16 October 2011 The Rev. Elsa A. Peters
Exodus 33:12-23 and Matthew 22:15-22
You’ve exhausted all other possibilities. You’ve consulted the experts. There are no other options. There’s nothing else to do. You’ve reached that extreme. A decision has to be made. So, you pull out a coin. Tossing it into the air, you wonder if the ancients were right to believe that the outcome will actually reveal God’s will,[1] but you know very well, there are only two options. You can keep flipping the coin as many times as you want but there are only two options: heads or tails.
There’s no grey area. There’s only these two possibilities on either side of the coin. It’s one or the other. Heads or tails. Of course, this isn’t the only time we limit ourselves to two options. We do it all of the time that we try to divide the world between two kinds of people. We believe this so deeply that it’s woven through the vows most couples make on their wedding day. Whether they are gay or straight, the church asks them to commit to each other no matter which extreme the coin flips: for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.
Or in the case of some Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on the door, it’s the extreme between Satan and God. Last week, they were making their rounds when they knocked on the door of one Cape Elizabeth home. To this unsuspecting member of our church, they announced that Satan rules the world. She didn’t really have time for this conversation. She was trying to get the kids to swim lessons but they got her attention. She tried to reason with them, but it didn’t work. So, she did what anyone else would do, she phoned friend. And when she didn’t get the answer she needed, she defaulted to an option that doesn’t exist on So You Want to Be a Millionaire?, she Facebooked her pastor. The message was simply pit:
Some Jehovah Witnesses just came to my door and asked me if I understood
that the world is run by Satan. I said … I believed that God and love ruled
the world. They then proceeded to take out a bible and show me how many
places it actually does state that Satan rules the world. Do you mind if I ask
your opinion on this one? Totally confused!
And why shouldn’t she be? It’s confusing to be stuck in a world where there are only extremes, where there are only two options, where every decision or dispute can be resolved through the flip of a coin, but Jesus doesn’t flip a coin.
He flips our thinking. This isn’t heads or tails, Satan or God, or even richer or poorer. This pithy statement about God and the Emperor doesn’t give a solid answer. Jesus doesn’t pick an extreme — instead it’s totally ambiguous. It could mean anything. It could mean you return to the Empire the things it dares to claim. Or it could mean the Empire gets nothing because it all belongs to God. Or it could mean we are stewards of both God and the Empire.[2] It’s just not that clear.
Still, there’s something about that coin. There’s something about the flip that Jesus makes with that coin. In one gesture, Jesus challenges us to notice whose image is upon it, what the inscription reveals and what that says about us — and that’s always the point isn’t it? Jesus doesn’t come knocking at your door to cite chapter and verse. Jesus asks: What does this mean to you? When you look at the change in your pocket what do you see? Who does it belong to? What are you supposed to do with it? How are you supposed to share it? How does that coin tax you?
Yes, I know, it’s just a coin but thousands have gathered on Wall Street because of that coin. In the cries of their protest against corporations, there is a clear demand that our money should be shared. That seems to be what Jesus is saying here. It’s ambiguous. It’s not easy to understand but the domination system that created the tax system of the Empire isn’t working. It only benefitted those that created it. It didn’t look after the farmer — and in Jesus’ day, they were the 99%. First century farmers could barely survive because their taxes were so high.[3] To those that supported this tax system — that is, the Pharisees and the Herodians — Jesus raises this coin to ask: How does this tax you? What does this say about who you are? What does this say about who you value?
It’s ambiguous but it seems that Jesus asks us the same thing that Moses asked God, “Show me your glory.” we are asked to reveal God’s image. We’re challenged to find God’s presence in the world — but especially in the ways we choose to live in the world. So, where do you see the full glory of God? Do you see God in the coins in your pocket? Do you see God in profit margins and interest earned? Or do you see God in the frustrated youth camped out in Lincoln Park? Do you see God in the people that have occupied Wall Street to demand another way? It’s both sides of the same coin, isn’t it?
The question Jesus asks you is not who you do think is right. Jesus asks you to see the full glory of God. That’s not an easy thing to do. It’s not easy to condemn a tax structure without also condemning those that uphold it. You might even say (as I would) that Jesus does a rather terrible job of offering us a good example. Jesus takes sides. His ministry begins without ambiguity in favor of the poor. Before he does anything else, Jesus makes it clear that this is who he is about. He has come so that:
the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf
hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.[4]
Jesus makes a choice. He chooses to see the full glory of God in those who feel left out. He chooses those the still need a bailout. He chooses those that are swimming in debt. He chooses those that have been wandering in the wilderness for far too long. Because when you’ve been there too long, you feel that something must change. You’ve exhausted all other possibilities. You feel you have to flip a coin. It’s then that you look for God. Like Moses, you demand God to show all of her glory, to reveal every part of her image, to reveal all that God truly is. And right there, that’s where it feels like Jesus flips the coin! At that moment, where there are no other possibilities but all of the answers lie in your hands, Jesus asks: How does this tax you?
You’ve seen the news reports. You’ve heard the confusion of these youth. Maybe you’ve even heard their frustration mingle with your own as you wrestle with saving for retirement, trying to put a kid through college, making a small business survive or living like most of our neighbors live: paycheck to paycheck. Or in the case of many of our seniors, social security check to social security check. You know that this mass protest which has now reached Hong Kong, London, Berlin and now totaling 1500 cities worldwide responded to a blog post calling upon their presence on September 17th. They’ve been there ever since flipping their coins. Would you deny them God’s presence?
Nicholas couldn’t. He’s a first year seminarian at Harvard Divinity School and now a Protest Chaplain. He didn’t plan on this. It happened rather innocently when he and a few of his fellow seminarians went to Wall Street wearing robes and carrying cardboard signs that proclaimed “Blessed are the poor.” He was surprised when the other protestors didn’t know what to make of these young religious leaders. They couldn’t believe that the church could be there in solidarity.[5]
The pithy statement in this gospel lesson may be ambiguous but loving people is not. You may remain confused about whether or not Satan rules the world, but this isn’t about answers. Moses didn’t stand on that mountain asking for all of the answers. He asked God to show all of God’s glory so that Moses could see clearly whether or not he was living in the image of God.[6] He didn’t see God. Not this time. Moses was doing it. In his words and deeds, Moses showed the full glory of God. It’s confusing and strange but that’s where God invites us to be. God challenges to find that place between the extremes — that place where we can feel God’s hand moving us forward even if we can only see her back. It’s that place where we can flip the coin. It’s that place that will bring good news to the poor. It’s that place where we can show the full glory of God, but the question remains: How does this tax you?