The Twenty-Third Sunday After Pentecost Exodus 33: 12 – 23

Sunday, October 19, 2008 I Thessalonians 1: 1 – 10

The Rev. Bambi Willis Matthew 22: 15 – 22

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.”

Matthew 22: 21: b

After three days at a clergy conference this week, I returned to work to discover on my desk a paper bag to which was stapled a large picture of a ghost with the word “Boo!” An anonymous goblin had taken me by surprise and I could not help but smile. Out of the blue and completely unexpected here was this silly little ghost bidding me to chuckle, to laugh, to smile, to say “thank you” to whomever had had the audacity to set a paper bag filled with candy right on top of all the important papers I had carefully left on my desk to take care of when I returned.

Gratitude is our natural response when we have received a gift, a blessing, a witness of someone’s love for us. We are creatures who can be delighted by beautiful music and majestic sunsets and yes, even, paper bags filled with candy. God, the giver of all good things, has created human beings alone of all of God’s creation, to be able to say “thank you” and we say “thank you” every time we come together in worship. Christian worship is an act of gratitude and praise to God for all the wonders of this life, for all the many ways we can see the love of God at work in the world. In our reading from Matthew this morning, Jesus calls us to remember that God alone is the One “through whom all blessings flow” and to God alone belongs our gratitude, our praise and our worship.

Our text begins with a bit of feigned gratitude as Jesus’ interlocutors say to Jesus: “‘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.’” After this false flattery, Jesus is asked: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” The question is an exquisite trap meant to condemn Jesus. If Jesus says “Yes,” Jesus will be supporting the purposes of Rome, a foreign power seeking to dominate the Jewish people by requiring the Jewish people to pay taxes to support the Empire. If Jesus says “No,” Jesus will be accused of treason against the state. Either way, Jesus is a condemned man – the Jews will hang him out to dry if he says “yes,” and Rome will let him have it if he says “no.”

Jesus responds: “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” or the more familiar version: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” Jesus’ answer confounds his interlocutors who we read “were amazed” and has subsequently confounded interpreters ever since.

In the second century Justin Martyr used this text to argue that Christians made good citizens because Christians honored the claims of government. Later, in the sixteenth century, Martin Luther would argue that God had ordained two kingdoms to exist in peaceful harmony - the kingdom of the world ruled by law and the kingdom of God ruled by the gospel. In the nineteenth century, the Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard would use this text to say that the claims of government were a matter of indifference. And today, Mennonites will not serve in the armed forces. The relationship between the church and the state continues to be a matter of controversy and our text does not resolve the dilemma.

Jesus does not tell us, in other words, who to vote for or what programs to support or whether we should continue the war in Iraq. Jesus does not tell us whether we should have prayer in public schools, hang the Ten Commandments in courtrooms or put nativity scenes on public property. Jesus, does, however, ask us to “give back” to God what belongs to God.

The Greek verb Matthew uses and which we translate either by “give” or “render” actually means “to give back” in the sense of paying back a debt. Jesus is telling his interlocutors and us to give back to God what is owed to God. And what is owed to God is gratitude and praise and worship.

From the very beginning, our ancestors in the faith understood that God and God alone had acted on their behalf and they gave thanks. God brought them out of Egypt, rescuing a band of slave from forced labor. God gave Abraham and Sarah a child in their old age and rescued that child Isaac from death when Abraham raised the knife to kill him. God fed our ancestors in the wilderness as they sought the promised land. God brought our ancestors out of exile, returning them to Jerusalem to begin anew. God sent prophets to our people to chastise and encourage them. And then, “in the fullness of time” God acted with a resounding blast bringing new life to the dead in the resurrection of Jesus. What belongs to God? Gratitude.

Now I am not a Pollyanna and I have much in my life for which I am not grateful. Many things I have said and done I wished I could undo. Many things which have been said and done to me I wish I could undo at best, pay back at least. I have from time to time felt like the whole world was bent upon my undoing. And a little paper bag with a picture of a ghost is not going to make all of that go away.

But that silly little paper bag for a moment drew me away for a moment from all my cares and preoccupations into a place of gratitude. And gratitude is a virtue that is easily lost and must be preciously guarded. Gratitude is our response to God for all God has done for us.

Ironically, our text comes to us this morning on the eve of an election and an economic crisis. In a few weeks some us will be celebrating and some of us will be bemoaning. In between those times, some among us will lose their jobs and some among us will get sick, and some among us will discover we simply do not have enough money to pay the bills. Our text comes to us on the eve of uncertainty and we will need to work hard to remind one another of all those things for which we are grateful.

Before I was greeted by my ghost I listened to the dean of Virginia Seminary at the clergy conference speak on the significance of worship. Dean Markham noted that in the confession we leave behind those things we have done and left undone. In the confession we give the past, which we cannot change, to God. Immediately following the confession we pass the peace. Immediately following the confession of our sins we take responsibility for passing on to others the peace of God. The past is no longer ours to change and in the confession we give all that we have done and not done to God. And then we begin anew, not trapped by our past but as free agents of a loving God, able in spite of everything to be instruments of God’s grace and peace to those around us. No human authority is able to forget what we have done and will always be wary of giving us new responsibilities. Not so with God.

Of all the things we are going to do in the coming weeks I want to suggest that the most important thing we can do is come together for worship. Not for your sake but for the sake of the world. The world needs to know that in the midst of uncertainty God and God’s love abides. The world needs to hear us singing hymns and praying prayers and sharing in the Great Thanksgiving. The world needs to know that gratitude, not grumbling, delivers us.

Worship is political action. Worship affirms that no one in this world is all powerful and all knowing. Worship affirms that nothing and no one in this world is perfect - not our governments nor our parents nor our spouses nor our friends nor our children and certainly not us. Worship affirms only God is holy and by the power of the Holy Spirit, all of us can be instruments of the peace, love and mercy of God, not for our sakes, but for the sake of the world.