Sun, Oct 16, 2005 - What Belongs to God

Isaiah 45:1-7
Psalm 96:1-13
1 Thess 1:1-10
Matt 22:15-22

"Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." Well, that's our famous verse for today. Even people who aren't Christian or have never read the Bible have probably heard this verse, or its more popular variation - "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." It has been at the basis of countless arguments over the question of separation between church and state, it has been used by people in favour of paying taxes, and by people who are against paying taxes. Oddly enough - and this is just an aside - it is rarely used by people to figure out how much money to give to the church.

In any case, we hear these words of Jesus, and our initial reaction is to look at our things and start dividing them up into piles. Okay, this part belongs to the government, and this part belongs to God, and this part belongs to me. And then the trouble begins. How much of a part belongs to the government? They would say anywhere from 30-50%, and they claim it in taxes. And how much belongs to God? Well, the Bible says we should tithe 10% - that our offering on Sundays should be one tenth of our income. But is that before or after the government takes its share? The Bible doesn't tell us that. And then there's the part that belongs to us - between 40- 60% - and we all know that most of that money doesn't really belong to us - it belongs to the credit card companies, and the utility companies, and the grocery store, and the mechanic's, and the insurance companies, and the dentist. The piles get smaller and smaller, and sometimes we end up taking from one pile to put in another pile, and it seems like there isn't enough for all the piles.

But that's not what Jesus intended for us to do when he spoke his famous line. Because Jesus, as we all know, was a clever guy, and the things he said were never as obvious or as simple as they first appear. You see, if you'll remember, Jesus introduced his "give to people the things that are their's" line by asking the onlookers whose image - whose head and title - were on the coin. And when the people said, "oh well, the emperor's," then Jesus made his point. But you'll notice, he didn't actually say, "pay your taxes to the emperor," which would have enraged the Jews around him. And he didn't actually say, "don't pay God's money to the emperor in taxes," which would have enraged the Roman authorities around him. He basically just told the people to see whose image, whose stamp, appeared on the things around them, and to put those things in their proper piles. And that was why people were so amazed at him.

You see, good Jews are brought up to believe, as are we, that everything around us bears the image of God, our Creator. We do, obviously, being made in the image of God, but so does all of creation - animals, trees, mountains, oceans, fields of wheat, ranges of cattle, mines of metals, reserves of oil and natural gas. Everything that exists, even those things we make ourselves, like cars and houses, bears the stamp of God - belongs to God. Even our money, which, yes, bears the image of the Queen, is really the property of our Creator, God.

Which is bad news for us here today, living in North America at the beginning of the 21stcentury. Because we're all about ownership, we're all about entitlement. We've worked hard for the things we have, they're ours. Nobody's going to tell me what to do with my things, or how to live my life, or how to spend my money. I have the right to do what I want, to live how I want, to spend how I want. How dare anybody tell me that I should be giving x amount of dollars to the church? How dare anybody tell me that I should quit smoking, or quit eating cheeseburgers, or quit drinking so much pop? How dare anybody tell me how to drive my car or heat my home? There are all my things, and I decide what to do with them.

Except that they're not. They're not mine. They're not yours. They're not even ours. They're God's. That car you've worked so hard for - it's God's. That house you've sacrificed to pay the mortgage for - it's God's. That body that you have a right to decide what to do with - it's God's. Which of course, makes it kind of ludicrous that we sit dividing up our belongings into piles for the government, piles for God, and piles for ourselves. When everything belongs to God, who of course graciously directs us to share it with others in the form of taxes and to even spend some on ourselves so we can live, but when everything belongs to God, that means that our sense of ownership, our sense of entitlement over our things is misplaced. When it comes to God, we are neither entitled nor do we have the right to anything. Sorry tp be the one to tell you the bad news - but that's how it is.

This is good news, though, for people who have had everything taken away from them. People like the ones living in El Salvador, where their land has been stolen from them by developers or the government, where their houses have been torn down to make way for shopping malls and highways. This is good new for people living in the countries of Africa, where the farmland that used to sustain them has been replaced by coffee plantations, where the food that they used to put on the dinner table has been taken away and replaced by coffee beans that they are forced to sell at cut-rate prices, so that we can have our morning cappucino while they starve. This is good news for the people in China whose lands and homes have been swept away by rising lakes formed by hydro-electric dams. This is good news because the land that has been taken away from them, the livelihood that has been sacrificed for the convenience of others actually belongs to God. That is God's land that is being bulldozed for malls, God's land that is being used for luxury coffee, God's land that is flooded to provide energy for televisions and microwaves and energy-sucking conveniences. And God, who loaned that land to the poor for their survival, who gave us what we have with the expectation that we would share it generously with those in need, well, God is not happy.

But God leaves it to us to make things right. We are the ones, after all, who are charged with taking care of the things that God has graciously given us. And that means that it's up to us to take all of God's things that we have and return them to God - by sharing them with the poor and needy, by being responsible in the ways we buy and consume, by returning God's money to the church where it can be used, by living our lives in ways that bring God's abundance to others. We are called to follow the example of Jesus, the Son of God, who renounced his claim on land and home, who shared his power with the sick and poor who needed it most, who shared his food with the hungry, who shared his life with those dying from sin. That is how we give to God the things that are God's - by sharing our power, our food, our life, our home, our money, everything that God has first given us.

Of course, yes, we don't do a very good job of sharing. But God isn't going to punish us by taking away our things, by starving us or by making our lives miserable. God created the heavens and the earth and all the things we need to live whether we are good caretakers of it or not. But God wants us to get it right, so God is going to keep on giving us these things until we do.

So, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." And as it turns out, we know now that Jesus means for us to think of everything as God's, including ourselves. And when we think about it that way, things like how much belongs to the government and how much belongs to us seem kind of inconsequential. We share it out as God shows us need and in doing so, find that we have more than enough. Thanks be to God. Amen.