Sunday October 19, 2008
Proper 24
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus says "Give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor." We are in the midst of a presidential election. Soon we will be electing a new ‘emperor’ if you will. And it seems that in one respect this election is typical in that both candidates seem to spend more time blaming the other candidates for our problems than presenting solutions. But this is just human nature. This is what we do, we run from our accountability. Rather than face up to our own problems, we look for someone to blame.
Such was what Jesus was up against in the events that unfold in this morning’s Gospel lesson. The Pharisees and Herodians were simply trying to trap Jesus. They asked Jesus if it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor because they knew that if He had said ‘yes’ then the crowd that was supporting Him would turn on Him. They knew that if He said ‘no’ then the Herodians would be able to arrest Him and turn Him over to the Roman authorities. They wanted either the crowd to reject Him or the Roman authorities to arrest Him.
The Pharisees were part of a Jewish community that clung to the Old Testament promise to the Jews that if they remained faithful to God’s law they would receive a new kingdom.
However, as is the bad habit of all humans, ancient Israel failed to observe the conditions that they should remain obedient to God and observe His commandments, something that we fail at every day. And this unfaithfulness became so ingrained in them that they just lost sight of the fact that they were being unfaithful. They had forgotten that there was a condition to the promise. They had forgotten that just as God had made a promise to them, they had also made a promise to God that they would remain faithful and obedient. And so they were unfaithful. They worshipped false gods, they believed false prophets, they put more faith in themselves and their best efforts than they did in their Creator.
They failed miserably at their conditions, but of course they did not forget to expect God to live up to His. They expected God to give them the kingdom that He had promised them if they had remained faithful to Him, even though they failed miserably at every turn.
But then along comes the Son of God, the Son of man, the Word incarnate, the Word made flesh, Christ Jesus exposing them for the hypocrites and sinners that they were. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. They were no doubt considered by some to be the picture of righteousness.
But the Pharisees had come to believe in a righteousness based on the law and not on faith. They clung to their status as sons of Abraham, but they forgot that it was Abraham’s faith that was reckoned to him as righteousness and not his good works or his piety or his adherence to the law.
But they were simply guilty of the same thing that we are guilty of everyday. In spite of their lack of faith, the Pharisees thought that they were entitled to the kingdom that God had promised. And so it is with us.
As I said, we are in the midst of a presidential campaign. Soon we will be electing another "emperor." And this has been, although as I said earlier a typical election in one respect. In another respect, it has indeed been an interesting election because we have both sides singing the virtues of bringing change to Washington. But what kind of change are they promising? How are they trying to win our vote? How are they trying to woo us to their side? It is primarily by promising that they are not going to be taking as much from us as their opponent. We are in the midst of an economic crisis, and yet both sides seem to be promising that they are not going to raise any taxes and that they are the one who can save our pensions and fix the economy.
But this just shows that the candidates know our human nature. They know that, for most of us, the decision who we vote for (if we vote) is going to come down to which candidate we believe is going to make life better for us.
At the end of the day, we are just like the Pharisees and the Herodians, all of us, running from our own accountability, searching for that kingdom that we all think that we are entitled to, whether we are trying to find it in a political candidate or money or possessions or work or status or whatever other idols we create; it is all a reflection of our desire to usher in God’s kingdom through our own efforts and timing and in the way in which we desire, even though our Lord Jesus has made it clear that His kingdom is not of this world and that only the Father knows when the Son will return and establish His eternal kingdom.
And it is this desire that led to the Pharisees and Herodians trying to trap Jesus. But He would not be trapped. In fact His answer exposes the Pharisees and Herodians for the hypocrites that they are. You see, Jesus’ answer reveals the reality that God’s people live simultaneously in two kingdoms; the earthly kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. Both of them are established by God. The earthly is a part of ‘the old’ that is being done away with and the spiritual is a part of the ‘all things new’ that comes about through the power of God’s Word.
The earthly is temporary, the spiritual is eternal. But that the earthly is temporary does not mean that we denounce it or run away from it. Quite to the contrary, the God who created the universe on His own timing and through His own means, establishes the earthly through property, marriage, family, laws, commerce etc. And so when Jesus says ‘give to the emperor’ what is the ‘emperor’s’ what He means is that whether you are a farmer or a banker or a teacher or a pastor or whatever, we are not to try to, as Luther puts it ‘unsettle the emperor’s realm.’ We are to remain in our vocation and give to the emperor what they are due, but always with an eye to the spiritual.
But we are also called, as we live in the spiritual realm, to give God His due which is simply to repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus; to hear and accept the Gospel; to look upon the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus and see nothing other than the defeat of sin, death, and the devil for you, to see the forgiveness of your sin, to see in Christ Jesus laying down His life for you the gateway to eternal life for you that would be ushered in with His resurrection three days later.
The answer that Jesus gave the Pharisees and the Herodians exposes them to be unwilling not only to give the emperor what he is due, but also their unwillingness to give God what He demands, faith in His Son Christ Jesus, faith in the Word incarnate, faith in the One standing before them. But the One standing before them would not be stymied by the efforts of the Pharisees and Herodians. You see eventually the Pharisees and Herodians would get what they wanted. Eventually Jesus would be turned over to the Roman authorities and be rejected and despised by the crowds. But this would happen only on God's timing, not on that of the Pharisees and Herodians.
And so this just shows that the Pharisees and Herodians were right when they said that Jesus does not show deference to anyone. God would not allow the Pharisees and Herodians to stymie His will anymore than He would allow the fact that King Cyrus did not know Him to get in the way of His using King Cyrus to reveal Himself once again to Israel as we read in the lesson from Isaiah.
But that is good news. God does not show deference to any one. He does not consider your good deeds, or your piety, your sins or your transgressions; what you have done or what you will do. He is the almighty God, Creator of the universe. He wills what He will, He does what He does. And what He wants is to count as beloved those whom He has elected through the Gospel. And since you are within earshot of the Gospel that is being proclaimed through the words of my mouth, then count yourself among the elect.
We cannot look to ourselves or a political candidate or any other idol we create for the kingdom that our Lord has promised, but rather only to Christ Jesus and what He has done for us in His death and resurrection and what He is doing for us in Word and sacrament; bringing to us the forgiveness of sin, nurturing and sustaining us in the faith He gives us.
And so listen to and believe in the Gospel that I am proclaiming, come forward in a few minutes and receive the body and blood of your Lord Jesus in His Supper, and let the Word made flesh bring forth in you a new song and make of you an imitator of Christ.
Amen
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus says "Give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor." We are in the midst of a presidential election. Soon we will be electing a new ‘emperor’ if you will. And it seems that in one respect this election is typical in that both candidates seem to spend more time blaming the other candidates for our problems than presenting solutions. But this is just human nature. This is what we do, we run from our accountability. Rather than face up to our own problems, we look for someone to blame.
Such was what Jesus was up against in the events that unfold in this morning’s Gospel lesson. The Pharisees and Herodians were simply trying to trap Jesus. They asked Jesus if it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor because they knew that if He had said ‘yes’ then the crowd that was supporting Him would turn on Him. They knew that if He said ‘no’ then the Herodians would be able to arrest Him and turn Him over to the Roman authorities. They wanted either the crowd to reject Him or the Roman authorities to arrest Him.
The Pharisees were part of a Jewish community that clung to the Old Testament promise to the Jews that if they remained faithful to God’s law they would receive a new kingdom.
However, as is the bad habit of all humans, ancient Israel failed to observe the conditions that they should remain obedient to God and observe His commandments, something that we fail at every day. And this unfaithfulness became so ingrained in them that they just lost sight of the fact that they were being unfaithful. They had forgotten that there was a condition to the promise. They had forgotten that just as God had made a promise to them, they had also made a promise to God that they would remain faithful and obedient. And so they were unfaithful. They worshipped false gods, they believed false prophets, they put more faith in themselves and their best efforts than they did in their Creator.
They failed miserably at their conditions, but of course they did not forget to expect God to live up to His. They expected God to give them the kingdom that He had promised them if they had remained faithful to Him, even though they failed miserably at every turn.
But then along comes the Son of God, the Son of man, the Word incarnate, the Word made flesh, Christ Jesus exposing them for the hypocrites and sinners that they were. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. They were no doubt considered by some to be the picture of righteousness.
But the Pharisees had come to believe in a righteousness based on the law and not on faith. They clung to their status as sons of Abraham, but they forgot that it was Abraham’s faith that was reckoned to him as righteousness and not his good works or his piety or his adherence to the law.
But they were simply guilty of the same thing that we are guilty of everyday. In spite of their lack of faith, the Pharisees thought that they were entitled to the kingdom that God had promised. And so it is with us.
As I said, we are in the midst of a presidential campaign. Soon we will be electing another "emperor." And this has been, although as I said earlier a typical election in one respect. In another respect, it has indeed been an interesting election because we have both sides singing the virtues of bringing change to Washington. But what kind of change are they promising? How are they trying to win our vote? How are they trying to woo us to their side? It is primarily by promising that they are not going to be taking as much from us as their opponent. We are in the midst of an economic crisis, and yet both sides seem to be promising that they are not going to raise any taxes and that they are the one who can save our pensions and fix the economy.
But this just shows that the candidates know our human nature. They know that, for most of us, the decision who we vote for (if we vote) is going to come down to which candidate we believe is going to make life better for us.
At the end of the day, we are just like the Pharisees and the Herodians, all of us, running from our own accountability, searching for that kingdom that we all think that we are entitled to, whether we are trying to find it in a political candidate or money or possessions or work or status or whatever other idols we create; it is all a reflection of our desire to usher in God’s kingdom through our own efforts and timing and in the way in which we desire, even though our Lord Jesus has made it clear that His kingdom is not of this world and that only the Father knows when the Son will return and establish His eternal kingdom.
And it is this desire that led to the Pharisees and Herodians trying to trap Jesus. But He would not be trapped. In fact His answer exposes the Pharisees and Herodians for the hypocrites that they are. You see, Jesus’ answer reveals the reality that God’s people live simultaneously in two kingdoms; the earthly kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. Both of them are established by God. The earthly is a part of ‘the old’ that is being done away with and the spiritual is a part of the ‘all things new’ that comes about through the power of God’s Word.
The earthly is temporary, the spiritual is eternal. But that the earthly is temporary does not mean that we denounce it or run away from it. Quite to the contrary, the God who created the universe on His own timing and through His own means, establishes the earthly through property, marriage, family, laws, commerce etc. And so when Jesus says ‘give to the emperor’ what is the ‘emperor’s’ what He means is that whether you are a farmer or a banker or a teacher or a pastor or whatever, we are not to try to, as Luther puts it ‘unsettle the emperor’s realm.’ We are to remain in our vocation and give to the emperor what they are due, but always with an eye to the spiritual.
But we are also called, as we live in the spiritual realm, to give God His due which is simply to repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus; to hear and accept the Gospel; to look upon the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus and see nothing other than the defeat of sin, death, and the devil for you, to see the forgiveness of your sin, to see in Christ Jesus laying down His life for you the gateway to eternal life for you that would be ushered in with His resurrection three days later.
The answer that Jesus gave the Pharisees and the Herodians exposes them to be unwilling not only to give the emperor what he is due, but also their unwillingness to give God what He demands, faith in His Son Christ Jesus, faith in the Word incarnate, faith in the One standing before them. But the One standing before them would not be stymied by the efforts of the Pharisees and Herodians. You see eventually the Pharisees and Herodians would get what they wanted. Eventually Jesus would be turned over to the Roman authorities and be rejected and despised by the crowds. But this would happen only on God's timing, not on that of the Pharisees and Herodians.
And so this just shows that the Pharisees and Herodians were right when they said that Jesus does not show deference to anyone. God would not allow the Pharisees and Herodians to stymie His will anymore than He would allow the fact that King Cyrus did not know Him to get in the way of His using King Cyrus to reveal Himself once again to Israel as we read in the lesson from Isaiah.
But that is good news. God does not show deference to any one. He does not consider your good deeds, or your piety, your sins or your transgressions; what you have done or what you will do. He is the almighty God, Creator of the universe. He wills what He will, He does what He does. And what He wants is to count as beloved those whom He has elected through the Gospel. And since you are within earshot of the Gospel that is being proclaimed through the words of my mouth, then count yourself among the elect.
We cannot look to ourselves or a political candidate or any other idol we create for the kingdom that our Lord has promised, but rather only to Christ Jesus and what He has done for us in His death and resurrection and what He is doing for us in Word and sacrament; bringing to us the forgiveness of sin, nurturing and sustaining us in the faith He gives us.
And so listen to and believe in the Gospel that I am proclaiming, come forward in a few minutes and receive the body and blood of your Lord Jesus in His Supper, and let the Word made flesh bring forth in you a new song and make of you an imitator of Christ.
Amen
posted by Steve at 6:35 PM
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