people would turn against him. Now we are supposed to pay our taxes joyfully no matter what the politicians say. Our taxes pave our roads; they educate our children, and ensure that when we call 911 someone comes to help us.
But paying taxes to the Roman Emperor was different. Those taxes financed an occupation by a foreign and ruthless government. The Romans may have built roads and kept order, but they did it with cruelty and with a swift iron hand.
When Matthew wrote his gospel, late in the first century his readers would have heard this story and thought back to the disastrous rebellion in 70 AD, that had been inspired by this tax. They would also have remembered that the Romans responded to the rebellion by destroying the Temple, the city of Jerusalem, and most of the city’s inhabitants.
On the other hand, if Jesus answered that it was unlawful to pay the tax that same vicious Roman government would have been all over him like white on rice. It would have been a treasonous statement and the Romans would have had him arrested and executed quickly.
It was a no win situation for Jesus, or so they thought. A colleague of mine pointed out the other day that if you are the Son of God you probably have a pretty high IQ.
The Pharisee’s disciples and the Herodians begin by trying to butter him up. They give him a compliment, then ask him the question they are sure will be his downfall, “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
The first clever thing that Jesus does is ask them to show him one of the coins used to pay the tax. Standing there in the Temple one wasn’t supposed to have such coins on their person. It was why the money changers set up shop outside the Temple, to change the Roman coins, with the image of Caesar, who called himself a god, into coins that were acceptable inside the Temple.
It’s clever because it showed that he didn’t have one, but they did. The very people who were supposed to trick him into either speaking against the government or God had the coin they weren’t supposed to have in the Temple.
The second clever thing that Jesus does is answer their question by asking a question: “Whose head is this (literally whose image) and whose title?” And when they answer that it is the emperor’s head he tells them to “give therefore to the emperor those things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Matthew tells us that when they heard what he said they went away amazed. It is an amazing story, but not because Jesus is more clever than the Pharisees or the Herodians, but because of the message that he gives.
We are responsible to give to the government that which holds its image. Now we could argue what things hold the government’s image, but I think it means that we are responsible for paying our taxes and obeying traffic laws. The government has put its seal on these things; its stamp.
But if we are to give to the government that which holds the government’s image then we are also responsible for giving to God that which holds God’s image.
I would bet that before you all came here today you looked into a mirror at least once. What you saw was a reflection of you, but it was the image of God that projected that reflection.
We were made in the image of God. The hair you brushed, the wrinkles, the scars, the blemishes, the eyes, lips, and nose; all those things hold the image of God.
Look around at one another. We are supposed to see Christ in our neighbor, but they are supposed to see Christ in us because we have God’s image.
So it stands to reason that what we are to give to God, literally render to God is us. We belong to God because God has imprinted his image on us.
Render yourselves to God. Do it through prayer, and service, and thanksgiving, and sacrifice, and love for one another. And when you look into the mirror remember that you are not alone; God is with you and in you turning sin into beauty and blemishes into grace.
Amen.
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