What is God's?

A Sermon preached on October 19^th (Pentecost XIX) at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Isaiah 45:1-7, Psalm 96, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Matthew 22:15-22

One of the many gifts of this church is the variety of different national, cultural, and religious backgrounds we all come from. I think they are a cause for joy and for celebration, although they will occasionally lead to misunderstandings. 

One potential area for misunderstanding could be the political role of the church. In our various home countries the relationship between church and state is very different. If we just look at our “big three”, the countries most of us come from, the UK, Germany and the US, we have on the one hand in England a fully established Church in which parliament, including some bishops, has the last say on changes in doctrine and structure and even worship. Allowing women to become bishops will for example require an Act of Parliament. In Germany the major churches, while not established, receive church tax, and play a significant role in education, health care and the provision of social services.  On the other hand in the USA we have a strict constitutional separation of church and state. Interestingly though as I discovered while living and studying there, it seems that more politicians feel called to establish their  religious credentials in the US than in the other countries – as one advisor of former UK PM Tony Blair famously said: We don’t do religion. 

These two different approaches, on the one hand some sort of unity of Church and State, and on the other hand their complete separation, seem to be echoed in today’s readings. In the OT reading from Isaiah we heard that God had anointed and appointed King Cyrus of Persia and that God promises to go before him, opening gates, leveling mountains, and subduing other nations. Yet in the Gospel reading, Jesus answers the Pharisees’ trick question with the famous phrase: “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” – and that sounds like a very clear separation of the two! The relationship between church and state is currently also a topic of discussion for the German Protestant Churches. In the so-called Luther decade, the run up to the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, each year has a theme and this year’s theme or motto is “Reformation and Politics.” You might even have heard of or attended one of series of sermons that well-known politicians have been giving at different churches in Wiesbaden – all of them based on the story of the feeding of the 5,000.

But to understand what the Biblical passages are saying about Church and State, we need to take a closer look at their context. The section of Isaiah this morning’s readings came from was written by someone scholars call second Isaiah. We assume that a book that covers a period of 250 years, from the events leading up to the fall of both Jewish kingdoms, followed by the exile of Judah to Babylon, through the time of exile and finishing with the period immediately following the return to Jerusalem, was written not by one person but by 2 or 3 prophets or schools. Second Isaiah was writing towards the end of the period of exile. 

Our translation hides how shocking the statement made about Cyrus really is. “His anointed Cyrus” is literally God’s Messiah Cyrus or in Greek “Cyrus Christ.” In the OT the term Messiah is only used with reference to kings, and occasionally to prophets and priests, but not as we now use it to the Son of God. But all the same, this is still first and only time a foreigner is given this title. In the view of the prophet, King Cyrus was doing God’s work and whether Cyrus wanted it or not God was using Cyrus as his agent and instrument, to defeat Babylon and to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. It didn’t matter that Cyrus probably never knew what honor he was being given and as the poem says, he doesn’t even know God. But he is still called by God and named by God and he is – for a brief period of time – Israel’s savior. As verse 6 tells us, the purpose of Cyrus’ calling is “so that they,” the whole world, “may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.” The message is that God is above human institutions but also willing to use them for God’s purposes. God’s love for God’s people and God’s power are victorious, in this case through a State, through the Persians under King Cyrus. 

If we turn now to Jesus’ saying about the emperor this too came in a very specific context. The Pharisees were out to trap him and they thought they had the perfect “Catch 22” question. If Jesus acknowledged the pagan, foreign sovereignty of Rome over Israel by saying it was lawful to pay taxes he risked losing all or many of his followers. And if he denied Rome’s right to collect taxes he risked his life – tax rebels were crucified in those days, so things have got a little better, you only risk a prison sentence now!  

How does Jesus get out of this? Well, first he establishes that the Pharisees actually had the coins they hated so much with them. They hated the coins because of the human image on them – a picture of Caesar – and because of the blasphemous inscription describing Caesar as a son of a god and as high priest. By the way this is the reason for the money changers in the Temple, the ones Jesus threw out. Special “kosher” coins were needed in the Temple precinct both as monetary offerings and to purchase sacrifices. Just to be on the safe side, and as we are in the middle of our annual stewardship campaign, we don’t mind what is on the coins and notes you give to the church!

Anyway, Jesus then elegantly sidesteps the issue with his statement that if Caesar is on the coin, then it must belong to him. Jesus knows that he will eventually suffer the fate and punishment of a tax rebel, but that will be for something much greater and much more important than rebelling against some human authority. When Jesus is killed by the state and rises again it is a demonstration that God is above human institutions. God’s love for all people and God’s power are shown to be victorious over the worldly powers and dominions. 

Let’s come back to the idea of image again. The coin is Caesar’s because his image is on it. But, as the author of the reflection sheet you will find in your bulletin also reminds us, Jesus is not really agreeing to a separation of two different areas – one public where human power rules, and one private, where we are allowed to serve God, preferably quietly and without disturbing the neighbors. No, as God has given us everything in creation and as “the image of God, made flesh in Jesus Christ, is also stamped on the face of every human being with whom we share God’s creation”[1] everything also belongs to God and everything should also serve God’s will and purpose. That is the simple truth that both readings make clear, each in their own way.

How the church is organized and financed is not important, and I am glad that with the exception of the Vatican, churches do not run states. But that does not make religion a private matter. Only a few verses later in the same chapter of Matthew’s Gospel (22:37-40) Jesus summarizes the Law as loving God and loving your neighbor. This is an imperative not only for our personal but also for our political engagement. The church and its members, we, are called to speak out, to act and to take public positions on issues that impact our love of God, and of God’s creation, and of our neighbors who are each and every one made in the image of the one, true, living and loving God. As Christians our final allegiance is to God and to God’s kingdom, which is not a State but a way of life and of living and of loving.

Amen.

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[1] Stewardship Narrative for Proper 24, The Episcopal Network for Stewardship

Walk the Talk

A Sermon preached on October 12^th (Pentecost XVIII) at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden

Isaiah 25:1-9, Psalm 23, Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14

As many of you know I worked for a large international corporation for many years. And so over the years I was confronted with lots of new management concepts and fads and with an awful lot of “management-speak.”  One popular buzzword, though not one I particularly liked, was “walking the talk,” which really only means: don’t just say it, do it! Senior managers were always very good at telling middle managers that they had to “walk the talk” for the latest new management concept, while often being spectacularly bad at it themselves, doing things like ordering people to be collaborative!

The idea that people in leadership positions are supposed to set an example and practice what they preach goes back a long way. Pope Gregory the Great, who has his own window here at our church to commemorate him sending St. Augustine to England, wrote a sort of “how to” book for priests called the “Book of Pastoral Rule.” One rule in St. Gregory’s book is that “the footprint of his (the priest’s) good living should be that path that others follow rather than the sound of his voice showing them where to go.” Walk the talk!

But we can go back even further and into the Bible. St. Paul also repeatedly calls on his readers and listeners to follow an example, to imitate either him or others: “I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus.” (1 Cor. 4:16-17) “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”(1 Cor. 11:1) In fact we can find a call to imitate Paul in every letter written to one of the communities that knew him personally, so also in Galatians and one of his letters to the Thessalonians, and as we heard this morning in Philippians: “Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.” (4:9) Paul was convinced that what he taught (“the things that you have learned and received”) about how to follow and live in Christ must and could also be seen in his, Paul’s words and actions (“the things you have heard and seen”). Because only if that was the case, only if Paul walked the talk, could he be a good example.

Today too, Christian leaders should be good examples and I can think of many of them whom it is worth trying to imitate. Pope Francis is a wonderful model of a servant leader and of someone who really tries to practice what he preaches. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has shown us what it means to forgive and to trust in God’s love even in the most difficult circumstances. And Archbishop Justin Welby is a wonderful role model for dealing with conflict and living with good disagreement. Unfortunately there are also “one or two” bad examples among Christian leaders. I have recently been particularly saddened by the very public conflict between the Deans, trustees and faculty of two Episcopal seminaries, EDS and GTS. What example are these leaders giving those seminarians who are supposed to be learning how to be examples for their future flocks?

As your priest I am also supposed to be an example, whether I like it or not (and sometimes I don’t especially in such a small city like Wiesbaden: I can’t even get my hair cut without running into a parishioner!). But that is what I promised at my ordination when I answered “yes” to the question: “Will you do your best to pattern your life in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you may be a wholesome example to your people?”[1] Thankfully this role is not limited to me. You also promise to be an example every time you recite our Baptismal Covenant: “Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ,”[2] and our Catechism also defines the ministry of lay persons as “representing Christ and his Church.”[3]

 

And in his letter to the Philippians Paul is not only setting himself up as an example, but also calling on all the Christians in Philippi to be examples. That’s why Paul addresses a conflict between two female believers and wants them to be of the same mind in the Lord, and to show it to the world. And look at his other commands: Rejoice in the Lord, literally celebrate exuberantly – so show that you believe and are glad to believe. “Let your gentleness be known to everyone.” (Phil. 4:5) Show that you are fearless and that you trust in God’s care and love. Joy, gentleness, fearlessness and trust are the qualities Paul wants them to show to the world. Imitate me, Paul says, as I imitate Christ, and so that others imitate you.

The proper qualities of a follower of Christ are also one theme of the rather complex parable we heard this morning in the Gospel reading from Matthew. The story of the parable was made even more complicated by what we believe to be a later insertion of an allusion to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70: “The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.” (Matthew 22:7) This is a sort of “I told you so” written after Christianity and Judaism had divided. But at its core the parable has three main messages:

1. Both in the past and at the time of its telling Israel’s leaders had repeatedly refused to hear God’s call and instead sent away or even killed the messengers – the prophets.
2. As a result of this rejection God will now call those whom Israel’s leaders reject, so both Jewish outcasts and Gentiles. Please note Jesus is not saying that the Jews are now rejected, just those in charge whose example was less than perfect!
3. But while God does welcome all to the heavenly wedding banquet - that is into the kingdom of God - this welcome comes with expectations. We are welcomed as we are. The only condition is to accept the invitation – but that does not mean we are expected to stay as we are. On the contrary, we are expected to change.

When Jesus encounters demoniacs, lepers, blind, and lame he doesn’t just accept them “just the way they are.” He heals, transforms, and changes them. And this does not just apply to physical ailments. The right wedding robe in the parable stands for the proper qualities of an inhabitant of the kingdom of God. When we accept the invitation to the feast, we also accept an invitation to be transformed into the human beings we are supposed to be, images of God .  

What does it mean to wear the right clothes, what are the right qualities?  In Colossians (3:12-13) Paul tells his readers that as God’s chosen ones they are to “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” and “above all clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” In Ephesians (6:11-17) the clothing is described as the armor of God and consists of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace, and the shield of faith.  In fact all these qualities - love, justice, truth, gentleness, peace, and faith - can be summarized as Paul does in Galatians (3:27) when he defines one single item of clothing as necessary: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” 

As Christians, lay and ordained, leaders or just normal worshipers, we are called to imitate the one we follow. We will not attain perfection in this life, that is restricted to the one who was both fully human and fully divine, but we can and must still try and grow into the clothes we have been given. As Paul writes, keep on doing and keep on thinking about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable,” (Phil. 4:8-9) Part of the good example we set is to show and tell the world that we know we are not perfect and not complete without God, and that we need and desire the transformation the journey with Christ offers us. 

So in retrospect it seems that “walking the talk” is not such a bad phrase after all. Christianity is all about both walking and talking. As Christians we are called to talk about the Gospel, to proclaim the Good News and as Christians we are called to try and walk it too, to follow the Way, as Christianity was once called.

So my brothers and sisters: Walk the talk!

Amen

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[1] BCP, 532

[2] BCP, 305

[3] BCP, 855