The Church of St. Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City NJ
October 18, 2020
Year A, Proper 24: The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
Dual Citizens
As you all know, one of my main responsibilities is offering pastoral care to parishioners. Back before the pandemic, I spent a lot of time visiting people when they were hospitalized or shut in at home or in nursing homes.
Over the years, there have been a few times that I’ve been asked to do the same for people who are not parishioners – usually they’ve been relatives or friends of parishioners. Of course, I see that as a privilege and I’m happy to do it.
A long time ago now, the family of one of those non-parishioners wanted to thank me, so they offered to take me out for a rather fancy dinner.
I tried to beg off, saying that it really wasn’t necessary, that I was just doing my job, etc. But, when I realized that my “no thank you” was hurting their feelings, I agreed. So not long after, we gathered at one of the nicest restaurants in town for what promised to be a delicious but maybe kind of awkward dinner with people I didn’t know well.
As the dinner went on, maybe after the first or second glass of wine, the conversation turned from pleasant and non-controversial topics like church and family matters to…politics.
I grew increasingly uncomfortable and tried to gently steer our conversation in other directions.
“Wow, this food is delicious, isn’t it? My goodness!”
No luck. More politics.
They had gone on for a while when they turned to me and asked what I thought.
I tried smiling and made a little joke that I’ve used in similar situations a few times before and since. I held up my hands and said,
“I’m sorry. There are two things I don’t talk about: religion and politics.”
They looked at me for a moment, definitely not getting the joke and clearly not hearing the message.
After a brief pause, they resumed,
“Yeah, but, what do you think about…?”
Sigh.
It was a long night.
You regular viewers of our Sunday services may have noticed that I haven’t said much about the big election that we still sort of think is a couple of weeks away but is, in fact, already underway in much of the country as way more people than usual vote by mail, or use the new drop boxes as Sue and I did the other day, or wait in shockingly long lines to vote early.
I haven’t said much about the election because there is so much chatter happening 24 hours a day on cable news and on social media.
And, honestly, I’m not sure I have anything much to add that hasn’t already been said a million times.
And, on top of everything else, there has already been quite a lot of religion mixed into our overheated partisan politics already.
Most Evangelical Christian leaders and most of their followers long ago made their choice – just as most progressive Christian leaders and their followers have made their choice, too.
Some Christians – including, as we’ve seen, some Roman Catholic bishops - have declared themselves to be single-issue voters – and, going even further, they’ve said that faithful members of their churches have only one choice in this election.
Now, it’s actually true that Christians have only one choice in this election, and in every election: we must vote our conscience.
We must vote for the candidate we think is most likely to move us even just a little bit closer to the kingdom of God – closer to the land of mercy and justice, the land where the poor and the vulnerable are honored and cared for, the place where the stranger is welcomed as if Jesus himself were at the door.
And, we vote our conscience knowing that no single candidate, no political party or ideology will ever match up completely with our faith.
You know, one of the biggest mistakes the church makes is getting too cozy with the powers of the world.
Throughout history, the church has made this mistake over and over
We saw that mistake with many progressive Christians during the Obama years, looking away from policies and actions that should have drawn more scrutiny and concern. And we certainly see that mistake even more clearly with evangelicals now.
The truth is that even the best-intentioned politicians will inevitably use the church for their own purposes, inviting the church to a coveted “seat at the table,” seducing the church into thinking that the end justifies the means, blinding the church to all sorts of injustices committed by even the nicest people in power.
The truth is that we live in a fallen and broken world.
It’s a world that requires compromise and making the best choices we can.
It’s a world that requires us to speak truth to power, no matter how much power tries to distract us or to buy our silence.
And, you know, if there’s a blessing in this particular election, maybe it’s the loud and clear reminder that we Christians live in two very different different kingdoms – the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God.
We Christians have dual citizenship.
Jesus lived in a time when the people of Israel were painfully aware that they were living in two different kingdoms.
As God’s chosen people, they followed God’s Law as precisely as possible.
But, at the same time, they lived under Roman occupation.
And, as we’ve talked about before, the Romans were pretty easy to live under, so long as you didn’t try to rebel, and so long as you paid your taxes – the vast amount of wealth collected from all across the empire that kept the imperial operation going.
And, if you caused trouble or refused to pay the tax, there would be swift punishment meted out to you and, perhaps, your people.
All of the Jewish people of the first century lived with this tension and fear, especially the religious leaders who desperately wanted to keep the peace, both because they didn’t want their people annihilated, and because they wanted to preserve their own position and power.
As we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, Jesus was not at all impressed with the religious leaders of his time. He taught parables that seemed to say that these learned men with their long robes and prestige were, in fact, rebelling against God and were in danger of losing everything.
Speaking as a religious professional myself, that’s not something that any of us want to hear.
And now in today’s gospel lesson, this conflict between Jesus and the religious leaders continues when some of these religious leaders respond to his Jesus’ thinly veiled criticism with… a question.
It’s a question that was very much in the air back then: should Jews pay the tax to the Roman emperor? Should they pay the tax using Roman coins that bore the emperor’s image, coins that often contained religious language, naming the emperor as “Lord” or even “Son of God”?
It’s a good question.
I love how the religious leaders begin by trying to butter up Jesus a little:
“Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality.”
And then they ask Jesus their important and tricky question:
“Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”
Jesus, of course, is onto to their game.
If Jesus says, yes, it’s legal, he’s likely to lose the support of at least some of his followers.
And if Jesus says no, then, I don’t know how, but this news just might get back to the Romans… and Jesus would face quick and brutal punishment.
Before Jesus replies, in one of the most famous moments in the gospels, he asks for one of the coins bearing the emperor’s image, and then he gives his answer:
“Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
And the religious leaders slink off, disappointed that Jesus has avoided their trap.
The truth is that we live in a fallen and broken world.
It’s a world that requires compromise and making the best choices we can.
We Christians have dual citizenship.
So, we follow the law.
We pay our taxes.
We follow our conscience and vote for the people who we think will best move us even just a little bit closer to the kingdom of God – knowing that no candidate or party or ideology will ever totally match up with the gospel.
Yes, we are dual citizens.
But, that does not mean that we divide our hearts.
Long ago, Jesus said we should give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor and give to God what belongs to God.
Left unsaid by Jesus, but what would have been understood by first century Jews and should be understood by us, is that everything belongs to God, most of all our hearts.
So, we are about to enter what will probably be the most intense political weeks of our lives.
No doubt, there will be lots of angry words and falsehoods and bitter disputes.
So, especially during this difficult time, let’s stick close to the church.
Let’s stick close to one another.
Let’s stick close to God, trusting that God is not going to let go of us now.
And, most of all, let’s remember that we may be dual citizens, but Lord is our king.
Amen.
Posts
