{"id":697,"date":"2017-10-24T10:04:05","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T14:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/?p=697"},"modified":"2017-10-24T10:04:05","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T14:04:05","slug":"20th-sunday-after-pentecosta-living-treasure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/2017\/10\/24\/20th-sunday-after-pentecosta-living-treasure\/","title":{"rendered":"20th Sunday After Pentecost\/A – Living Treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Living Treasure<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/h2>\n

by The Rev. James E. Eaton, Pastor \u2022 Copyright 2017<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\n

20th Sunday After Pentecost\/A \u2022 October 22, 20117<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\n

Matthew 22:15- 22<\/a><\/h2>\n

To hear the sermon preached, click below
\nhttps:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/livingtreasure.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/p>\n

Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Matthew 22:21b<\/em><\/p>\n

A couple is breaking up a household, going their separate ways. He hands her a book: \u201cI gave you this,\u201d he says, and they gently argue about who owns books and other things. It\u2019s a scene from the movie Annie Hall but one enacted over and over again. Things get mingled, jumbled. What\u2019s yours? What\u2019s mine? <\/p>\n

Sometimes the question is easy; often it\u2019s hard. I remember when I was divorced from my first wife and we were separating. I remember fighting over who owned the silver ware, who owned the knives, so many little things. What\u2019s mine? What\u2019s yours? It was hard to say so we fought and made silly rules: you take half the silverware, I\u2019ll take the other half. <\/p>\n

Ever since human beings settled down in places, they\u2019ve had to ask this question. Ancient records record with meticulous detail land transactions, including one by the prophet Jeremiah in Jerusalem. The records also show us human greed at work; Proverbs s22:28 says, \u201cDo not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors.\u201d Some unscrupulous people were moving the boundaries of what they owned. King Ahab and later King David both get in trouble when power leads them to overreach and claim for themselves what isn\u2019t theirs. I\u2019m sure everyone here could tell a story about it. What\u2019s yours? What\u2019s mine? \u2014 and then finally: what is God\u2019s?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the issue Jesus raises in the story we read today. Some enemies are hoping to trap him, the way politicians do to each other. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s gone on in their country in the last few years has caused division and hatred and even violence. A few years before, the Romans had taken over Judea and installed Herod as King. He was widely hated and depended on Roman support just to stay alive, let alone in power. Partly to pay the cost of this, the Romans introduced a head tax, called a census. But this census wasn\u2019t like the counting we do, it was a tax on every person. In fact, in just a few weeks, when we read the story of Jesus\u2019 birth, we\u2019ll hear about this tax again because it was precisely to be counted for the tax that Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem. <\/p>\n

The tax had to be paid in a Roman coin called a denarius, worth about a day\u2019s pay and with an image of the emperor on one side and an inscription saying he was divine on the other. Now for a people whose deepest heartfelt religious expression was the Shema Yisrael, the prayer that says, \u201cThe Lord our God, the Lord is one,\u201d and who believed there were no other Gods and who further had been explicitly told not to make images\u2014well, it was unthinkable to have such a coin. So there was division: the Zealots who refused to pay, the establishment who wanted to overlook religious issues and pay up, the Pharisees in between. <\/p>\n

Now they set a trap for Jesus by asking a question with no obvious easy answer. \u201cTell us, is it lawful to pay this tax?\u201d If he says, \u201cNo!\u201d\u2014he will be arrested branded an outlaw, though a popular one; no one likes taxes and this tax was particularly hated. It\u2019s the answer his followers want to hear and the answer the crowd hopes to hear. If on the other hand he says, \u201cYes, pay the tax,\u201d he will be seen as a coward who compromises with power, afraid of the Romans, and he will lose the faith of his followers. <\/p>\n

Now there is quiet as the question hangs in the air, a moment while he thinks, and then, his answer, which obviously surprises them: \u201cShow me the coin\u201d. He\u2019s caught them at their own game\u2014because they produce the coin, showing they have already violated Torah, just by having such an image. <\/p>\n

Now he takes the coin, looks at it, perhaps turns it over and looks up, asking, \u201cWhose image is on the coin?\u201d\u2014everyone knows the answer: Caesar. And finally: his answer: \u201cThem give Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s\u2014and render to God, what is God\u2019s.\u201d <\/p>\n

What is God\u2019s? What belongs to God? Early in the history of the church, a great theologian recognized that since we bear the image of God, Jesus means each one of us. The coin bear\u2019s Caesar\u2019s image\u2014give it to Caesar. We bear God\u2019s image\u2014so we belong to God. \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it,\u201d Psalm 24:1 says. So the question of what is yours has a surprising answer: what is yours is yours isn\u2019t yours, it\u2019s God\u2019s, because you yourself are God\u2019s living treasure. What is God\u2019s?\u2014we are, every single one of us.<\/p>\n

What is yours? What is God\u2019s? If we take this seriously, it becomes the gateway to living as stewards. Now stewardship has come to mean giving money to the church. But it really means a much deeper, wider embrace of a way of life. What is God\u2019s? This moment, and all the moments to come. So if we are on God\u2019s time, shouldn\u2019t we act like it by living as God\u2019s people? What is God\u2019s: this earth and its marvelously complex web of life. So shouldn\u2019t we live in a way that honors that life? What is God\u2019s? All of creation\u2014so if we are stewards, we are stewards of creation. Everything we are, everything we own, everything we do is meant to be a part of this stewardship. <\/p>\n

We are God\u2019s and one of the ways we express this is by though sharing the work of God\u2019s church. All the ministries of this church are enabled by our giving. Let me say that again: all the ministries of this church are enabled by our giving. Nothing happens here, nothing can happen here, unless someone gives something. I think we forget that principle sometimes. We take things for granted, as if they were always here, will always be here. That pew you\u2019re sitting in; this pulpit from which I\u2019m preaching. They had to be bought, someone had to pay for them. <\/p>\n

But we just figure they\u2019ll be there. We\u2019re like the waiter a friend of mine met in the south. She\u2019d never had grits but of course in the south, grits just come with breakfast. So she asked the waiter, \u201cWhat exactly ARE grits?\u201d He looked at her as if she was crazy and replied, \u201cWell, ma\u2019am, grits is grits.\u201d Trying to make herself clear, she pushed on: \u201cWell where do grits come from?\u201d He thought for a moment and then said, \u201cThey come from the kitchen.\u201d The truth is: everything comes from somewhere and the activities of this church, its ministries, it\u2019s mission, do not come from the kitchen or the Church Council or some other place; they come from us, from each one of us. They come from our answer to the question, \u201cWhat is God\u2019s?\u201d <\/p>\n

Notice I didn\u2019t say they come from the answer, \u201cWhat should I give?\u201d That\u2019s the wrong question; giving here isn\u2019t a donation to a cause or an organization; we don\u2019t want what\u2019s yours, in fact. Keep it: it\u2019s yours. No, what makes this place go is when someone recognizes they belong to God and decides to use what they have for God. It could be a talent. We need the gifts and talents of every person. We have some people with great musical talents they recognize as gifts from God and thank God they share them here, because we\u2019d have a lot tougher time praising God and singing alleluia without them. We have bakers and people who are great at greeting. We have painters, photographers; we have people who just come and appreciate it all, cooks, teachers, and people who know how to organize a work party. <\/p>\n

What makes all those go together, what blends it like a good cook making a wonderful stew, is the spirit of God and the open hearted recognition that we belong to God and therefore everything we have, everything we are, belongs to God. <\/p>\n

Of course, part of this is our money. What is money? It\u2019s really a kind of battery, a stored up energy, an ability to get something done. What happens when you give the church a dollar? Nothing miraculous, really. We buy stuff and we pay people. Some of the money buys paper, some buys toner, and we use that to turn out the bulletin you hold in your hand each Sunday. Some of the money pays me, and because you pay me, I am available when someone needs a visit in the hospital, when a funeral is needed, when you need a calm, thoughtful person to talk to that you can trust. A good deal of it allows me to plan the sermon and worship that the bulletin describes. A good part of the money pays to make sure we have this beautiful, historic building in which to worship; the money pays to maintain it, heat it or cool it, and keep it up. <\/p>\n

None of that\u2019s a miracle but what is truly miraculous is what comes out of all that process. When we respond by freely, joyfully giving what is God\u2019s, God takes that, inspires it and works in it. So the sermon and the singing becomes worship. The teams meet and a potluck dinner gets planned or a quilt gets made or people learn about the Bible. Children grow up, feeling welcomed and learning about the wonderful love of God. Others in the community find a welcoming place to meet, so that the building almost bursts with activity. That\u2019s what happens when we give God what is God\u2019s. <\/p>\n

Soon, every member of this church and some who aren\u2019t members will be invited to estimate their giving for next year. Over the next two weeks, we\u2019ll have more information about this and I hope you\u2019ll read it. On November 5, there will be a luncheon after church so you can hear from the Trustees and ask questions. What we hope today is that you will pray about this process. There\u2019s a tendency we all have to do what we have done. This is a critical moment: we need, all of us, to think about what it means to be a steward and consider how we can help. <\/p>\n

Now I don\u2019t know how much you should give but I do know this: God knows. So what I want to say about pledging is very simple, very direct: please pray about it. Don\u2019t ask what you gave last year, don\u2019t ask what you should give, ask God what God wants. Start with the idea that it all belongs to God\u2014start with the idea that you belong to God, that you are God\u2019s living treasure.<\/p>\n

Give God what is God\u2019s: that\u2019s what Jesus said to the Pharisees and the disciples and it\u2019s what he says to us today. Give God what is God\u2019s. And what is God\u2019s? You\u2014me\u2014we are God\u2019s living treasure. If we will faithfully, prayerfully, hopefully give God what is God\u2019s, I know that God will work with it like a baker making bread; that God\u2019s spirit will come into it like yeast and raise it up until all God\u2019s children are fed and realize the wonderful love of God. <\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Living Treasure A Sermon for the First Congregational Church of Albany, NY by The Rev. James E. Eaton, Pastor \u2022 Copyright 2017 20th Sunday After Pentecost\/A \u2022 October 22, 20117 Matthew 22:15- 22 To hear the sermon preached, click below Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[101,39,109,108,3,13,1,2,69],"tags":[120,122,121,119],"class_list":["post-697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-after-pentecost","category-exegesis","category-matthew","category-scripture","category-sermon","category-theology","category-uncategorized","category-worship","category-year-a","tag-coin","tag-grits","tag-money","tag-stewardship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstreflection.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}