What is God's? Everything!

RCL Proper 29A

16 October 2011

Saint Faith’s Anglican Parish

Vancouver BC

         In the years leading up to 70 c.e.  the region of the world that you and I know as the Middle East was bubbling with turmoil.

• Politically the people of Judea who were the ancestors of today’s Jewish people were under the imperial control of Rome.
• The Herodian family who were Rome’s political allies in the region were widely disliked and distrusted by the Judean population.
• The ‘Jesus’ movement had also contributed to the religious unrest in Judea where various groups were competing to shape what we now know as Judaism.
• Judeans were also suffering economic hardship made worse by the inefficient and corrupt taxation policies and practices of both the Romans and the Herodians.

         Recalling this time of turmoil and conflict some forty years later, the author of what we know as the gospel according to Matthew records this morning’s conversation between Jesus and other Jewish leaders, here described as Pharisees and Herodians.  We can all recognize a trick question when we hear it.

• If Jesus affirms paying taxes to the Roman emperor, then he legitimizes a corrupt and oppressive regime.
• If Jesus condemns paying taxes to the Roman emperor, then he is guilty of sedition and treason.

But Jesus negotiates his way out of the trap the Pharisees and Herodians have set for him and utters those intriguing, challenging and ambiguous words:  “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”  [Matthew 22.21b]

         Thirty years after the conversation recorded by Matthew took place, the Judeans will rise up in a revolt against Rome spurred by a head tax.  Rome will crush the Judeans and Jerusalem with its Temple will be destroyed.  But the religious debate between the disciples of Jesus and the disciples of the rabbis will continue down to the present day.

         In the years leading up to the 16^th of October 2011 the world as we know it has been bubbling with turmoil.

• The so-called ‘war against terror’ has touched all of us, whether by the intrusions into our lives by new security procedures, by the service of our loved ones in armed conflicts or by our own nagging sense of insecurity.
• Growing numbers of citizens have ceased to participate in democratic processes, leaving all of us subject to governments elected by an increasingly smaller minority of a minority of citizens.
• The rise of religious conservatism and fundamentalism has marginalized the voices of the so-called ‘mainline’ traditions, whether Jewish, Christian or Muslim, causing many of our neighbours and the media to confuse religious faith with ideological and inflexible dogma.
• Economic woes affect us, whether personally or corporately, causing thousands of people in cities across North America to occupy public spaces to protest the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us.

Into these circumstances here comes the 18^th Sunday after Pentecost with its gospel reminding of an earlier time that is not so different from our own.  We have even chosen this Sunday as the beginning of our annual stewardship programme, a time in which we invite each other to consider self-taxation!

         “Give . . . to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,” Jesus says, “and to God the things that are God’s.”  The problem for the Pharisees and the Herodians is the same problem we face if we take our faith seriously.  What belongs to God?  Well, not to put too fine a point on it, everything belongs to God!

         This is an extraordinary claim to the ears of contemporary North American society:  Everything belongs to God --- your job, your earnings, your family, your home, your gifts, your failings, your home, your next breath --- everything belongs to God.  If one accepts this extraordinary claim, then one is faced with the challenge of using the resources we have not as personal possessions but as gifts of God’s bounty that have been given into our stewardship.  One dimension of our faith is living a life of responsible and accountable thanksgiving --- at all times and in all places and in all seasons.

         Today our Church Committee and I ask you to begin a time of reflection and prayer to discern how you will use the resources God has entrusted in the coming year.  We know all of the factors you must consider during the weeks leading to Commitment Sunday on the 20^th of November --- each Member of the Church Committee has to consider the same factors.

         But as your priest I ask you to reflect on this question:  Do you believe that Saint Faith’s has a continuing role to play in God’s mission?  If you believe, as I believe, that God is not yet finished with us, then you will consider how best you may allocate your resources to the work we are undertaking corporately as the people of Saint Faith’s.

         As you begin your time of discernment, take heart in the words Paul wrote to the Christian community in Thessaloniki not more than twenty years after the death and resurrection of Jesus:  “We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”  [1 Thessalonians 1.2-3]  These words, written at the dawn of the Christian movement, are as true of Saint Faith’s as they were of the Thessalonians.  For you and I know that everything is God’s --- and that includes you and me!  Amen.