Recent Sermons
Sermon preached at St Columba's by Revd Camille L Cook
on Sunday 23rd November 2008
Readings
Ezekiel 34 : 11 - 16, 20 - 24
Ephesians 1 : 15 - 23
St Matthew 25 : 31 - 46
Sermon preached at St Columba's by Revd Barry W Dunsmore
on Sunday 16th November 2008
Readings
1 Thessalonians 5 : 1 - 11
St Matthew 25 : 14 - 30
Sermon preached at St Columba's by Revd Camille L Cook
on Sunday 19th October 2008
Readings
St Matthew 22 : 15 - 22
Raising the Standard
An Anglican priest, a Baptist preacher, and a Presbyterian Minister were discussing how they handle the weekly contributions given to their respective churches. The Anglican priest said he drew a circle on the ground and threw all the money in the air, whatever landed in the circle went to God, whatever fell outside of the circle he got. The Baptist preacher did said that he did something similar, he drew a circle on the ground and threw all the money into the air, whatever landed inside the circle he got, whatever landed outside the circle God got. The Presbyterian Minister said that he too did something similar. He threw all the money in the air and whatever God wanted God would keep, whatever fell back to the ground he would keep.
In Matthew's Gospel the Pharisees were asking Jesus how they should be handling their money. Give it to Caesar; give it to God, or throw it in the air for a 50/50 split? It was a trick question framed by asking Jesus about the duty of paying the Roman tax. If Jesus argues against paying the tax to Caesar he will be accused of being anti-Roman. If he argues for giving the money to Caesar, his supporters will see him as hypocritical or compromising under pressure. It's a no win situation and so Jesus asks the Pharisees for a coin and asks them, "whose image is this, and whose inscription?" Caesar, of course, was the answer. And then the famous response, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars...followed by the more important second clause...and unto God that which is God's". In answering the question Jesus raises the standard. To Jesus, the money matter is trivial after you sort out the larger questions of identity and loyalty. Throw it in the air or give it to Caesar, Jesus does not engage the money matter on a surface level.
Social Activist Dorothy Day when asked to comment on Jesus' saying "render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's," took a moment or two to think and then replied, "If we were to render unto God all the things which are God's, there would be nothing left for Caesar."1
Jesus' answer calls for a deeper kind of reflection. The Pharisees were not asking an obscure theological question but rather they were asking Jesus a question about practicality. How did he propose for his followers to navigate in a world where a Roman leader demanded their loyalty but they claimed ultimate loyalty to God. For Christians living in time of Matthew's gospel claiming faith in Christ had serious political and social implications.
And, New Testament scholar Fred Craddock said that in 2,000 years the issue has not changed, only the circumstances. Craddock asks this, "How do we live out Christ's lordship in our lives when dealing with the powers and principalities of political life, whether that is about going to war, building affordable housing, responding to famine in Africa, or the mundane of the incessant parades and activated parking meters on Sundays?" This question about coinage is a question about identity and loyalty and it is no easier for us now than it was for Christian's of Jesus' day. We still live in a world which daily asks us to bend to political pressures and bow to cheap compromise. Navigating the sea of faith in times like these is hard work and it is something we must do with intention and perseverance. We remember the Apostle Paul's words, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."2 This is what Jesus is telling the Pharisees, that his followers must sort this life of faith out for themselves. He will not be giving them a simple verdict or easy instructions; they will have to work this out with fear and trembling.
What I have always loved about the gospels and specifically Jesus' responses in the gospels is that he rarely offers direct answers to the questions posed to him. He more often than not responds with another question, or a parable, or an ambiguous answer with a deeper meaning. Jesus knew then what we realize now; life does not often operate well in black and white. Yes or No often just doesn't cut it. Giving a simple answer like yes pay the tax or no don't pay the tax would have done little for teaching his followers how to navigate their lives of faith in the complex world around them. How will they know how to live lives of faith when he is no longer with them if he has always just held their hands and told them exactly what to do? Jesus asks his followers to work out for themselves how it matters in their daily living who they confess to be Lord at the end of the day. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
I remember when my family was taking my older brother to University for the first time. We stopped to have a meal in the city where he would be studying. The waitress came to our table and after noticing that my brother was wearing a cross around his neck she quite boldly asked him if it was a faith statement or a fashion statement. While her question was a bit imposing what the girl was asking about was his identity. Did the cross make a difference?
Does the cross make a difference, because if it does then everything else should be affected by that identity?
One of America's greatest marathon runners is a guy named Ryan Hall. Ryan became a well known runner at an early age. At 18 he won a full scholarship to run distance for Stanford University and was projected to lead the team to a national title. But after less than a year Hall found himself burnout, depressed, and unmotivated. He took some time off from school and from running and returned to his family home. He also returned to his old church trying to figure out what had gone wrong. Ryan said it was then he decided he wanted to be a Christian first. He had always felt like a Christian but it was not his primary identity. But from then on he wanted to stop being a runner who was Christian and start being a Christian who was a runner.3
When Jesus said render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's he wanted his followers to think about their primary identity. Are you first a Roman citizen who happens to be a Christian? Or are you a Christian who happens to be a Roman citizen?
What about you? What is your primary identity? Scottish, British, ex-pat, young, old, male, female, gay, straight, professional, homeless, parent, child, musician, football fan. Whose image and inscription is on you?
One of things that drives me crazy when I tell people where work is when they "oh sure the Scottish Church on Pont Street." What I would like to say in response is no…St. Columba's the Church of Scotland on Pont Street. I know it is a semantic difference but we are not the Scottish Church, we are not the church because we are Scottish. We are the church because our primary identity is in Christ. It is not a fashion statement, it is a faith statement.
I read an article this week about equal representation on official church committees and bodies. The article was discussing whether or not we still needed to have diversity mandates in these groups. It said this, "the Church cherishes the sexes, races, ethic groups, and ages of all people who make it up. But none of those things constitute a Presbyterian's primary identity. Presbyterians are, first and foremost, Christians. It may be sociologically unrealistic to completely ignore age, race, sex. But ultimately those aspects of identity are overcome in Christ."4
The aspects of our identities are overcome in Christ. That is what Jesus was trying to do with the Pharisees, to make them realize that coins to Caesar were about a secondary identity, their Roman citizenship. But this identity was overcome in Christ. Neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are one in Christ. If you render unto God a primary identity in Christ then, as Dorothy Day said, there is nothing left for Caesar. Everything is affected by that ultimate loyalty to Christ.
Sometimes that primary identity in Christ makes people uncomfortable or unsure about us. At the new members conference last weekend we were discussing the reasons why people were tending not to join churches these days. After looking at a list of reasons from a sociological report one participant added the word embarrassment to the list. Then he honestly spoke about being selective who he told he was a Christian. Another person then admitted that her friends gave her a hard time for going to church. A young couple then said that their friends had laughed at them when they said they wanted to baptize their baby. Maybe Fred Craddock is right, the issues for living lives of faith have not changed just the circumstances.
Confessing an identity in Christ has social and political implications for us today. People expect certain things of Christians for better or worse. People expect that a faith statement to be a statement about ultimate loyalties and primary identities. People expect that the cross should matter to every aspect of life. That does not mean that it is black and white for how we vote, or what we give our money to, or how we raise our children. But it does mean that we are going to have to take our actions seriously, because we should be able to justify all of our identities in light of our identity in Christ. We are going to have to make decisions about to what we render our time, our skills, our resources. We are going to have to make decisions about how we act at work with colleagues, out with friends, and at home with our families. We are going to have to work our salvations out with fear and trembling.
If you have come to church for a simple instruction book on how to be Christian in 2008 in London, England you will want to ask for your money back at the door. But if you have come to church to think about how to embody your identity in Christ more fully, then you have come to the right place. Jesus raises the standard asking for more than loyalty with just our mouths or our time or our money. Jesus asks that our identity as followers of Christ would affect every aspect of our lives.
There is no part time worker in the Christian faith. So render unto Caesar or render unto God? Jesus' question to the Pharisees is asked to us as well…whose image is on you and whose inscription upon you? The Psalmist says, "for you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."5
You say you are a Christian. So? Is it a faith statement or a fashion statement? Does the cross really matter? The cross really does matter!
Amen.
- 1. Quotation take from William Sloane Coffin's book Credo.
- 2. Philippians 2 : 12 - 13
- 3. Article on Ryan Hall found in Runner's World Magazine, September Issue 2008.
- 4. Rebuilding the Presbyterian Establishment. By Beau Weston (PDF Document).
- 5. Psalm 139 : 13 - 14
