Sermon for 20th Pentecost
Made in God’s Image
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
Today we hear another well-known parable by Jesus, one with a tag line known even to many non-Christians, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
We are at the point in Matthew’s story about Jesus where things are getting pretty tense. Earlier in the week, Jesus had entered Jerusalem and been greeted by adoring crowds. Riding this wave of popular acclaim, Jesus immediately entered the Temple and overthrows the tables of the money-changes, challenging both the political and religious powers that be. And then, as we have heard these past two weekends, when confronted by the religious leaders regarding the authority behind his actions, Jesus told several provocative, even threatening, parables calling into question their own authority and, indeed, their own standing before God.
And now we come to today’s Gospel lesson.
Because Jesus has threatened those in authority, two groups that normally wanted little to do with each other – the Herodians who derived their power from the Roman occupiers, and the Pharisees who were aligned more closely with the occupied and oppressed commoners – these two groups now declare a temporary truce in order to work together to trap this upstart rabbi in today’s Gospel lesson. The question they pose to Jesus is beyond clever, asking Jesus whether it was lawful to pay the poll or imperial tax that funded Roman occupation. Should Jesus answer in the affirmative, the adoration of the crowds would likely not simply evaporate, but rather be turned into opposition. Should Jesus answer negatively, however, then he will have positioned himself over and against the Romans, never a wise thing to do. Thus, the Herodians and the Pharisees believe they have Jesus trapped.
Well, that may be what they think, but, if their question is clever, Jesus’ response is ingenious or, more appropriately, inspired, leading to an exchange that is as revealing as it is brief. After asking if any of his questioners has a coin of the Empire – the only coin that could be used to pay the tax in question – they quickly procure one. Jesus asks whose image is on it, and they answer, “The Emperor’s.”
Of course, there is more going on here than meets the eye, as along with that image is an engraved confession of Caesar’s divinity, which means that any Jew holding the coin is breaking the first two of the commandments. All of which leads to Jesus’ closing line, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And with this one sentence, Jesus does not simply evade their trap or confound their plans, but issues a challenge to his hearers that reverberates through the ages into our sanctuaries:
Who do you and who do we serve?
Six years ago, preaching on this same text, I quoted an old Bob Dylan song, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody” and spoke of how this text points us to a decision as to who we serve, that this text tells us that our primary allegiance is, or should be, to God.
Three years ago, that sermon was featured on the Day1 radio preaching ministry and heard on radio stations around the USA and several other countries. You can still find it on Day1’s website - http://day1.org/8023-eric_shafer_youre_gonna_have_to_serve_somebody.
I still like that interpretation – in this text, Jesus is inviting us to declare our allegiance to God. Perhaps the key question for us is not whose image is on a coin, but whose image is on our hearts?
Jesus is inviting us to declare our allegiance to God.
However, this year I am struck with a different interpretation, one suggested by scholar David Lose.
Lose suggests that, as we reflect on today’s Gospel text, we might also reflect on this verse from the first chapter of the book of Genesis: “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.” Likeness is the word used in the Greek translation of Genesis and is also the word Matthew chooses. So, a better translation of Matthew’s text today might be, “Whose likeness is this, and what title?” I don’t know how many of Jesus’ audience would have caught that, but I suspect those listening closely to Jesus’ word choice would have harkened back to God’s initial pronouncement and promise: We bear God’s likeness and are therefore made to be more than we sometimes realize.
Pause for a moment to let that sink in. We were made in the image and likeness of God, and, because we bear God’s likeness, we are to act like God. Not mind you, like gods, those who lord their authority over others for self-gain, but rather like God – the One who creates and sustains and nurtures and redeems and saves…no matter what the cost. We are called, that is, to serve as God’s agents, God’s partners, and God’s co-workers, exercising dominion over creation not as an act of power but rather as an act of stewardship and extending to all the abundant life God wishes for all.
Notice that even though Jesus’ opponents carry a coin with a graven image and confession of Caesar’s divinity, Jesus accuses them of neither blasphemy nor disloyalty. Rather, Jesus calls them hypocrites, those who have quite literally taken to wearing another, and false, likeness. So perhaps the charge against those trying to entrap or discount Jesus then or now is best understood as amnesia, for they have forgotten who they are, in whose likeness they were made.
Thus, this text call us back to our primary identity - God’s children, those made in the likeness of God and charged to act like the God we see in Jesus.
Our allegiance is first and foremost to God. Our primary identity is as a child of God. Our charge is to act like the God we see in Jesus.
Our call is to never forget who we are, children of God, made in God’s own image. And, as children of God, called to act like the God we see in Jesus.
What would that look like? Each of us will have our own response, but there certainly are, or should be, some common characteristics – kindness, goodness, generosity, treating others as we believe Jesus would treat them, as we would want to be treated. It is in God we find our primary identity and in Jesus we find our guide for life.
Never forget that you are a child of God, loved and cared-for always by God.
Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. David Lose who Bible work is used extensively in this sermon).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sermon for:
October 18, 2020
