| Calvary Episcopal Church, Rockdale |
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| THE 22nd SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 16 October, 2005 The Rev. Robert C. Granfeldt |
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It seems like forever since I’ve preached an actual sermon- that is, one that fits in the
normal course of the year, rooted, if not in the lessons, themselves, at least in the
season, and the particular theme of the Sunday!
First, back in early September, we were “winding down” the summer season with some
brief sermons related to random topics that came up through a lesson here or there, or
something in the news, or whatever, as we marked time ‘till we reached the Fall season,
when all of our “shorebirds” would be back from their summer hiatus. But before we
could really do that, along came, first, Calvary Day – our Parish Feast Day – and hen our
Episcopal Visitation, with the Right Reverend Edward Lee, retired Bishop of Western
Michigan, and currently one of our assisting Bishops in the Dioceses of Pennsylvania!
And now, finally, here we are, actually beginning the new year of regular Liturgical and
Seasonal observances, and able to look closely – usually – at the lessons of the day!
And what a great Gospel Lesson to begin with!
It’s one of the better known stories in the Gospels, and it contains one of our Lord’s best-
known sayings.
In fact, it’s all so well-known that I have always wondered why so few commentators ever
seem to get it!
The story comes in the midst of a series of some of Jesus’ more difficult sayings – such
as the one Bishop Lee spoke to you about last week – the one about the Marriage feast
when the invited guests have refused to come – treating the messengers bearing the
invitations with contempt and violence – only to be attacked and destroyed by the father
– the king’s – troops! And how, then, having invited everyone his servants could find
from the highways and the byways, around, he casts out the man who shows up for the
feast in his street clothes – not dressed for the wedding! Stories that take some
explaining, some understanding to “get”!
But this one doesn’t, really. It’s quite straightforward, even simple. So much so that I’ve
always wondered why people don’t seem to see it!
In this story, the Pharisees conspire to set a trap for Jesus. Rather than do their own
dirty-work, and stay out of sight, they send their henchmen to set him up with flattery and
then ambush him with the big question: “we know that you are true and truthful, and that
you don’t try to impress people by telling them what they want to hear. So tell us
truthfully, do you think it’s lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
Sounds like a rather stupid question to us; like, is it legal to pay our income tax? But it’s a
lot more tricky than that.
The Jews were a conquered people, living under the rule of Rome – a pagan nation,
worshipping pagan gods; a nation where, by the time the Gospels were written, the
emperors were, themselves beginning to claim divinity! Paying taxes to the Romans was,
to the Jews, the same as paying homage to their gods – supporting paganism! SO the
question really was: is it legal, under the commandments, to support the worship of
pagan gods? They think they have Jesus in a no-win situation – a trap. If he answers
“no,” right there in public, they can denounce him to the authorities for speaking
sedition; but if he says “yes,” he’s breaking the Commandment against idolatry, and the
people will turn on him!
But Jesus turns the trap back on them. “Whose face is on the money we pay taxes with,”
he asks. Caesars’ they tell him.
And then, one of the best known and oft quoted lines in all of scripture: “Render
therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s!”
“And,” we read, “When they heard it they marveled; and they left him and went away.”
And ever since, the commentators and the preachers have continued to marvel at the
way Jesus had turned the tables on those who sought to trap him, by refusing to get
caught in the trap, by refusing to answer in the terms they had set – but distinguishing
between the sacred and the secular! The coin of the realm, he was saying – the money of
the Roman Empire – had Caesar’s face on it – and so it was “Caesar’s;” that is, it was
Roman Money that belonged to Rome – and to it’s Caesar. So Jesus won the day by
distinguishing – in a way his enemies couldn’t challenge – between the coinage of Rome,
and the homage due to the Lord God!
Except, that’s not what he was really saying. Oh, the words were there, but not the intent!
The words he used were unassailable. No way could he be charged with treason, and no
way could he be accused of unfaithfulness.
But what he’d said with those seemingly harmless words amounted to both a radical
dedication to God and a radical rejection of Rome!
Because the mention of Caesar and Caesar’s coins was strictly subterfuge, and had
nothing to do with the real answer.
Jesus was a part of the Jewish tradition, the Jewish faith. And he – and his questioners –
were aware of the REAL truth: a truth we repeat most often at the Offertory of masses we
celebrate without music, when we say, together, as we present the offering at the Altar,
“All things come of thee, oh, Lord, and of thine own have we given thee!”
Jesus knew – as his questioners were aware – that, in fact, face of Caesar on coins, or no
face, NOTHING belonged to Caesar, but that ALL belonged to the Lord of the Universe –
the creator of all things!
And so the premise that underlay the question was wrong – that there is a difference
between what belongs to the government – to Caesar – and what belongs to God, and
the interpretation that has traditionally been laid on Jesus’ answer is likewise, wrong!
Just as is the understanding from which we make our own decisions regarding our own
“wealth”, and what we “owe” to God, versus what we “owe” to the Government, to the
world, or, indeed, to ourselves!
God creates all things, and holds all things in being. All that we have, we hold on loan
from God. When tax time comes, we pay out of God’s possessions, God’s money, that
portion that is necessary to maintain life and order in our society, and maintains the
society, itself, that maintains the quality of life we share!
When the time comes to give – whether it be to give to our Church, to the Victim’s of
Hurricane Katrina, or the earthquake in Pakistan, or the Indian Ocean Tsunami – we
“give” out of the abundance our God has given us. Or, more properly, we do not “give”
at all! We return to God a portion of what he has blessed us with, no more!
Jesus, confronted by the servants of the Pharisees, out to trap him, was not sneaky, or
wily, or devious. He was simply open and honest and true, in the sight and in the hearing
of those who listened, who knew exactly what he was saying – True, especially, to the
one who had created this world in which we live – in acknowledging the simple truth that
the Lord our God is the creator and sustainer of ALL that is, that he blesses us with all
that we have, and that we owe ALL THAT WE HAVE, not to Caesar, but to the One who
created both it and us – the One who is God our Father!
In his name. Amen.
normal course of the year, rooted, if not in the lessons, themselves, at least in the
season, and the particular theme of the Sunday!
First, back in early September, we were “winding down” the summer season with some
brief sermons related to random topics that came up through a lesson here or there, or
something in the news, or whatever, as we marked time ‘till we reached the Fall season,
when all of our “shorebirds” would be back from their summer hiatus. But before we
could really do that, along came, first, Calvary Day – our Parish Feast Day – and hen our
Episcopal Visitation, with the Right Reverend Edward Lee, retired Bishop of Western
Michigan, and currently one of our assisting Bishops in the Dioceses of Pennsylvania!
And now, finally, here we are, actually beginning the new year of regular Liturgical and
Seasonal observances, and able to look closely – usually – at the lessons of the day!
And what a great Gospel Lesson to begin with!
It’s one of the better known stories in the Gospels, and it contains one of our Lord’s best-
known sayings.
In fact, it’s all so well-known that I have always wondered why so few commentators ever
seem to get it!
The story comes in the midst of a series of some of Jesus’ more difficult sayings – such
as the one Bishop Lee spoke to you about last week – the one about the Marriage feast
when the invited guests have refused to come – treating the messengers bearing the
invitations with contempt and violence – only to be attacked and destroyed by the father
– the king’s – troops! And how, then, having invited everyone his servants could find
from the highways and the byways, around, he casts out the man who shows up for the
feast in his street clothes – not dressed for the wedding! Stories that take some
explaining, some understanding to “get”!
But this one doesn’t, really. It’s quite straightforward, even simple. So much so that I’ve
always wondered why people don’t seem to see it!
In this story, the Pharisees conspire to set a trap for Jesus. Rather than do their own
dirty-work, and stay out of sight, they send their henchmen to set him up with flattery and
then ambush him with the big question: “we know that you are true and truthful, and that
you don’t try to impress people by telling them what they want to hear. So tell us
truthfully, do you think it’s lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”
Sounds like a rather stupid question to us; like, is it legal to pay our income tax? But it’s a
lot more tricky than that.
The Jews were a conquered people, living under the rule of Rome – a pagan nation,
worshipping pagan gods; a nation where, by the time the Gospels were written, the
emperors were, themselves beginning to claim divinity! Paying taxes to the Romans was,
to the Jews, the same as paying homage to their gods – supporting paganism! SO the
question really was: is it legal, under the commandments, to support the worship of
pagan gods? They think they have Jesus in a no-win situation – a trap. If he answers
“no,” right there in public, they can denounce him to the authorities for speaking
sedition; but if he says “yes,” he’s breaking the Commandment against idolatry, and the
people will turn on him!
But Jesus turns the trap back on them. “Whose face is on the money we pay taxes with,”
he asks. Caesars’ they tell him.
And then, one of the best known and oft quoted lines in all of scripture: “Render
therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s!”
“And,” we read, “When they heard it they marveled; and they left him and went away.”
And ever since, the commentators and the preachers have continued to marvel at the
way Jesus had turned the tables on those who sought to trap him, by refusing to get
caught in the trap, by refusing to answer in the terms they had set – but distinguishing
between the sacred and the secular! The coin of the realm, he was saying – the money of
the Roman Empire – had Caesar’s face on it – and so it was “Caesar’s;” that is, it was
Roman Money that belonged to Rome – and to it’s Caesar. So Jesus won the day by
distinguishing – in a way his enemies couldn’t challenge – between the coinage of Rome,
and the homage due to the Lord God!
Except, that’s not what he was really saying. Oh, the words were there, but not the intent!
The words he used were unassailable. No way could he be charged with treason, and no
way could he be accused of unfaithfulness.
But what he’d said with those seemingly harmless words amounted to both a radical
dedication to God and a radical rejection of Rome!
Because the mention of Caesar and Caesar’s coins was strictly subterfuge, and had
nothing to do with the real answer.
Jesus was a part of the Jewish tradition, the Jewish faith. And he – and his questioners –
were aware of the REAL truth: a truth we repeat most often at the Offertory of masses we
celebrate without music, when we say, together, as we present the offering at the Altar,
“All things come of thee, oh, Lord, and of thine own have we given thee!”
Jesus knew – as his questioners were aware – that, in fact, face of Caesar on coins, or no
face, NOTHING belonged to Caesar, but that ALL belonged to the Lord of the Universe –
the creator of all things!
And so the premise that underlay the question was wrong – that there is a difference
between what belongs to the government – to Caesar – and what belongs to God, and
the interpretation that has traditionally been laid on Jesus’ answer is likewise, wrong!
Just as is the understanding from which we make our own decisions regarding our own
“wealth”, and what we “owe” to God, versus what we “owe” to the Government, to the
world, or, indeed, to ourselves!
God creates all things, and holds all things in being. All that we have, we hold on loan
from God. When tax time comes, we pay out of God’s possessions, God’s money, that
portion that is necessary to maintain life and order in our society, and maintains the
society, itself, that maintains the quality of life we share!
When the time comes to give – whether it be to give to our Church, to the Victim’s of
Hurricane Katrina, or the earthquake in Pakistan, or the Indian Ocean Tsunami – we
“give” out of the abundance our God has given us. Or, more properly, we do not “give”
at all! We return to God a portion of what he has blessed us with, no more!
Jesus, confronted by the servants of the Pharisees, out to trap him, was not sneaky, or
wily, or devious. He was simply open and honest and true, in the sight and in the hearing
of those who listened, who knew exactly what he was saying – True, especially, to the
one who had created this world in which we live – in acknowledging the simple truth that
the Lord our God is the creator and sustainer of ALL that is, that he blesses us with all
that we have, and that we owe ALL THAT WE HAVE, not to Caesar, but to the One who
created both it and us – the One who is God our Father!
In his name. Amen.
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