The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith
St. Paul’s on-the-Hill
Winchester, VA
Readings: Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99;
Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:15-22.
The Interesting Thing
Today we hear, once again, that the
religious leaders tried to get Jesus into trouble by bringing up the topic of
politics and religion—trying to back him into a corner, knowing that there is
no good answer to their question. The
question of whether or not it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor was also a
religious question. Could a faithful follower of God pay a tax that oppressed
the people and challenged the authority of God?
Certainly not.
The Roman coin that the Jewish people
were required to use to pay the tax had the image of the emperor and an
inscription claiming divinity for the Roman rulers. But, could a person living
under Roman rule ignore the tax without suffering legal ramifications – well,
no. So Jesus answers the question about a narrow topic with a statement that
causes the listeners to consider their relationship with God in greater depth.
Yes, give to the emperor what is due to
him, but also give to God what is due to God.
As interesting as the question about politics and government can be –
that is not the most important matter for people of faith to consider. Jesus is
saying, don’t get so caught up in the one issue to the exclusion of the bigger
matter of relationship with God. “Give
therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the
things that are God’s.” Everything, of course, belongs to God.
Our gospel reading relates both to our
on-going discussion of stewardship – what we do with all that God has given us,
and to our current circumstance of the up-coming presidential election. How do we as people of faith deal with
political matters?
A few days ago I was asked by a reporter
from the Winchester Star how we in the Episcopal Church deal with politics and
the presidential election in church. He asked if there are particular topics
that I address from the pulpit. I found myself trying to explain, in a way that
made sense, our position as a church –that we care about politics but we don’t
deal with the topic in church – except maybe to affirm the importance of voting
and being informed about the issues – as we did when the youth group discussed
the election a few weeks ago.
As individuals I think that most of us care about the
election, but we don’t want to hear about politics in Church. I explained that
in our church the clergy respect the intelligence of our members to make
informed decisions based on their ability to sort through the information
without input from me. Because our church attracts many different types of
people, we have a variety of political views among us. We respect each other's
points of view on politics, even when we disagree, because we know that it is our faith in God that unites
us in ways that politics never will. We know what is most important – the bond
we have as members of the body of Christ.
We come to church to worship God and to grow in our knowledge and
love of God. Discussing politics in church would be a tragic misuse of our time
together. We are called to something much greater.
Then the reporter said, “if you are not preaching about politics,
what are you preaching about?” What indeed! The question makes me think about
the point of preaching as I understand it and the reason for our church
services. I believe preaching is about breaking open the grace of the scripture
we read each week to help us understand our lives in the context of God’s
amazing grace and love for us.
I explained to the reporter that last week I preached about how
the Bible and our faith traditions enable to deal with the anxiety produced by
financial troubles, and that at Westminster-Canterbury on Thursday I preached
about prayer and the interior life – imagine that!
I have begun to listen to Dr. Ian McIntosh’s lectures on-line,
which he gave during the recent Convocation at the Virginia Theological
Seminary (all quotations taken from
the first audio clip, https://www.vts.edu/podium/default.aspx?t=52560&rc=1). In his opening statements,
McIntosh quotes Evelyn Underhill, the great English
spiritual director and mystic of the early 20th century.
In 1930, immediately before the Lambeth Conference was
held,Underhill advised the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Lang, of a serious
problem she saw in the Church of England—she warned against the lack of
spirituality she saw in church: “We look to the church to give us an experience
of God, mystery, holiness, and prayer, which shall lift us to contact with the
supernatural world—and minister eternal life.”
She was very disappointed with the clergy who seem to be more
focused on the issues of the day than being focused on God. This she saw as a huge mistake because, “…God is the interesting thing about religion
and people are hungry for God.” When worship is not about God, Underhill
describes it as having a “dreary character,” which results in the “increasing
alienation of the laity from institutional forms.”
So, am I preaching about politics?
No.
The interesting thing about religion is God! It seems simple, but
how often do we get distracted from this truth even here at church? Give to the
emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.
This time belongs to God and we are here to worship out of our devotion to God,
and through this worship we are transformed becoming more and more children of light
for God in the world.
It is important to note that Jesus is not dividing the world into
two realms – it is ok to pay the tax – giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
– but what belongs to God is everything. Don’t give too much of yourself to
Caesar because it will not be good for you. The more we center ourselves in
God, and the primary way to do that is by giving God what is God’s in worship –
our love and devotion--, the more we come to have a God-centered view of the
world.
As we participate it becomes easier to give to God what is God’s.
When we make our pledge to time, talent and financial resources to the church
this year – we will be giving to God that which is already God’s. Pledging is a spiritual matter and makes
sense only in the context of relationship with God. The grace given to us
through this spiritual discipline is many-fold – first we have a church to nurture
us, our relationship with money comes more manageable, and we have less anxiety
because we are acting from a place of love and not fear.
As Mark Powell states in his book God With Us: “Matthew’s Gospel always emphasizes the benefits to
the givers rather than to the recipients…giving frees worshippers from
servitude to [money] and secures the devotion of their hearts to God as their
one master (Mark Allen Powell, God With Us: A Pastoral Theology of
Matthew’s Gospel, Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1995, p. 112.).”
Jesus spent much of his time and energy helping his followers to
understand the demands and the events of their time in the context of God’s
eternal life – God’s eternal life with us. May God help us keep the temporal
things of this world in perspective so that we may become more and more God’s
children of light in and for the world. Amen.