Readings for the Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost (Year A) Proper 24 – Track 2
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on Sunday October 22, 2023.
Twenty years ago, I was given this cross when I first visited the Holy Land. The cross is made from the trees of the land, the same trees that shout for joy (according to today’s Psalm), the trees that clap their hands, according to the prophet Isaiah and this year’s Stewardship Hymn. I visited the Holy Land as a college student with a group of Messianic Jews, Jews who believed that Jesus is the Messiah, who were holding their annual conference in Jerusalem that year. Part of the reason I went with this group was because I wanted to spend time with a Messianic Jewish girl whom I had a crush on, but also because I was discerning whether I was called to be part of this religious community. I got to visit all the holy sites and walk where Jesus walked. It was like visiting Narnia, the location of all my favorite stories. Although I was aware of the violence and political chaos that plagued the land, I was not expecting that stuff to be a major part of my trip. As it turned out, the politics of the land took the forefront in discussions, seminars, and tours; and it became clear to me that the conference held a profoundly pro-Zionist agenda, which demanded my attention.
Five years later, after I had become an Episcopalian and began pursuing the ordination process, I returned to Jerusalem for another conference, this time with a group of Palestinian Christians, a very different group of people with a very different agenda. It was an international conference sponsored by Sabeel, an ecumenical non-violent liberation theology organization among Palestinian Christians, founded by a Palestinian Anglican priest named the Rev. Naim Ateek.[1] This conference offered an entirely different story from the one I heard from Messianic Jews. Each conference told its own compelling narrative of oppression, conveniently omitting key elements of the opposing story.
Not long after returning from the Sabeel conference, I made what some might call a “rookie mistake” by preaching on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Some parishioners thought I was too sympathetic towards the Palestinian people and therefore borderline anti-Semitic while others thought I was too sympathetic towards Israel and the Israelis and therefore betraying my fellow Christians and Anglicans in Palestine. I learned that if I ever preach on this controversial subject again, I’d be touching the third rail and no matter what I say, somebody will be very upset.
Some might say that the preacher who feels called to preach on Israel/Palestine is putting themselves in an impossible situation, which leads me to today’s Gospel where Jesus is put in an impossible situation when the Pharisees ask him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (Matt 22:17). They knew that if Jesus said yes, he would risk looking like a Roman sympathizer. Many of Jesus’s followers were passionately opposed to the occupation of the powerful Roman state and hearing Jesus express any sympathy for Rome would likely result in their complete dismissal of anything else he had to say. If Jesus said no, he would be accused by the Romans of sedition and treason against the state. So, by creating this dichotomy and demanding a yes or no answer from Jesus, the Pharisees were trying to trap him. No matter what Jesus said, somebody was going to be very upset.
So, preachers who feel called to an impossible situation and anyone who feels troubled by the seemingly hopeless and unresolvable reality of another war in Israel/Palestine would be wise to take heed of Jesus’s response.
After showing the coin that bears the image of Caesar, Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” This is one of the great riddles of Jesus. What does it mean? I find that the most helpful interpretation is also one of the most ancient. African Church Father Tertullian (160 – 220 AD) interprets Jesus as saying, “[Give] the image of Caesar, which is on the coin, to Caesar, and the image of God, which is on humanity, to God.”
On one level, Jesus is saying, “Yes, you can give your money to the state, but you need to always be ready to give your life, your everything, to God.” Because everything you have is a gift from God. Every breath you breathe and every penny in your bank account is from God. Jesus is challenging us to hand everything over to the loving hands of God, who gave us everything in the first place, including our wallets.
On another level, Jesus is reminding us all that we humans are made in the image of God. With these words, Jesus is saying, “When I look at you and your faces, I see you all radiating with divine life. I see heavenly potential in all of you. Sometimes you smother that divine image with violence and false images. Let go of all of that. Let Caesar have it. Then you will start to see what I see: the image of God impressed on your face and on the faces of all those around you.” Just as Caesar put his face on the coin so God put his face on you and me. Our face is the image of God. According to a Jewish proverb, there is an angel walking before every person, announcing, “Behold, the image of God!”
So, when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we are called to be on the side of humanity. We are called to help create the human family rather than compete with one another in the human race. We are called to respect the dignity of every human being, to join the angels in celebrating and protecting the image of God, impressed uniquely and beautifully on each human face. Amen.
[1] His son, the Rev. Dr. Sari Ateek, an Episcopal priest in Maryland
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 