Year A
Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 99
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In today’s reading from Exodus\u2026 Moses is fretful\u2026 he wants God to reassure him\u2026 that God will accompany him and the Jewish people as they sojourn\u2026 it echoes some of the fear in recent passages\u2026 that God has brought them out into the desert only to abandon them\u2026 and God reassures Moses that he has found favor in God’s sight\u2026 and that God’s presence will accompany them\u2026 and the Hebrew word\u2026 panim<\/em>\u2026 that’s translated as face\u2026 is also in this same passage\u2026 translated as presence\u2026 God’s face is God’s presence\u2026 ] but in v. 20 God is adamant\u2026 God warns Moses that he cannot see God’s face and live\u2026 and this idea that you can’t see God’s face and live seems to be pretty widespread\u2026 right\u2026 but sometimes we come across two verses in scripture that contradict each other\u2026 because just nine verses earlier\u2026 in 33:11a\u2026 the text says\u2026 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses\u2026 face to face\u2026 as one speaks to a friend<\/em>\u2026 and now in v. 20\u2026 God seems to be saying just the opposite\u2026 how can that be\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author Doug Hershey writes\u2026 perhaps the confusion comes not from God\u2019s face\u2026 but from our assumption about the word live<\/em>\u2026 in Hebrew\u2026 the word that’s translated as live\u2026 is chayay<\/em>\u2026 in biblical Hebrew this word comes from chai<\/em>\u2026 which means life\u2026 chayay <\/em>sometimes describes being revived\u2026 or strengthened internally into a full life\u2026 or even to save a life\u2026 this was the clear message in Deuteronomy 8:3 when God told Israel that\u2026 man does not live [chayah] by bread alone\u2026 but man lives [chayah] by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And I believe that this is what God is conveying here in Exodus\u2026 that no one can see God’s face\u2026 can be in God’s presence\u2026 and continue to be revived and strengthened by regular means\u2026 no one can look directly at God\u2026 and simply call it a nice experience… in other words\u2026 no one can see the face of God and simply chayay<\/em>\u2026 continue on as if everything was normal\u2026 looking into the face of God can change us in such dramatic ways that our previous life is destroyed\u2026 but isn\u2019t that what we want\u2026 to give our lives to God\u2026 to be dramatically changed\u2026 but dramatic change doesn’t always come easy\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was once talking with a friend about free will\u2026 we were talking about addiction and recovery\u2026 and some family systems issues\u2026 and about getting healthy\u2026 and I got kind of annoyed with her\u2026 because in a cavalier way\u2026 in a kind of off-the-cuff way\u2026 she said\u2026 Well\u2026 it’s just a choice!<\/em>\u2026 it’s just a choice is it\u2026 it seemed insensitive to say it this way\u2026 because I know how difficult that can be for most of us\u2026 and I have empathy for what people go through\u2026 the therapy and counseling that people go through\u2026 trying to get out from under the weight of unhealthy behavior patterns\u2026 so for her to say that it was just a choice\u2026 like deciding what to have for dinner\u2026 that recovery was just a choice\u2026 seemed to minimize the multi-generational dysfunction that can be passed down to us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because even as we try\u2026 we will never get all of it right\u2026 sometimes we will not respect or lift up the dignity of every human being\u2026 sometimes our protecting hand will not be there to shield our children and they will be exposed to things too overpowering for them\u2026 sometimes we will choose cheap grace\u2026 sometimes we will choose the bottle over sobriety\u2026 but when we choose the face of God\u2026 we choose life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today’s Gospel\u2026 the Pharisees sent their disciples along with some Herodians\u2026 and what we have here are two competing groups\u2026 and they each have their own disciples\u2026 something like political parties of our time\u2026 the Herodians represent supporters of the Roman regime who would support paying the tax\u2026 the Pharisees on the other hand\u2026 were popular with the people\u2026 because in principle they resented the tax\u2026 but didn’t go as far as the radical nationalists who publicly resisted its payment… and this tax wasn’t abstract\u2026 this was the Roman head-tax instituted in 6 CE\u2026 when Judea became a Roman province\u2026 and it was this census that triggered the nationalism that became the Zealot movement\u2026 which then turned into the disastrous war which ended in 70 CE with the destruction of the Temple\u2026 and the Zealot movement gained momentum\u2026 because the tax could only be paid with Roman coins\u2026 and Roman coins bore the image of Tiberius Caesar\u2026 the son of the divine Augustus\u2026 an inscription considered blasphemous by many Jews\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So pretending to flatter Jesus\u2026 and intending to trap him\u2026 they ask a trick question which is designed to either alienate the nationalists\u2026 if Jesus says it’s OK to pay the tax\u2026 ] or make him subject to arrest by the Romans\u2026 if he says it’s not OK to pay it\u2026 ] and Jesus asks for a coin\u2026 and in the sacred precincts of the Temple\u2026 in a place where they know that what they have is forbidden\u2026 the Pharisee’s disciples produce a coin with its idolatrous image\u2026 and Jesus utters the famous line about giving to Caesar what is his\u2026 and to God what is God’s\u2026 and Jesus’ answer is an indirect yes\u2026 since it was not against Torah\u2026 against the law\u2026 to pay taxes\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes\u2026 as we look back into passages like this\u2026 it’s easy for us to project back some “all or nothing” thinking\u2026 but for Jesus\u2026 and for the prophets\u2026 there was no split between politics and religion\u2026 Matthew isn’t interested in this kind of dualism\u2026 because the kingdom of God that Jesus embraces\u2026 represents all of life\u2026 and so by answering the way he did\u2026 Jesus rejects this kind of polarized thinking\u2026 Jesus acknowledges the messiness of life\u2026 but goes beyond the original question with a warning of sorts about not giving to Caesar\u2026 the things that one ought to give to God… like divine status\u2026 because the face of God\u2026 is not depicted on gold\u2026 but is imaged in humanity\u2026 ] the coin of Caesar is gold\u2026 the coin of God is humanity\u2026 Caesar is seen in his currency\u2026 God however\u2026 is known through human beings\u2026 and so go ahead\u2026 and give your wealth to Caesar\u2026 but reserve for God the sole innocence of your conscience where God is beheld\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if we remember Psalm 24:1\u2026 the Earth is the LORD’s\u2026 and the fullness thereof<\/em>\u2026 that is\u2026 everything and everyone\u2026 it holds\u2026 Jesus reminds us then about the more encompassing imperative to serve God\u2026 and remembering that our duty to God exceeds all others\u2026 but if we remember that God always and only desires for us to choose life\u2026 and offers us God’s presence and face\u2026 we may more easily see through the brokenness of the world\u2026 and to a prayer of hope which I shared in 2016\u2026 [ attributed to Fr. Ken Untener ]\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church’s mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But this is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future that is not our own\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Holy God\u2026 make it so. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year A Exodus 33:12-23 Psalm 99 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Matthew 22:15-22 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 In today’s reading from Exodus\u2026 Moses is fretful\u2026 he wants God to reassure him\u2026 that God will accompany him and the Jewish people as they sojourn\u2026 it echoes some of the fear in recent passages\u2026 that God has brought them out into the desert only to abandon them\u2026 and God reassures Moses that he has found favor in God’s sight\u2026 and that God’s presence will accompany them\u2026 and the Hebrew word\u2026 panim\u2026 that’s translated as face\u2026 is also in this same passage\u2026 translated as presence\u2026 God’s face is God’s presence\u2026 ] but in v. 20 God is adamant\u2026 God warns Moses that he cannot see God’s face and live\u2026 and this idea that you can’t see God’s face and live seems to be pretty widespread\u2026 right\u2026 but sometimes we come across two verses in scripture that contradict each other\u2026 because just nine verses earlier\u2026 in 33:11a\u2026 the text says\u2026 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses\u2026 face to face\u2026 as one speaks to a friend\u2026 and now in v. 20\u2026 God seems to be saying just the opposite\u2026 how can that be\u2026 Author Doug Hershey writes\u2026 perhaps the confusion comes not from God\u2019s face\u2026 but from our assumption about the word live\u2026 in Hebrew\u2026 the word that’s translated as live\u2026 is chayay\u2026 in biblical Hebrew this word comes from chai\u2026 which means life\u2026 chayay sometimes describes being revived\u2026 or strengthened internally into a full life\u2026 or even to save a life\u2026 this was the clear message in Deuteronomy 8:3 when God told Israel that\u2026 man does not live [chayah] by bread alone\u2026 but man lives [chayah] by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD\u2026 And I believe that this is what God is conveying here in Exodus\u2026 that no one can see God’s face\u2026 can be in God’s presence\u2026 and continue to be revived and strengthened by regular means\u2026 no one can look directly at God\u2026 and simply call it a nice experience… in other words\u2026 no one can see the face of God and simply chayay\u2026 continue on as if everything was normal\u2026 looking into the face of God can change us in such dramatic ways that our previous life is destroyed\u2026 but isn\u2019t that what we want\u2026 to give our lives to God\u2026 to be dramatically changed\u2026 but dramatic change doesn’t always come easy\u2026 I was once talking with a friend about free will\u2026 we were talking about addiction and recovery\u2026 and some family systems issues\u2026 and about getting healthy\u2026 and I got kind of annoyed with her\u2026 because in a cavalier way\u2026 in a kind of off-the-cuff way\u2026 she said\u2026 Well\u2026 it’s just a choice!\u2026 it’s just a choice is it\u2026 it seemed insensitive to say it this way\u2026 because I know how difficult that can be for most of us\u2026 and I have empathy for what people go through\u2026 the therapy and counseling that people go through\u2026 trying to get out from under the weight of unhealthy behavior patterns\u2026 so for her to say that it was just a choice\u2026 like deciding what to have for dinner\u2026 that recovery was just a choice\u2026 seemed to minimize the multi-generational dysfunction that can be passed down to us\u2026 Because even as we try\u2026 we will never get all of it right\u2026 sometimes we will not respect or lift up the dignity of every human being\u2026 sometimes our protecting hand will not be there to shield our children and they will be exposed to things too overpowering for them\u2026 sometimes we will choose cheap grace\u2026 sometimes we will choose the bottle over sobriety\u2026 but when we choose the face of God\u2026 we choose life\u2026 In today’s Gospel\u2026 the Pharisees sent their disciples along with some Herodians\u2026 and what we have here are two competing groups\u2026 and they each have their own disciples\u2026 something like political parties of our time\u2026 the Herodians represent supporters of the Roman regime who would support paying the tax\u2026 the Pharisees on the other hand\u2026 were popular with the people\u2026 because in principle they resented the tax\u2026 but didn’t go as far as the radical nationalists who publicly resisted its payment… and this tax wasn’t abstract\u2026 this was the Roman head-tax instituted in 6 CE\u2026 when Judea became a Roman province\u2026 and it was this census that triggered the nationalism that became the Zealot movement\u2026 which then turned into the disastrous war which ended in 70 CE with the destruction of the Temple\u2026 and the Zealot movement gained momentum\u2026 because the tax could only be paid with Roman coins\u2026 and Roman coins bore the image of Tiberius Caesar\u2026 the son of the divine Augustus\u2026 an inscription considered blasphemous by many Jews\u2026 So pretending to flatter Jesus\u2026 and intending to trap him\u2026 they ask a trick question which is designed to either alienate the nationalists\u2026 if Jesus says it’s OK to pay the tax\u2026 ] or make him subject to arrest by the Romans\u2026 if he says it’s not OK to pay it\u2026 ] and Jesus asks for a coin\u2026 and in the sacred precincts of the Temple\u2026 in a place where they know that what they have is forbidden\u2026 the Pharisee’s disciples produce a coin with its idolatrous image\u2026 and Jesus utters the famous line about giving to Caesar what is his\u2026 and to God what is God’s\u2026 and Jesus’ answer is an indirect yes\u2026 since it was not against Torah\u2026 against the law\u2026 to pay taxes\u2026 Sometimes\u2026 as we look back into passages like this\u2026 it’s easy for us to project back some “all or nothing” thinking\u2026 but for Jesus\u2026 and for the prophets\u2026 there was no split between politics and religion\u2026 Matthew isn’t interested in this kind of dualism\u2026 because the kingdom of God that Jesus embraces\u2026 represents all of life\u2026 and so by answering the way he did\u2026 Jesus rejects this kind of polarized thinking\u2026 Jesus acknowledges the messiness of 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