PROPER 24a - Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22 -

19 October 2008 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

Stewardship Begins With Treasuring God Above Everything Else

INTRODUCTION - Jesus For President?

In some ways it seems that Jesus would have made a good candidate for President of the United States, especially as it relates to participating in debates. I say that because so many times when Jesus was asked a question, he didn’t answer it. Perhaps the analogy fails in this way: Presumably the moderators who ask the questions in the current presidential campaign do not have any malice in their hearts. When Jesus was asked questions, it was often the case that the questioner was trying to get him to answer in a way so that they could have him arrested, or at least get a huge crowd of people to rise up against him.

Such was the case in today’s Gospel lesson. Matthew tells us that the Pharisees and the Herodians - probably a pro-Roman secular political party - plotted together to trap Jesus. After trying to butter him up by mentioning his sincerity and his impartiality, they asked, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” “Lawful” for them was a reference to the teachings laid out in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures. As one commentator has put it, their question was basically this: Does it accord with Torah to pay tax to Caesar or not, especially given the fact that the emperor is basically occupying God’s land illegally? (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching, Matthew, Douglas R.A. Hare, p. 253)

If Jesus said it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, he would have probably lost most of his support from the Jewish masses, who resented foreign rule. If he said it wasn’t legal, his questioners would have run off and started shouting to Pilate about how he was opposed to Roman rule.

Jesus didn’t go for the bait, and he didn’t answer the question. What he did was answer a different question, one the questioners didn’t ask but which was related, and which Jesus thought was a much better question. That question was basically this: What does the emperor deserve to be given by each of you, and what does God deserve to be given by each of you? The answer to that question is “Give .... to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

THE STATE CANNOT HOLD A CANDLE TO GOD

This parallel phrasing by Jesus might lead some to believe that Jesus is setting up an equal duality between government’s authority and God’s authority, but that is certainly not the case. All you have to do is look at Jesus’ life, and what ultimately happened to him, to know that that cannot be an accurate interpretation of what he was saying.

As the same commentator puts it, “Jesus in not saying, ‘There is a secular realm and there is a religious realm, and equal respect must be paid to each.’ The second half [of his statement] practically annuls the first by preempting it. In Jewish religious thought, foreign kings had power over Israel only by permission from God. Tax may be paid to Caesar because it is God’s will that Caesar rules. When God chooses to liberate his people, Caesar’s power will avail him nothing.” (Hare, p. 254)

Jesus is saying that you pay taxes to the emperor because the emperor has a certain claim on you. The government made the roads and provided an army to maintain order - things like that. But Jesus is saying that God has a claim on us too, and is asking his listeners - not just his questioners, but the disciples and all the people who were gathered around - to think about what God deserves to be given.

And when you think about it for even a few minutes, you realize that it’s no contest.

The government still builds and maintains the roads in our day. They administer the Social Security program and various programs for the poor. They control our borders and manage our public lands, and provide police and fire protection and water and sewage treatment and many other services, and recently, have gotten more actively involved in the market and our economic system. The government supposedly provides us with security, but let’s not kid ourselves - no government can guarantee our security.

God, on the other hand - well, that’s a totally different story.

Only God can make the heavens and the earth out of nothing.

Only God can make a people from himself, starting with a man who was 75 years old and his wife who was barren.

Only God can bring hundreds of thousands of people out of bondage safely - with parting a sea being just part of what God pulled off - and not have a single one of his chosen people die.

Only God can send down manna and quails from heaven, and make water come gushing forth from the rock.

Only God can forgive sins.

Only God can initiate eternal covenants and keep the promises he makes to his people for generation after generation - indeed, through all eternity.

Only God is there with you - no matter what happens to you.

Only God can bless you in ways that nobody else can. Only God can love you in ways that nobody else can. Only God can teach you and guide you and lead you to a place where your life is completely transformed for the better. Only God can provide you with ultimate security.

Only God can raise someone from the dead, and hold out to each of us the promise of life after death.

So, by all means, Jesus says - think about it. Weigh it out, and give to the emperor or the government what the government deserves, and give to God what God deserves. Jesus implies one thing, I think. If you think about it, even for a little while, you’re going to see that it’s not a closely contested race at all. This isn’t the government getting 49.8% of the vote, and God getting 50.2% of the vote. God wins in a landslide. The government might be fortunate if it carries one state, in fact.

Because only God is God. With regard to today’s Psalm, only God is the Holy One - the one and only Holy One. Or if you prefer the reading from Exodus, only God can say, “I won’t allow you to see my face, Moses, for no one shall see me and live” - so holy and glorious is the Lord.

STEWARDSHIP BEGINS WITH TREASURING GOD ABOVE ALL ELSE

Today Heather and I begin a five-week sermon series on stewardship, and the various aspects of stewardship. Make no mistake. The word “stewardship” doesn’t even make sense, it doesn’t even have a context, without God and an acknowledgment of the character of God and what God has done for us. A former bishop said that stewardship is “everything you do after you say ‘I believe.’” Without believing in a God who gives us everything - life, family and friends, money, our homes and clothing and standard of living, this earth and all the resources on it, time, and talent, forgiveness, salvation, and new life - without believing in the generous One who is behind everything, the concept of stewardship makes no sense. You cannot know what you are supposed to take care of - what you are supposed to be a “good steward” of - unless you have a concept and an understanding and an authentic experience of the One who gave it to you.

And once you get your mind around the concept of God giving us everything - when I lift up the bread and wine every Sunday I say, “All things come of Thee, O Lord” and you all respond “And of Thine own have we given Thee.” - that is our common acknowledgment that everything we have comes from God... once you get your mind around that fundamental truth, then you can begin to respond to Jesus’ challenge, that we give God the things that are God’s, that is - we give God the things that God deserves.

And, of course, what God deserves - once we realize that everything we are and everything we have and all our relationships and this earth and everything else all originate in him - then what God deserves is our full and total devotion. That is why Jesus said the greatest commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Only this isn’t a matter of obligation. This is a matter of gratitude. Our grateful response means that we want to love God with all of our being, because of all that God has done for us. To quote one of the New Testament writers, “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

By analogy, we give to God and to others because God first gave to us. We care for the earth because God first cared for it. We forgive others because God first forgave us. We offer our talents back to God because God gave them to us in the first place.

We try to make the best use of our time because God is the one who gives us time and stands above and beyond all time.

Stewardship begins with treasuring God above all - above the government, above your family, above your friends, above the earth, above money. Jesus said that no person can serve two Gods. And there is only one God, one Lord. You may call this God Yahweh or the Lord or the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, or the Holy One, or “Abba” or Christ or the Holy Spirit.

It doesn’t matter, really. What matters is that you give God what God deserves.

And when you come to church over the next month or so, excited to be here because of your gratitude for all that God has done in your life, and you hear people talking about tending to your various relationships, or about money and pledging and our 2009 budget, or about the way we all make use of our time, or the way we offer our talents for the common good, or the ways we care for the earth, think about Jesus’ statement - to give God the things that are God’s, the things that God deserves. Ask yourself, how can I bless God? How can I give God - not the leftovers of my life - but my very best? How can I give 100% - all of who I am... heart, body, mind, soul... everything that I am and all that I have - to God, in the way that God deserves that?

Stewardship starts with treasuring God above everything else. Everything else that we are stewards of falls into place, once you decide that you can do nothing else but give God all that God deserves.