Over the years I have learned,
sometimes the hard way,
that there are certain things
an aging, white, celibate male should not be preaching about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
On more than one occasion, for example,
I have been reminded that I am not the best equipped person
to be giving advice to married couples
about how to resolve spousal disputes,
or to be counseling parents
on how to raise their children,
or to be advising young adults
about how to negotiate the dating scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the list of off limits topics for my preaching
has only expanded over the years
it is with some trepidation that I approach today\u2019s gospel,
apparently a tale about paying taxes:
something a vowed religious
who has spent almost six decades living
in a tax-exempt religious community
may not be exactly poised to address
with any proficiency or prudence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A question about taxes is the presenting issue in today\u2019s gospel,
as Pharisees and Herodians in their bi-partisan collusion
ask Jesus if it is lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The question of paying taxes is a perennially contentious issue
both in the Roman empire and in our own history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember the American colonist\u2019s gripe against England
with their \u201cno taxation without representation\u201d motto
and that attempt to break the Guiness world record
for the largest herbal brew party in Boston Harbor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Palestinian burden was at least as onerous Not surprisingly, this was an explosive issue in ancient Palestine. So today\u2019s tale is another classic trap set by the anti-Jesus squad: if he had said \u201cno, don\u2019t pay the taxes\u201d Of course Jesus turns the tables on his calculating stalkers So bravo Jesus \u2026 brilliant job turning the tables But ultimately what are we to do with this \u201cgospel cleverness\u201d? Or, as usual, is there a more challenging message Analogously, Jesus was sending clear signals in his answer, Notice Jesus did not carry one, because the coin, Graven images were forbidden by Jewish Law<\/a> The reason Jesus calls his co-religionists \u201chypocrites\u201d In the 1985 movie \u201cwitness\u201d an outsider with good intentions played by Harrison Ford In 9 days we will celebrate what is fast becoming In my na\u00efve calculations, I presumed that most money Besides the usual Dinosaurs, pirates, witches and superheroes Kids like to dress up as their heroines and heroes, I doubt whether anybody I know, or probably you know, So Cyrus was a veritable pagan messiah, His deeds, his performance, his respect of captives More pointedly, Jesus\u2019 life performance The 1997 movie Contact<\/em> is both a science-fiction examination In the movie, an initial stage of contact with extra terrestrials After some confusion, the scientists discern the message which stuns them. The scientists are distraught by the transmission, Finally, a more sobering realization dawns on them: While most of us have never confessed the sin of idolatry Do we trade in currencies of privilege or exclusion In this eucharistic crucible, we take up the mission again,
for multiple reasons:[i]<\/span><\/sup><\/a>
-Roman taxes were linked to military support and empire expansion, so paying your taxes supported an occupying army
-Provincial governments as in Jerusalem did not have a large numbers of officials
—so they farmed this responsibility out to tax collectors who had the right to collect funds significantly larger than those assessed by the government <\/span>
–with few checks and balances
-While Jews had their own coins \u2013 shekels \u2013 they could not be used for paying the Roman tax you were required to pay the Roman tax
—and eventually even the Temple tax with coins stamped with the image of the emperor, akin to requiring you to pay US taxes, only with currency stamped with an image of the IRS<\/span>
–like rubbing government salt into your financial wounds<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some groups like the Zealots refused to pay,
Sadducees and Herodians who collaborated with Rome
paid in good conscience,
and the Pharisees, who had legalized their piety,
paid with anguish.
The Pharisees and Herodians in today\u2019s gospel
considered Jesus a tax refuser,
a charge brought up at his trial before Pilate<\/a>,
exposing him as an insurrectionist and liable for execution.[ii]<\/span><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
if he had said \u201cyes, pay the taxes\u201d
he would have compromised his integrity
as his inquisitors had already done;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the messiah-eradication team would have jumped into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With his cagey \u201cyes yes\u201d rather than any \u201cyes or no\u201d:
give to Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s
give to God what is God\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on these religious impostors;
you make your followers very proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Give the Only-Begotten a round of applause?
Revel in the revelation that we have a smart savior?
Commit ourselves to rhetorically embarrassing our enemies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
embedded in this apparent tale of Jesus\u2019 debate skills?
American prisoner of war Jeremiah Denton<\/a> was forced by his North Vietnamese captives to give a televised interview<\/a>. During the interview, he stated that he was being provided \u201cadequate food, adequate clothes, and medical care when I require it.\u201d However, while saying the words his captors expected of him, he was also communicating something else with his body. While feigning trouble with the blinding television lights he blinked his eyes in Morse Code, spelling out the word Torture. This was the first confirmation to the U.S. Intelligence that American prisoners were being tortured in North Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but one many of his adversaries spectacularly missed.
The lead tactic in this subversive signaling
was Jesus\u2019 request for the infamous coin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
designed with its image of Caesar,
was like a public affidavit that its bearer
affirmed the divinity of the Emperor:
a reality amplified by the Temple context
where this attempted entrapment occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
as they were clearly linked to idolatry<\/a>.
That is why on the hallowed ground of the Temple Mount
there were money changers
who allowed people to exchange their idolatrous coins
for shekels devoid of living images
that could be used for Temple services and sacrifices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is not because they oppose his teachings
or set an underhanded trap,
but because they revealed themselves as idolaters,
more committed to the coins in their pocket,
than the Torah God wanted inscribed on their souls<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
has come into an Amish community to protect a child
bringing along his handgun
which the child stares at as it sat on the kitchen table
as the grandfather wisely counsels:
\u201cwhat you take into your hands, you take into your heart<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
one of the most popular and most expensive holidays in the US:
Halloween.
According to the National Retail Federation<\/a>
spending for this spooky festival is expected to exceed
12.2 billion dollars \u2013 an 8% increase
over last year\u2019s record breaking 10.6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was spent on decorations, then candy.
Wrong priest! The top of the spending chart at $4.1 billion
is costuming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
people who make a living predicting this stuff<\/a>
suggest that we will see a lot of Barbie & Ken costumes,
Ariel and Adams family lookalikes, and
Of course, lots of pseudo Taylor Swifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
adults more often lean towards their alter egos
like the Mom in Hocus Pocus 1 dressing as Madonna.
I myself always wanted to go to a costume party
disguised as the Devil \u2026 not sure what that says about me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is dressing up as King Cyrus mentioned in the 1st<\/sup> reading:
the Persian monarch whom Isaiah actually reports
to be anointed by God, as were
David and Solomon and the prophet Elisha
and Jesus the anointed, Jesus the Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
an unlikely instrument of God,
not because of his ethnic heritage or religious beliefs
but because of the way he acted;
because he freed the Jews from captivity
because at least once he had a peaceable heart
and imaged the very peaceability of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was the signal to the prophet
that he was at least momentarily the anointed of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
-respect of the marginalized and erased
-unerringly reveals that he is the eternally anointed of God
-an image bestowed on each of us, at baptism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of first direct contact with aliens and
a parable about religious righteousness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
is the reception of an audiovisual message sent from outer space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a television transmission of Adolph Hitler
speaking at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and wonder about its malevolent intent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the human race is receiving back exactly what it sent out:
the first large-scale television transmission in history,
the 1936 Olympics.
Unaware of what we had sent,
the scientists were unprepared for what was received. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
the Jesus of the Gospels today asks us
what coinage is in our hands, and in our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of self-interest or self-preservation?
Do we communicate only the values prized on the street,
or do we publicly embrace our vocation:
created in the image of God,
refined in the font of baptism,
and fortified in the celebration of eucharist,
that calls us to communicate in word and in deed
that friend and foe, family and stranger,
Palestinian and Jew-
are all created in the image of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not only to receive the anointed one in word and Sacrament
but to be his irrefutable presence in this troubled world–
through Christ our Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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