Matthew 22: 15-22
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Ordinary Time – CROP
and Bread for the World Sunday
First United Church – Sermon by Rev. Caela
Simmons Wood
Have you ever been hungry? I actually
haven’t, but I know some of you have.
Of course, I say I’m hungry all the
time. As in, “Oh, look. It’s 3:00 and I haven’t had a snack this afternoon.
Must be time for a muffin and some coffee.” Or, “I’m going to run in and get a
granola bar while we get gas. I’m famished!”
This isn’t really hunger, though,
right? I mean, it’s sort of the white people problems version of hunger. “White
people problems” in case you’ve missed that term on the internet is a catch-all
phrase for all of those little annoyances that we folks with privilege like to
gripe about as if they were real problems.
So when I feel cranky because I want
to get some lunch but I have to drive out of the way to get to a drive through
because my son is asleep in the back seat – that’s not hunger, really. That’s
just the white people problems version of hunger.
I read a book this week that talked
about real hunger.
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel is a novel by Louise Murphy. Part fairy-tale,
part historical fiction, and all horrific, it is the tale of an eleven year old
Jewish girl and her seven year old brother – abandoned deep in a Polish forest
at the height of the Holocaust so they will not be killed. Their Stepmother
renames them Hansel and Gretel as she and their father drive away. In the
forest, they stumble upon the house of Magda, a midwife shunned by the local
village because she is believed to be a witch. Magda takes them in and protects
them as the world collapses around them.
Hansel and Gretel know what it’s like
to be truly hungry. Gretel watches her brother gather saliva in his mouth – she
has taught him how to hold it there for about a hour and then swallow it bit by
bit, slowly, pretending it’s a delicious soup. Hansel, just seven years old,
knows that he can ball his fist up tightly in his stomach when he’s trying to
go to sleep – just a little way to cut the stabbing hunger pains. Both children
know there are rules to eating – that each child can do whatever they wish with
their piece of daily bread. They may choose to eat it all at once, save it for
later, or share it, but the choice is always theirs alone.
Real hunger. The kind that children
and adults all over the world still live with each and every day.
On this Sunday, we participate in the
CROP Walk, raising money for Church World Service to send aid to hungry people
both in the U.S. and abroad. We also join with churches across the nation in
celebrating Bread for the World Sunday.
Many churches will participate today
in an offering of letters as a part of Bread for the World Sunday. This
non-profit, faith-based organization is a treasure trove of information on hunger
advocacy both here and in other nations. Each year, they create detailed
packets of information that churches can use as members write handwritten
letters to their representatives in the federal government, hoping to impact
legislation in a way that will result in fewer hungry people in God’s creation.
Speaking of Bread for the World, I
got an email from them this past week informing me that two Indiana
politicians, Senator Lugar and Representative Stutzman, are introducing a piece
of legislation that would dramatically cut assistance to families who receive
aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – better known as “food
stamps.” They sit on the Senate and House Agricultural Committees and the USDA
is actually in charge of the federal food stamp program. So if anyone ever
tells you that agricultural policy doesn’t matter, just remember that the USDA
controls a program that feeds 45 million Americans – half of whom are children.
In partnering with these two
organizations, we, as a community of faith, are attacking hunger on two fronts
– Church World Service provides direct assistance to people who are hungry and
Bread for the World impacts policymakers, seeking to stop hunger at its source.
Of course, one of the ways we, as a
society stop hunger at its sources is through our government’s policies. Within
the federal budget, dollars are constantly being allocated and reallocated to
assist hungry people and increase access to food. When you and I pay taxes,
some our dollars help people who are hungry. When we go to the polls each time
there’s an election, our choices affect the lives of those who live with a
constant gnawing pain in their stomachs.
Jesus had a few things to say about
paying taxes in today’s lectionary passage from Matthew. Doubtless, you’ve
heard the phrase, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s…” a few times in your
life. Traditionally, this phrase has been used when people want to have some
biblical proof that there is a Christian world and a secular world. We have
said there are Christian values, yes, and those are important, but there are
also secular values and it’s okay to be a part of that world, too.
For generations, people have
understood this story to mean that, when in Rome, it’s okay to do as the Romans
do.
Yes, we are called to be people of
faith, but we are also allowed to do what our governments ask. Even within the
Society of Friends, which has a strong tradition of pacifism, there have been
voices that, for centuries, have called upon this biblical phrase to argue that
tax resistance – that practice of withholding taxes that might be used for
military defense – is not expected of Christians.[1]
Well, I hate to break this to you,
but I think that interpretation is pretty much wishful thinking.
When we take the time to really dig
in and look at this story, including its context, what we come away with is
much more nebulous. It’s hard to conclude what Jesus really thought about the
question posed to him about paying taxes…but it is easy to learn a few other
things.
Jesus is in Jerusalem and is
approached by an odd group of folks. American Baptist Minister Paul Simpson
Duke calls this pairing of the Pharisees disciples and Herodians a “bipartisan
group.” These are not two groups that would have spent time together, but they
are willing to “reach across the aisle” to entrap Jesus.[2]
The group lays into Jesus with
flattery and then dishes out their actual question, “So, is it okay with God if
we pay taxes to the Emperor of Rome?” I don’t think, for a minute, that these
folks really cared too much about Jesus’ answer. They weren’t planning on
altering their 1040s based on his response. Instead, as in the Matthew passage
we read a few weeks ago on the question of Jesus’ authority, their sole
motivation is to embarrass Jesus, and perhaps even find grounds for arresting
him.
Jesus is in a bind. Aren’t you glad
you’re not Jesus? If he says “yes, pay your taxes” then he frustrates and
alienates devout Jews who were chafing at Rome’s occupation. If he says “no,
don’t pay them,” he risks immediate arrest for treason.
Recognizing that he cannot answer truthfully,
one way or another, Jesus sidesteps the question and offers a more powerful
response that is more far-reaching in scope. First, he disarms his opponents by
shaming them publicly. He asks them for a denarius – a Roman coin that was a large
sum of money. Most of the onlookers standing around would not have access to
this kind of cash and Jesus didn’t either.
They produce it quickly, revealing
themselves to be members of the wealthy elite. If this were the Occupy
movement, Jesus would be handing them a sticker to wear that says, “We are the
1%.”
Jesus asks them who is on the coin.
They answer, “Caesar.” And he says, “That’s right. So give Caesar what belongs
to Caesar and give God what belongs to God.”
On one level, it seems simple. If
Caesar is asking for taxes, payable only in Roman coin and Jesus says to give
those coins back to Caesar, then, yes, you should pay your taxes.
But, it’s the second part of Jesus’
answer that really messes things up. Sometimes I wish he would just stop, but
he always keeps on going. Notice how the second part is the stuff that rarely
gets quoted? We usually just say, “Render unto Caesar – dot, dot, dot.” But
it’s that last part, “Render unto God what is God’s” that complicates things.
Because Jesus, like any other religious Jew would have believed that fully
everything in creation, including those coins bearing Caesar’s image, belonged
to God.
So it’s hard to know what he meant,
but if I were pressed to interpret, I think I’d stake my money on saying he
meant one of two things: 1) no, don’t pay your taxes. That money really belongs
to God and should be used for God’s work, or, 2) I’m not even going to answer
your question because I think it’s a bad question and it’s not worth my time.
This passage is not about whether or
not you should pay your taxes. It’s about a way bigger question than that.
It’s about who we choose to follow
during our time on this earth – do we blindly follow the people who are in
power? The Pharisees and Herodians of our day? It’s about figuring out where
our allegiances lie. It’s about remembering that everything in creation – all
of it – ultimately belongs to God. Not to Caesar. Not to the person holding the
coin. It belongs to God.
Jesus re-frames the conversation.
Backed up against the wall, Jesus refuses to allow his opponents to control the
direction of dialogue. He asserts himself and brings the attention back to
where it belongs – to God and to our response to living as faithful children of
the Most High.
It makes me wonder – what would
happen if Christians re-framed the conversation in 2011?
What if, the next time we got in a
debate with someone about tax law, the debt ceiling, the cost of the wars, the
allocation of funds to people in need – what if the next time that happened, we
didn’t just start talking about statistics and realities? What if, instead, we
started talking about the Realm of God?
What if we talked about our call to
be stewards of the great resources given to us? What if, when forced as a
nation to make difficult decisions about where to allocate our dollars, we
Christians reminded everyone that all of this – all the dollars, all the food,
all of it – belongs to God?
What if we kept talking about our
call to be stewards of creation? What if we reminded those around us that God
created everything and called it good? What if we reminded others that we are
called to care for creation and tend it carefully, with great love and respect?
What if we moved people toward a vision of a place where no child goes hungry
because we’ve figured out how to share after all these millennia of turmoil?
I’ll be the first to admit, it’s hard
for me to imagine. But when I see Jesus in action there in the Jerusalem Temple;
when I watch our fearless leader go toe-to-toe with the oppressive powers of
his day; when I hear his gentle, yet firm, voice say that we are to give back
to God what is God’s – I can imagine us re-framing the conversation here and
now and for many years to come.
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