\nThe Bible often sounds
\nso… Bible-y that it can be easy to tune out. \u00a0Or, at least, it can
\nbe for me. \u00a0Sometimes when I’m reading I’m tempted to \u201cyadda yadda\u201d
\nthe stuff that feels like its been said over and over. \u00a0This is
\nsimilar to trying to read legalese and make sense of the actual
\npoint, which I know is there somewhere, but I have to break through
\nALL the words that don’t actually mean anything to me.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nI mention this because
\nI’m not entirely convinced I’m the only person with this problem, and
\nbecause I think many a normal person might have had this issue with
\nour Hebrew Bible text today. \u00a0Yes yes, God opens doors, God levels
\nmountains, God gives riches, God calls us by name, God chooses the
\nchosen, God is the only one. \u00a0We’ve heard all this before, it is
\npractically a chorus.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThe big difference in
\nthis passage, the part that makes it not at all redundant nor boring,
\ncomes in the very beginning. \u00a0\u201cThus
\nsays the LORD to his anointed.\u201d \u00a0(I KNOW, you are half tempted to
\nzone out the Bible-ese already, but I promise, you want to hear the
\nnext two words) \u201cto Cyrus\u201d. \u00a0This, my friends, is some crazy turn
\nof a phrase. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nA
\nquick set of historical reminders is in order to make sense of it
\nthough. \u00a0Around 587 to 586 BCE the Jewish people living in Jerusalem
\nwere defeated by the Babylonian army, and the city and temple were
\ndestroyed. \u00a0The leaders and the educated were taken to Babylon as
\nslaves and the rest of the people were left behind without defenses,
\nfood, or hope. \u00a0This is known as \u201cthe Exile\u201d and we believe that
\nthe Hebrew Bible as we know it was written down during and after the
\nExile, which means the stories were told in particular ways to try to
\nanswer the question \u201cWhy did this happen to us?\u201d \u00a0In fact, the
\nvery idea of a Jewish Messiah developed at the time of the Exile, as
\na person who would right the wrong of the Exile itself and recreate a
\nvibrant Jewish Empire.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThe
\nExile ended when the Persian Empire defeated the Babylonian Empire in
\nbattle, and took it over. \u00a0The Emperor of the Persian Empire then
\ndecided that he didn’t much care about the Jewish captives, and freed
\nthem to go home as they wished. \u00a0It had, however, been 48 years,
\nwhich is several generations without birth control, and not everyone
\nwent home.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nBack
\nto our passage, do you know who was the Emperor of the Persian Empire
\nin 539 and let the captives go free? \u00a0Cyrus. \u00a0So, this passage, which
\nis the first one to claim anyone as the Messiah (\u201cGod’s anointed\u201d),
\nclaims that role for a FOREIGN, NON-JEWISH, EMPEROR. \u00a0Well, now,
\nthat’s pretty curious, isn’t it? \u00a0This stuff isn’t all just
\nBible-ese. \u00a0\ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThe
\nidea here is that by freeing God’s people, Cyrus was doing God’s
\nwork. \u00a0But the claims are rather radical. \u00a0First of all, Cyrus is
\ncalled the messiah, then Cyrus is said to be called by name by God,
\nand to be given a last name by God EVEN THOUGH Cyrus doesn’t know or
\nworship God. \u00a0So, the work of freeing the people was done through the
\nwork of Cyrus, and God helped Cyrus along the way to make it happen.<\/p>\n
\n
The
\nmost curious part is that God used an EMPEROR, which doesn’t tend to
\nbe the way God works, at least when we get to the Gospels. \u00a0However,
\nthe fantastic thing we can take from the Isaiah passage is this: God
\ndoesn’t limit God’s work just to people who believe particular things
\nor speak of God in particular ways; God is willing to work with and
\nthrough anyone who is open to working with God! \u00a0The fact that this
\nwas clear enough in 539 BCE that the people of God thought Cyrus was
\nGod’s chosen messiah is very good news indeed. \u00a0Inclusivity runs deep
\nwith God, and God’s people have known it for a long time.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nNow, \n<\/p>\n \nWhile \n<\/p>\n \nJewish \n<\/p>\n \nSo, \n<\/p>\n \nJesus \n<\/p>\n \nIn \n<\/p>\n \nThere \n<\/p>\n \nAs \n<\/p>\n \nI \n<\/p>\n \nAnother \n<\/p>\n \nSo, to give to God’s what <\/p>\n 1<\/a>Richard 2<\/a>Robert <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron<\/p>\n First United Methodist Church of Schenectady<\/p>\n 603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305<\/p>\n Pronouns: she\/her\/hers<\/p>\n http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMatthew is distinctly less enamored with foreign emperors than Isaiah
\nis. \u00a0Matthew sets up this story beautifully, designing a narrative
\naround the snappy statement of Jesus which said, \u201cGive therefore to
\nthe emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things
\nthat are God’s.\u201d \u00a0That little saying is one of the very few things
\nthe Jesus Seminar REALLY thinks Jesus said, and Matthew builds a
\nstory around it to make sense of it. \u00a0The story is well constructed.
\nThe coin described has on it the face of the Emperor, while our faith
\ntradition has always claimed that people have on them the \u201cimage of
\nGod.\u201d \u00a0Matthew even word plays this, having the adversaries
\ndescribe Jesus as a man who shows no partiality, which is literally,
\n\u201cyou do not regard the face of anyone.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a>
\n The whole story then plays around with faces, and images, wondering
\nwhose matches with whose.<\/p>\n
\nMatthew’s story is well constructed, we think the authentic memory is
\nsimply in that statement, \u201cGive therefore to the emperor the things
\nthat are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.\u201d \u00a0
\nThat statement seems to direct us to a reasonable follow up question:
\n What is it that belongs to Caesar and what is it that belongs to
\nGod? \u00a0In fact, I think it is this question that makes the statement
\nso powerful and memorable. \u00a0It appears benign, and would have sounded
\nbenign to Roman ears. \u00a0They might have thought, \u201cYeah, sure, give
\nmoney to the Emperor, that’s really what he wants, and as long as he
\nalso gets the power and respect he deserves, your God can have what’s
\nleft.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nears would not have heard the same thing at all. \u00a0They would have
\nheard Jesus and immediately considered, \u201cBut, if we are to give to
\nGod what is God’s, there is nothing left for the emperor!\u201d \u00a0So,
\nJesus’ saying manages to totally subvert the power of the empire
\nWHILE sounding benign to the emperor’s ears. \u00a0Well played, Jesus. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nfor a faithful Jewish person at the time of Jesus as today, all
\nthings belong to God. \u00a0That’s one of the implications of thinking of
\nGod as Creator, God created all things and all things are thus God’s.
\n The less obvious follow up question is: what does it mean to give
\nsomething to God who is already the Creator of all things? \u00a0I don’t
\nmean to be trite, I think this is a valid question. \u00a0We might have a
\nsense of being able to \u201cgive our hearts\u201d to God, but we aren’t
\njust looking for that. \u00a0We certainly have the capacity to give money
\nto the church, and to other groups whose work builds the kin-dom of
\nGod, which can be a way to give to God, but if God is the God of
\nEVERYTHING and we are to give what is God’s to God, then… how?<\/p>\n
\ndoesn’t clarify. \u00a0As the Jesus seminar puts it, he leaves that as
\nhomework, \u201cHe does not tell his questioners what to do other than
\nto decide the claims of God in relation to the claims of the
\nemperor.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a>
\n As far as I can figure it out, to give something to God is to use it
\nfor the building of God’s kin-dom; or sometimes that’s called God’s
\nkingdom; that is, to create the world into the world as God would
\nhave it be; that is, a world where everyone has enough to survive AND
\nthrive; that is, a world of justice that allows for peace; that is a
\nreality where all people are humanized and no one is left
\ndehumanized; some call this the beloved community. \u00a0 I know that’s a
\nlot of rephrasing, but we Christians find this idea important enough
\nthat we talk about it in a lot of ways, and it seems important to
\npoint out that they’re all the SAME idea. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nseminary I was offered the idea that we are co-creators with God.
\nThat is, God created, but in that creation we received free will and
\nthat free will is a part of creating what is and what will come next.
\n If the kin-dom is to come, then we need to be co-creators with God
\nin making it happen, because God will not work without us nor force
\nit upon us. \u00a0I’m proposing that to \u201cgive to God\u201d is to offer it
\nfor the sake of the kin-dom. \u00a0Resources I see all us as having
\ninclude: \u00a0our time, our energy, our mental though space, our money,
\nour gifts, and our passions. \u00a0None of us have any of those in equal
\nmeasure, but we all have the chance to decide what to do with them. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nis a heck of a lot of work to be done in building the kin-dom as
\nwell, and the work is quite varied. \u00a0Paul did some good work on
\nmaking lists of various gifts that are useful and various work that
\nis to be done, but the end point is that we need lots of different
\nskill sets and we need not judge ourselves nor others for what we’re
\nable to offer. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\na practical example, when the area I was in flooded in 2011 I was
\nasked to do some organizing work, because the fire department was
\nbusy emptying basement and the fire auxiliary was busy trying to
\ndistribute food and water. \u00a0So I sat at the fire department and made
\nlists: lists of people who wanted to help and lists of people who
\nneeded help. \u00a0To be honest, I’m not all that useful at most building
\nor demolishing work, I don’t know all that much about it. \u00a0However,
\nit turned out that a deeply necessary job was the one that involved
\nkeeping lists and making phone calls. \u00a0It was more than a year before
\nI lifted my hand with anything but a pen or a phone in it for that
\nrecovery, and yet I got enough feedback to know that the work I’d
\ndone mattered. \u00a0At the same time, nothing I did would have mattered
\nif there weren’t people willing to do the heavy lifting, nor others
\nworking to get supplies, nor if the people working to restore the
\nutilities hadn’t succeeded, nor if the basements weren’t drained, nor
\nif the people hadn’t had food and water in the meantime.<\/p>\n
\nthink perhaps disaster recovery is a decent metaphor for building the
\nkin-dom if anything is: it takes a lot of people doing what they are
\nbest at, some of which may not seem that important, much of which is
\nmucking out, \u00a0but all of which together can transform it all! \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\npractical example seems to be in order. \u00a0Many in this congregation
\nhave been doing the long term work for full inclusion of LGBTQIA+
\npeople in the church and in the world. \u00a0That requires a lot of
\ndifferent effort: from strategy work to protests, from legal work to
\nacts of defiance, from the the \u201cwork\u201d of celebration to the
\nsimple acts of inclusion, and beyond. \u00a0A few years ago a friend
\nmentioned the deeply necessary work of having initial conversations
\nwith people who are closed minded, or who are having their very first
\nthoughts that perhaps God loves LBGTQIA+ people too – \u00a0and that she
\nno longer feels called to do it. \u00a0She is an incredible organizer, we
\nreally need her organizing rather than in those conversations, and
\nshe was wise enough to know continuing to be in those talks decade
\nafter decade was too much for her. \u00a0Her stance felt like freedom. \u00a0We
\ndon’t all have to do the same work, there is too much to do to be
\nstuck on only one thing!<\/p>\n
\nis God’s, what does it mean? \u00a0It means our whole lives being directed
\ntowards co-creating the fullness of God’s vision into the world. \u00a0The
\nreally good news is that when we are working along with God, the
\nburden is lightened and the possibilities are expanded. \u00a0Thanks be to
\nGod! \u00a0Amen<\/p>\n
\n\tE. Spalding, Pastoral Perspective on Matthew 22:15-22<\/i>,
\n\tFeasting on the Word Year
\n\tA, Volume 4,
\n\tedited by David L. Barlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY:
\n\tWestminster John Knox Press, 2011), 189.<\/p>\n
\n\tW. Funk, Roy W Hoover, and The Jesus Seminar, The Five Gospels: The
\n\tSearch for the Autthentic Words of Jesus (HarperOneUSA, 1993), 236.<\/p>\n