1st Reading: Isaiah 45:1-7
2nd Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
This morning's Gospel is very pertinent to some of the discussions we've been having lately about kneeling during the national anthem. The question I think our nation is discussing, along with a lot of help by some Russians stirring up the pot, is how to express our patriotism or what makes a good patriot. Jesus was asked this very question. He was being tested about whether he was a good patriot or not, whether he loved his country more or his religion more. The question that was going to reveal that answer was whether one should pay taxes or not. It was of course a trick question. If Jesus said not to pay the tax, he would have been committing treason and could have been arrested by the Romans before he had a chance to complete his ministry. If Jesus had said to pay the tax, he would have alienated his audience, because he would have been saying that he supported their oppressor, Rome, who was demanding the tax. This tax was specifically used to control and oppress the Jewish people. He would have been saying that he approved of this oppression.
Jesus did not give a clear answer. Not because he was trying to be evasive and protect himself, but to hold up a mirror to the people asking him and to the society. He wanted to get a discussion started rather than answering and closing debate. No matter where they stood on this matter, they could have interpreted Jesus' words in any way they liked. They went away confused and amazed. I like when Jesus doesn't give us the answer, but makes us think for ourselves. And we are always faced with choices, where there is no clear or right answer, or sinless answer, but only shades of gray and confusion and traps in every direction, unless you're Jesus and you're not.
We received our property tax bill yesterday in the mail. I opened it with trepidation, because I'd heard from my neighbors on Facebook that I was going be shocked by how much it went up. I don't know what kind of mansions my neighbors live in, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a very small increase. I understand if you're on a fixed income that any increase might hurt, but I was feeling like we're getting a pretty good deal. I explained to Sterling that the taxes we paid funded his school and that I was happy to pay them, because look how much he's already learned after 6 weeks of kindergarten. I'm a good patriot when my taxes match my values and my faith. But I don't feel that way about all my taxes. When I write my check for my federal taxes, I play a game with myself. I imagine the money going to things I care about, like WIC or FEMA or SNAP. I pretend that I am not writing a check that will result in someone's death or the destruction of this beautiful planet, even though I know that so much of our federal budget goes to military and weapons. I feel complicit. I am part of something terrifying, the military power of the United States, secretly used for air strikes and to secure the financial gain of corporations. I know I am accountable for my actions, for paying for this. I am doing something I disagree with, that is against my values. Yet, what choice do I have? Could I possibly make any difference? If not me, then who? What should we do when God and Ceasar are both calling for our allegiance?
At the same time, I am keenly aware and appreciative of all this country has given me. I was born in a military hospital. I think my parents paid less than $20 out of pocket for me to be born, and my mother was flown in a helicopter from the army base in Illisheim to Nuremberg, because there was a woman who had a previous C-section who had also gone into labor, who was in quite a hurry to get to the hospital, so my parents rode along, and good thing they did because my mom said I was crowning about the point they put her in the wheelchair at the hospital in Nuremberg. So add free helicopter ride to the cost of a birth. I got a free, public education. My family received WIC, food stamps, free lunch, a veteran's loan to purchase our home. My undergraduate education was free because of Pell Grants and scholarships. I have received privileges all my life that have taken me from poverty to the middle class. Maybe I sound ungrateful for all I've received. Maybe I should just look at my taxes as repaying all those benefits our family received. But it is because of my love for my country that I want to make it better, and because my values, many of which come from my faith, inform my life and don't always match with those of my country.
If we are honest with ourselves as Americans we will admit that sometimes the greatest patriots among us have been those who, out of loyalty to a higher calling, have refused to be silenced by the repressive laws of our own land. Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., the guard at Abu-Graib who broke silence regarding the torture of Iraqi prisoners--all were true patriots, because they believed deep down that there was a more God-like way in which to treat human beings. They are role models who we can look to when our faith/values and our patriotism are at odds, when Caesar and God are not in alignment.
I don't know how often we consider the name of our church: King of Kings. It has a nice ring to it, invokes the royalty and loyalty. It puts Jesus in his rightful place above the kings of this earth. It reminds us who we owe allegiance to. And it reminds us of why we need a king over the kings of this earth, the Caesars, the Obamas, the Trumps, the Clintons, the Merkels, the Putins, the Gates, the Kochs, etc. There is some overlap in the good that human governments provide, and God's Kingdom, but there are a heck of a lot of differences. If there weren't so many differences, we wouldn't need God, and sometimes we conflate the two and make a god of our nation, believing people owe ultimate loyalty, without criticism or honest assessment. Caesar and the governments of this world use weapons and war and fear to show their power. Jesus never even defended himself, when people came to kill him. Caesar used power over to make people do what he wanted. God uses power with, to empower us as the Body of Christ to participate together in sharing all that is good. Ceasar declared himself a god. Jesus became flesh and lived among us full of grace and truth. Caesar received taxes. Jesus gave up everything. God listened to the people's complaints and incorporated their suggestions, Caesar killed those who questioned him.
Caesar put his image on a gold coin to show how important he was--a sign of how desperate he was to be worshiped and recognized. God was assured of God's place and authority--God created it all, us all, new our names. In the Isaiah reading, God is clear, "I am the LORD, and there is no other." God, who is self-assured, strictly forbade any graven image be made of him or anyone else. God didn't need that--was aware that images might become a way to exploit weakness, might confuse. Furthermore, just as Caesar put his image on that coin, lifeless, and cold, God created humankind in God's image, living and full of love. We are all people of worth, in the likeness of God, bearing God's image, not the image of greed and hate and destruction which is a heck of a lot of what we see in this world. Remember that when you look in the mirror--here is God's likeness, someone beloved by God, made by God, who is known by God, who calls us by name. And when we meet others, lets not be concerned with their social status or riches or eloquence, but here is a person, beloved by God, made by God, named, known, treasured. When we throw each other away, that's when we really render unto Caesar that which is God's.
When I thought of this story this time, I pictured Jesus flipping the coin, the anticipation to see which side he would choose, God or patriotism. I picture the Herodians and Pharisees leaning forward in anticipation. But instead he polishes it and holds it up. They see their own reflection, a mirror to their own trap. In their fear and power-grabbing, they were so threatened and afraid of losing power that they missed the Messiah right in front of them. They had their chance to talk to Jesus, to hear his teaching first hand, to see God in him. I have to wonder how often we get distracted by these false choices and miss the Messiah right in front of us. Furthermore, we miss the whole point, which is not who we choose, but who chooses us. God chose humankind to reflect God's likeness and God chose humankind to reveal God's saving power, not because we deserved it, not because we chose correctly Republican or Democrat, Herodian or Pharisee, but to reveal to us God's love and mercy that God freely bestows. God chooses each of us as God's children and calls us by name. Whether we kneel or salute, we are the Lord's. Whether we are soldiers or conscientious objectors. Whether we are gun owners or pacifists. Whether we are important or expendable. Whether we are Puerto Rican, or North Korean. There is one God and King of us all who knows us all by name, calls us all beloved children and invites us to live in newness of life.
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