Sermon on Matthew 22.15-22

The Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews

Pentecost+20; Proper 24, A

St. Joseph-St. John, Lakewood

22 October 2017

Matthew 22.15-22

The story continues.

The drama keeps arching.

Matthew is more up front this week.

He doesn’t seem as angry,

            but the foreshadowing

                        isn’t even veiled.

The Pharisees are looking to trap Jesus in what he says

            so that they can find a way to have him killed.

There’s so much going on here,

            so much wrapped up in this text,

                        so much emotion and feeling.

There’s so much disappointment and despair

            as Matthew looks back and realizes his current context.

There’s so much hope and remembering

            how even in argumentation Jesus wins,

                        defeating not just death but those who plan his death.

The Pharisees, who are scared of the crowds,

            send their disciples

to try to entrap Jesus in a big question.

Understanding this question

is more complicated than it appears

on the surface.

Two weeks ago

            our lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures

                        was the Ten Commandments, including:

                                    “You shall not make for yourself an idol,

whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above,

or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

That matters.

The Pharisees send their followers

            to ask Jesus if the people of Jerusalem,

                        mostly Jews under the occupation of the Roman empire,

                                    should pay taxes

If Jesus simply say, “Yes”

            he loses the support of the crowds

                        many of whom think he’s come to deliver them

                        from Roman oppression.

Saying “No”

            means publicly and overtly

                        challenging the authority of Rome.

Treason, and death.

Real quick.

Jesus knows these aren’t people

            really looking for his enlightenment

                        so he traps them in their own trap.

If we were reading Matthew straight through,

            we'd know that Jesus is in the temple.

He calls his questioners hypocrites

            and asks them for the coin.

What’s on the coin?

An engraving of Caesar,

            who expects to be worshiped.

They’ve brought what is arguably an idol

            an engraving of someone who says they are a god

            into the temple.

This is supposed to be exchanged

            for faceless money

                        in the Court of the Gentiles,

                                    but that’s not really enforced.

Jesus has trapped them

            by exposing their own hypocrisy.

Oops.

They have to back off.

That’s all they can do.

While they’re doing it

            Jesus throws one more barb at them:

                        “Caesar’s face is on the money,

                                    give it back to him.

Give God what belongs to God.”

Give God what belongs to God.

What belongs to God beloved?

Everything.

While Jesus is talking about money

            in this exact instance —

                        which starts about money because of his detractors —

            Jesus is saying to give it to God.

All of it.

The Old Prayer Book emphasized this

            when gifts of bread, wine, and money were presented,

                        “All things come of thee O Lord,

                                    and of thine own have we given thee.”

Give God what belongs to God.

This passage,

            right now in October

                        as we are in the green season — still —

                                    perfectly lends itself to annual pledge preaching.

That’s all I’m going to say

about those topics today,         

            as important as they are

                        for our congregation to thrive.

Give God what belongs to God.

That’s everything.

Not just monies earned

            while living as baptized persons,

                        but everything.

For us at St. Joseph-St. John,

            it’s letting go of the fear for our survival.

It’s letting go of being afraid

            that we’ll never see something again

                        so we have to cling to it tightly.

It’s letting go of holding on to stuff

            in case we need it one day.

It’s looking at the example of Jesus

            who had no permanent home

                        and sent his disciples out

with a bag, a robe, and their sandals.

We’re having a fish fry next Saturday

            a fundraiser dreamed up this week

                        based on that good gifts God has given us.

We’re having it to make space

            for another piece

                        of yet another fundraiser.

Giving to God what belongs to God,

            giving God everything

                        is a remarkable exercise in releasing.

Wednesday night we celebrated 52 years since

            St. Joseph Church ­— of St. Joseph-St. John —

                        was founded.

I recounted the church’s ups and downs.

Giving to God what belongs to God,

            giving God everything

                        means releasing the idea of going back

to the highs and lows we’ve had before.

We remember them

            and use them for inspiration.

We mourn the losses

            of families and clergy and income.

But like Matthew writing about Jesus in this passage

            we look forward, knowing that death has been defeated

through the Resurrection of Jesus.

When I was growing up,

            we didn’t have Communion every week,

                        but we had an altar call every week.

Those who had not yet made a commitment to follow Jesus

            were invited to do just that.

Those who had made such a commitment

            were invited to come forward to pray —

                        for their needs and the needs of others

                                    often joined by others in the church who knew their burdens.

When that invitation was offered,

            our pastors always admonished people

                        to give God what belongs to God

                                    and not pick up what they’d taken to offer on the altar.

The churches of my childhood had a weekly altar call.

We do too,

            when I say “The gifts of God for the people of God”

                        and invite you to draw to this altar,

                                    leave your trials

                                                our fears

                                                            and our concerns

            while feeding on Jesus

                        who has defeated our trials

                                    your fears

                                                and our concerns.

Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you

            and feed on him in your hearts

                        by faith

                                    with thanksgiving

            that what we need is here

                        and what we give to God is already God’s.