Another week, another Jesus test. For the past few Sundays our appointed Gospel passages have been one long game of “gotcha” between Jesus and the religious leaders, them trying to catch him saying the wrong thing, and him neatly sidestepping their loaded questions. In last week’s test, he prevailed yet again – but it turns out that was only against one set of interrogators, the Sadducees. This week we see the Pharisees get back in the game – and since they were legal specialists, they asked Jesus a question about the Law. Any religious teacher worth his salt should know his Torah.
“When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’”
Easy A. Jesus answers with the best known of all commandments:
“He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment.”
No surprises here. This is indeed the most basic command, where Israel’s relationship with God begins, by loving God fully. It is the heart of the Jewish prayer, the “Shema.” Jesus might have checked the box and moved on – but he wasn’t finished. He went on to cite a much less known commandment and put it on a par with the first: “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
What’s this? An obscure half-verse from Leviticus is up there with the Shema? Yes, Jesus says -
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
He isn’t making this up – he is quoting the Law as given by Moses. Nonetheless, in combining these two commandments Jesus presented a radical new way of seeing God and justice. It’s not enough to love God, he suggests – we have to live that love by the way we love our neighbors and even ourselves.
We’ll unpack these different kinds of love throughout this week. Today let’s explore this linkage Jesus makes. Do you associate loving yourself with loving God?
Do you connect God and neighbor?
Do you feel the most love for God, for your neighbor, or for yourself?
How might the way we love our neighbor increase our love for ourselves?
How might the way we love ourselves – or not – connect to our ability to love God?
Sit with these questions in prayer today, as a kind of diagnostic on your "love life." Talk to God about it, notice where your energy increases.
It’s good to know where we excel in love and where we might grow, for in the realm of God, love is all and all is Love.
10-17-14 - What is God's?
"Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’”
Give to God the things that are God’s.
Okay, what belongs to God? Isn’t everything God’s? Doesn’t the emperor also belong to God?
And if everything belongs to God – why does God need our gifts? Our tithes? Our offerings?
Maybe God doesn’t need anything from us. Maybe we need to give, because things get squirrely when we don’t, and because we are transformed when we do.
It can be easy to view the two kinds of “giving” Jesus talks about here as similar, parallel tracks, if you will. We owe the government our taxes to pay for the goods and services we need governments to render. We owe God our “dues” to pay for… well, what? Clergy and church buildings? Charity? We worship a God who has freely given us everything. We don't have to pay for it. So why give to God and God's mission on earth, expressed through Christ's Body, the church?
We give because it is the best way to express our gratitude for all that we’ve received. We give because it sets us free, opens us, changes our hearts. We give because we love seeing what happens to others when we do.
If our giving is stunted, it may be that we are not all that grateful. If we equate giving of our money and resources to God’s mission to “taxes” or “dues,” it becomes an obligation, a contractual exchange. That is not what giving is intended to be for Christians.
Where does giving give you the most joy?
When do you feel the least willing?
Both answers give us some ground for prayer – and action. Maybe we are being invited to give additionally in both categories. Maybe we want to strengthen our gratitude muscles.
We are to give as God has given us – and in Christ, we see God giving us everything, his most beloved son, his life. I was reminded recently that the classic U2 song, “With or Without You” is not about a human relationship, but the struggle to exist in faith and intimacy with the God you cannot see. “See the stone set in your eyes/ See the thorn twist in your side.” – big Jesus reference there. (The “she” in U2 songs often refers to the Holy Spirit or to grace…)
“I can’t live, with or without you,” Bono sings.
And the repeated refrain applies to both God and us in relationship to the giving God:
“And you give, and you give, and you give yourself away.”
And you never run out.
Give to God the things that are God’s.
Okay, what belongs to God? Isn’t everything God’s? Doesn’t the emperor also belong to God?
And if everything belongs to God – why does God need our gifts? Our tithes? Our offerings?
Maybe God doesn’t need anything from us. Maybe we need to give, because things get squirrely when we don’t, and because we are transformed when we do.
It can be easy to view the two kinds of “giving” Jesus talks about here as similar, parallel tracks, if you will. We owe the government our taxes to pay for the goods and services we need governments to render. We owe God our “dues” to pay for… well, what? Clergy and church buildings? Charity? We worship a God who has freely given us everything. We don't have to pay for it. So why give to God and God's mission on earth, expressed through Christ's Body, the church?
We give because it is the best way to express our gratitude for all that we’ve received. We give because it sets us free, opens us, changes our hearts. We give because we love seeing what happens to others when we do.
If our giving is stunted, it may be that we are not all that grateful. If we equate giving of our money and resources to God’s mission to “taxes” or “dues,” it becomes an obligation, a contractual exchange. That is not what giving is intended to be for Christians.
Where does giving give you the most joy?
When do you feel the least willing?
Both answers give us some ground for prayer – and action. Maybe we are being invited to give additionally in both categories. Maybe we want to strengthen our gratitude muscles.
We are to give as God has given us – and in Christ, we see God giving us everything, his most beloved son, his life. I was reminded recently that the classic U2 song, “With or Without You” is not about a human relationship, but the struggle to exist in faith and intimacy with the God you cannot see. “See the stone set in your eyes/ See the thorn twist in your side.” – big Jesus reference there. (The “she” in U2 songs often refers to the Holy Spirit or to grace…)
“I can’t live, with or without you,” Bono sings.
And the repeated refrain applies to both God and us in relationship to the giving God:
“And you give, and you give, and you give yourself away.”
And you never run out.
10-16-14 - God and Government
Did God ordain governments? In our time it is fashionable to demonize governments as purveyors of chaos and corruption, when the very purpose for which they came into being was to prevent those things, to secure a safe and equitable society where all citizens could thrive.
Yesterday I stood in a line for 90 minutes at Dulles Airport, waiting to have my passport reviewed so I could enter the country. There were far too few passport agents to meet the demand This was bureaucracy at its finest, not government at its finest, I thought, wondering why anyone would want to come to the US if this was the reception they received. (It might be better at other airports…)
Some passages in scripture read as though God very much works through political systems and leaders, even ones outside the people of Israel (read up on the Cyrus passages in Isaiah…). St. Paul, writing in Romans 13, claims that no ruler on earth can exercise power without God’s authority – which makes me wonder what he thinks about all the corrupt and oppressive rulers, of which his day saw as many or more than ours. Jesus, in the passage we are exploring this week, seems to take governments as a given, and doesn’t say where they fit in God’s realm. As he tells Pilate under interrogation, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
I believe government is a natural human phenomenon, as is institutional religion. Human beings have to organize around power, supplies and spirituality, and organizations soon take on a life and culture of their own. Like the human beings of which they are comprised, governments - and religious institutions - exist on a spectrum between good and evil, helpful and self-serving, visionary and banal. Government, especially in democracy, is us, and we are it. We don’t get to make it a “them.”
So where does that leave us as people of faith? Perhaps it leaves us with a call to be agents of healthier government and a more life-bringing body politic. In the waning weeks before our next election, as rhetoric grows more and more polarized and shrill, what if Christ followers participated as peacemakers, not trying to convince the irrational, but refraining from demonizing, holding up the values of justice and equity and freedom?
Sound like a pipe dream? We have at our hands the power that transforms world. Surely we can pray for our governments and those who desire to lead us.
I don’t know if God ordains governments. I do believe God will work through anyone who asks. Let’s ask.
Yesterday I stood in a line for 90 minutes at Dulles Airport, waiting to have my passport reviewed so I could enter the country. There were far too few passport agents to meet the demand This was bureaucracy at its finest, not government at its finest, I thought, wondering why anyone would want to come to the US if this was the reception they received. (It might be better at other airports…)
Some passages in scripture read as though God very much works through political systems and leaders, even ones outside the people of Israel (read up on the Cyrus passages in Isaiah…). St. Paul, writing in Romans 13, claims that no ruler on earth can exercise power without God’s authority – which makes me wonder what he thinks about all the corrupt and oppressive rulers, of which his day saw as many or more than ours. Jesus, in the passage we are exploring this week, seems to take governments as a given, and doesn’t say where they fit in God’s realm. As he tells Pilate under interrogation, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
I believe government is a natural human phenomenon, as is institutional religion. Human beings have to organize around power, supplies and spirituality, and organizations soon take on a life and culture of their own. Like the human beings of which they are comprised, governments - and religious institutions - exist on a spectrum between good and evil, helpful and self-serving, visionary and banal. Government, especially in democracy, is us, and we are it. We don’t get to make it a “them.”
So where does that leave us as people of faith? Perhaps it leaves us with a call to be agents of healthier government and a more life-bringing body politic. In the waning weeks before our next election, as rhetoric grows more and more polarized and shrill, what if Christ followers participated as peacemakers, not trying to convince the irrational, but refraining from demonizing, holding up the values of justice and equity and freedom?
Sound like a pipe dream? We have at our hands the power that transforms world. Surely we can pray for our governments and those who desire to lead us.
I don’t know if God ordains governments. I do believe God will work through anyone who asks. Let’s ask.
10-15-14 - Church and State
I have been traveling in Norway, which, until quite recently, had a state church. Lutheran bishops were actually government appointees and civil servants. Appointments were often political - perhaps in terms of personal ambition and connection, but also to make points, as in liberal governments inflicting progressive bishops on conservative regions, and vice versa.
It is hard to imagine how clergy might maintain an authentic prophetic voice, "speaking truth to power," as the cliche goes, when "power" is signing your paycheck. On the other hand, in that system, the state also supports the churches. Perhaps a pastor is freer to speak truth to his or her congregation if not relying upon its largesse for daily bread. Religious and civic life exist in essential, overlapping, but basically distinct realms. Human societies seem to do best when those two realms exist in creative tension, somewhat equally balanced in power and influence. We go off the rails, it seems, if either becomes too dominant - especially, I'm sorry to say, when it's religion that tries to run the show.
This week we are exploring how best to live in the tension of our dual citizenship, how to reflect the values of heaven on earth, and hold up the needs of earth before the power of heaven. How do you feel called to live in that creative tension? How might you invite the power of the Holy Spirit to work through you in secular endeavors?
Might we make a discipline of praying for our political leaders, not just in church on Sundays, but on our own during the week? You might create a prayer list lifting a different leader or set of leaders in prayer each day.
It's easy to get disgusted with governments; let's wield the spiritual power we've been given as well as our civic freedoms, being engaged citizens and prayer warriors.
That might be the healthiest way for church and state to mingle... In us.
10-14-14 - God's Coins
In this week's gospel story we witness yet another confrontation between Jesus and the religious rulers, this time over whether to pay taxes to the Roman oppressors. They thought this a tidy trap - if he said "No," they could have him arrested for sedition; if "Yes," they could brand him a collaborator before his adoring crowds. Win/win, right?
Not for them. Jesus asks for a Roman coin. "Whose image do you see imprinted here?" he asks. "Caesar," they answer. "It's easy," he replies, "You owe this to the one who issued it. Give to the emperor what belongs to him, to God what belongs to God." And he dances out of another trap.
Genesis tells us that humankind was made in the image of God. St. Paul asserts that Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God, and that we are united with Christ in baptism. Therefore we are stamped with the image of God in birth and in rebirth. We are the coins God has issued to the world, if you will, the means of God's generosity.
How does it change your self-perception to think of yourself as a coin bearing the image of your creator, the currency of the Almighty in the creation? What are coins? They are utilitarian, sure, yet also precious. And they are used to purchase things of value to their possessor. What is of value to God? That all of God's children thrive in freedom and plenty and wholeness.
How might we be expended as "God's coins" to bring that dream of God into being?
In prayer today, we might offer ourselves anew to God for service, and ask the Holy Spirit to show us where God wants to spend us today, or this week, or this year, or this lifetime. What visions come up as you sit in stillness with that question? Does anything resonate with your own dreams?
The currency we have bears the likeness of temporal authorities, and that's the realm in which we spend it. We bear the likeness of God, and so we give ourselves to be spent in God's realm. Bought with a price, we can more than double our value.
Not for them. Jesus asks for a Roman coin. "Whose image do you see imprinted here?" he asks. "Caesar," they answer. "It's easy," he replies, "You owe this to the one who issued it. Give to the emperor what belongs to him, to God what belongs to God." And he dances out of another trap.
Genesis tells us that humankind was made in the image of God. St. Paul asserts that Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God, and that we are united with Christ in baptism. Therefore we are stamped with the image of God in birth and in rebirth. We are the coins God has issued to the world, if you will, the means of God's generosity.
How does it change your self-perception to think of yourself as a coin bearing the image of your creator, the currency of the Almighty in the creation? What are coins? They are utilitarian, sure, yet also precious. And they are used to purchase things of value to their possessor. What is of value to God? That all of God's children thrive in freedom and plenty and wholeness.
How might we be expended as "God's coins" to bring that dream of God into being?
In prayer today, we might offer ourselves anew to God for service, and ask the Holy Spirit to show us where God wants to spend us today, or this week, or this year, or this lifetime. What visions come up as you sit in stillness with that question? Does anything resonate with your own dreams?
The currency we have bears the likeness of temporal authorities, and that's the realm in which we spend it. We bear the likeness of God, and so we give ourselves to be spent in God's realm. Bought with a price, we can more than double our value.
10-13-14 - Allegiance
I wonder if Jesus got tired of the questions. Seems he was constantly confronted by people wishing to trap him, or engaged by people in awe of this very different revelation he brought and the authority with which he spoke. He was like people they recognized, and yet so totally “other,” that they were constantly questioning him - and we get to eavesdrop.
This week, the question is: are we supposed to pay taxes to the government, if we owe all our allegiance to God? (Passage is Matthew 22:15-22; I can't seem to create a link in my iPad.) It’s a classic either/or question – and Jesus tends to embrace the both/and world of paradox. This drives the Pharisees nuts – and sometimes some of us.
The Pharisees we've come to know, champions of religious righteousness according to the Law. The Herodians presumably were aligned with the Jewish king, Herod, a puppet monarch on a short Roman leash. So here church and state come together to lay this trap for Jesus.
Once again, he refuses to play, but counters with a little show and tell: “'Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ 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.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.”
Can we love our country and invest in its people and future AND love our God and invest in our eternal future? I think we can, and must. As embodied people of God we dwell In societies; our taxes and volunteering are part of loving our neighbors. Americans live this paradox every time we exchange currency with "In God We Trust" printed on it. It's not the same with cards or checks, but they represent that currency.
Our spiritual exercise today: each time you pay for something, anything, even online, offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the resources, of intercession for those who do not have our means, of blessing for the person receiving your money (even of blessing for the person receiving your money (even corporations, though not people, need blessing...), and reaffirm your trust in the One who provides all that we have. That should keep us praying all day.
In this life, we have dual citizenship. We are residents of this world with all the responsibilities and joys of being members of societies. And we are citizens of the heavenly realm, that already/not yet space of inbreaking power amidst our heart-breaking powerlessness. The coin of that realm is Love - and sometimes we show it with the coins we can touch.
This week, the question is: are we supposed to pay taxes to the government, if we owe all our allegiance to God? (Passage is Matthew 22:15-22; I can't seem to create a link in my iPad.) It’s a classic either/or question – and Jesus tends to embrace the both/and world of paradox. This drives the Pharisees nuts – and sometimes some of us.
The Pharisees we've come to know, champions of religious righteousness according to the Law. The Herodians presumably were aligned with the Jewish king, Herod, a puppet monarch on a short Roman leash. So here church and state come together to lay this trap for Jesus.
Once again, he refuses to play, but counters with a little show and tell: “'Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ 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.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.”
Can we love our country and invest in its people and future AND love our God and invest in our eternal future? I think we can, and must. As embodied people of God we dwell In societies; our taxes and volunteering are part of loving our neighbors. Americans live this paradox every time we exchange currency with "In God We Trust" printed on it. It's not the same with cards or checks, but they represent that currency.
Our spiritual exercise today: each time you pay for something, anything, even online, offer a prayer of thanksgiving for the resources, of intercession for those who do not have our means, of blessing for the person receiving your money (even of blessing for the person receiving your money (even corporations, though not people, need blessing...), and reaffirm your trust in the One who provides all that we have. That should keep us praying all day.
In this life, we have dual citizenship. We are residents of this world with all the responsibilities and joys of being members of societies. And we are citizens of the heavenly realm, that already/not yet space of inbreaking power amidst our heart-breaking powerlessness. The coin of that realm is Love - and sometimes we show it with the coins we can touch.
10-10-14 - In or Out?
Jesus' parables often end with a tag line; this one's is: “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
I guess this refers to the banqueting hall being full of people who were invited without regard to their suitability, to be evaluated and sorted out later. It’s not much comfort, is it, the idea that just being in the room doesn’t guarantee inclusion in the household of God.
Are we “in?” Do we want to be? Are we actually at the party, or just hanging out on the sidelines? Put another way, are we lukewarm church-goers or passionate Christ-followers? People like to say that the Episcopal version of this verse is, “Many are cold, but few are frozen.” What is our temperature at this feast?
Today try to imagine yourself at a feast, a celebration, whatever that looks like for you. The room is crowded. Where are you? Near the table, or hugging a wall somewhere, or in between? Why are you where you are? Where is Jesus in that room? Can you have a conversation with him? (It's one way to pray...)
I’d like to believe we are both called and chosen; I’ve never been much for doctrines like predestination or election. At the very least, I believe we are all invited, and we all have a choice to be present to the feast or pass it by. I hope you pull up a chair and pick up a fork.
I'd like to end this week with a hymn I wrote three years ago to go with this gospel reading. (If you want to sing it in your head, I put it to the tune of hymn 544, Duke Street, "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun")
Clothed in Holiness
Clothed in holiness, bathed in glory,
Born anew in sacred story.
From north and south, from west and east
Saints throng to your wedding feast.
Send out the heralds, the banquet waits
Leave your distractions, don’t be late.
The master calls, the feast prepared
of food divine and wine so rare.
If the invited will not come
Send out the word to deaf and dumb
All who are sick, lame, hopeless, lost
Called by the host who spares no cost.
And if your clothes are ragged, old,
New garments spun of finest gold
Are giv’n to all who heed the call:
This invitation is for all.
So in we pour, all sorts, all kinds,
The least in front, the first behind.
No class or label can divide
This Bridegroom from his chosen bride.
Clothed in holiness, bathed in glory,
Born anew in sacred story.
From north and south, from west and east
We throng into our wedding feast.
I guess this refers to the banqueting hall being full of people who were invited without regard to their suitability, to be evaluated and sorted out later. It’s not much comfort, is it, the idea that just being in the room doesn’t guarantee inclusion in the household of God.
Are we “in?” Do we want to be? Are we actually at the party, or just hanging out on the sidelines? Put another way, are we lukewarm church-goers or passionate Christ-followers? People like to say that the Episcopal version of this verse is, “Many are cold, but few are frozen.” What is our temperature at this feast?
Today try to imagine yourself at a feast, a celebration, whatever that looks like for you. The room is crowded. Where are you? Near the table, or hugging a wall somewhere, or in between? Why are you where you are? Where is Jesus in that room? Can you have a conversation with him? (It's one way to pray...)
I’d like to believe we are both called and chosen; I’ve never been much for doctrines like predestination or election. At the very least, I believe we are all invited, and we all have a choice to be present to the feast or pass it by. I hope you pull up a chair and pick up a fork.
I'd like to end this week with a hymn I wrote three years ago to go with this gospel reading. (If you want to sing it in your head, I put it to the tune of hymn 544, Duke Street, "Jesus shall reign where'er the sun")
Clothed in Holiness
Clothed in holiness, bathed in glory,
Born anew in sacred story.
From north and south, from west and east
Saints throng to your wedding feast.
Send out the heralds, the banquet waits
Leave your distractions, don’t be late.
The master calls, the feast prepared
of food divine and wine so rare.
If the invited will not come
Send out the word to deaf and dumb
All who are sick, lame, hopeless, lost
Called by the host who spares no cost.
And if your clothes are ragged, old,
New garments spun of finest gold
Are giv’n to all who heed the call:
This invitation is for all.
So in we pour, all sorts, all kinds,
The least in front, the first behind.
No class or label can divide
This Bridegroom from his chosen bride.
Clothed in holiness, bathed in glory,
Born anew in sacred story.
From north and south, from west and east
We throng into our wedding feast.
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