That Face

 Matthew 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 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. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 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.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Once again, Jesus dodges a trap set by two political groups who normally can’t agree on anything.  The Herodians had gotten rich and powerful by sucking up to the the Romans and supporting their puppet king Herod.  The Pharisees were the fundamentalists looking for God’s blessing.  The BIGGEST possible blessing, would be getting rid of the Herodians!

  
The trap (they thought) put Jesus in a no-win situation.  If Jesus said, “don’t pay taxes” the Herodians would get the Romans to literally crucify him for trying to start a revolution.  If Jesus said, “pay your taxes” the Pharisees would get him killed as a heretic because, the coin used for paying the taxes had BOTH a picture of Caesar and the title he picked for himself, which was “Son of the Divine” on it.  Both of which made that coin a big, giant idol!

Jesus, of course, proceeded to slip through the trap, BUT… there’s WAY more going on here than Jesus just making hypocritical politicians look like idiots.  (Although I do like part too!)  The REALLY important part here is a powerful reminder of who is really in control, ESPECIALLY, when it looks like those in power, hold all the cards.

Look past the zinger Jesus gave them and think about what he said: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  On the surface Jesus seems to be playing their game… a game that says politics and religion are separate, but underneath what they heard, Jesus is proclaiming a powerful truth! 
On the surface Jesus asked, “whose face is on that coin”, but the real question Jesus asked was, “who do you think gave the emperor his face to begin with!?”  The real take home lesson from this encounter is that this whole creation… which includes every person, every coin, every piece of politics, both good and awful… ALL of creation including pandemics and wars, the unemployed, small businesses hanging on for dear life, airline employees who don’t know what’s next, newly rising numbers of COVID infections, white nationalist militias plotting to kidnap a governor, hay bales lit on fire, the hungry… ALL OF IT… every single part of ALL of creation right down to the smallest little fly!  Everything… EVERYTHING… without exception… everything belongs to God.  God really does have the whole world, the good, the bad and the ugly of it all, in those Divine hands!

In our world today there are many, many people who read and teach this lesson like the Pharisees and the Herodians heard it, rather than the way Jesus told it.  The Herodians and the Pharisees lived and acted like “World Stuff” and “God Stuff” were completely separate.  Many people do the same today.  They live as if over here there the are political, business, and worldly things that “belong to Caesar” which work with one set of rules, completely separate from God.  Then there are the religious, church, and spiritual parts of life over there that “belong to God” where God’s rules are allowed to apply. The two, they claim, are never supposed to mix. 

 
God’s ways and Jesus’s teachings are good for Sundays and on Christmas… fine for inside churches… fine for inside hearts, minds, and souls; but outside the church walls during the week... God’s rules, which Jesus sums up as loving God and loving neighbor, those just don’t apply to how we run our lives, governments, businesses…  how we handle violence, deal with the poor, marginalized, or oppressed… how we do politics or administer justice. 

  
This lesson challenges that notion head on.  This lesson reminds us that God not only has a strong opinion about how we run every single aspect, of every single moment, of every single one of our lives… but that God has every single aspect of every single moment, of every single one of our lives and every atom of creation wrapped up in God’s infinite, unconditional, loving and redeeming embrace!  Jesus’ life, death and resurrection put an exclamation mark on that truth by SHOWING us that living a sacrificial life outside of the church for the good of others is not just for suckers and losers, but is the WAY to real living!

All the faith stuff and spiritual stuff isn’t at all separate from the work stuff, political stuff and business stuff.  Because ALL THE STUFF is in God’s hands!  God really DOES mean for all of those ideas the world thinks are upside down like unconditional generosity, unmerited grace, forgiveness, and love to be the way we live in EVERY aspect of our lives.  God really does mean for us to work for genuine justice where everyone has enough food, shelter, purpose, dignity and worth so that every part of the world will experience real and lasting peace.  God really does mean for THAT to be the way the whole world works... not just on Sunday mornings.  Not just in our thoughts and prayers but in every nook and cranny of ALL of creation.  

Now, that doesn’t mean we need a legislated “Christian” nation the way that idea is usually sold, where everyone believes the same thing.  What it means, is that as Christians, you and I are called to infect the world with God’s ways of love, grace, compassion, healing and generosity.  To bring it our of our churches and into the everyday routine of our lives including bringing into the voting booth with us.

  
I am voting here in Sheffield.  On that ballot no candidates bear Caesar’s title of “Son of the Divine” regardless of what they think of themselves or what their followers have been led to believe.  Only God is God... and God’s got this!  So our job as Christians is to pick the people and the measures we believe will build up our town, state, country and world in the direction of God’s vision of unconditional love, compassion, and healing, with the kind of justice that allows all of our neighbors to live more deeply into the abundant life God created them to live.  Amen.