The theme for this Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time is "Rendering Our Lives". The texts are, from the Prophet Isaiah, "I know you are a bunch of hard-heads, obstinate and flint-faced. So I got a running start and began telling you what was going on before it even happened. That is why you can't say, 'My God-idol did this, my favorite god-carving commanded this.' You have all this evidence confirmed by your own eyes and ears. Shouldn't you be talking about it?" And, from the Gospel of Matthew, "Then Jesus, aware of the Pharisees' slander, said, 'Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites!" Let us pray.

The Scottish poet James Thomson, in his poem “Liberty”, offers up the following observation:  “Listen well to the soft-buzzing Slander—slick moths that eat an honest name!”

Look out across the landscape of our country’s political arena, look out across the scenery of the Presbyterian Church USA today, and you can see too quickly Thomson’s observation in action—for slander and defamation of character now seem to take powerful precedence over primary issues of justice and social concern! The slick moths of slander, meant to eat an honest name, are rampant in our nation’s current election cycle.  But make no mistake about it—the moths of slander are also present within our Church.  In the most recent copy of the Layman the Presbyterian Lay Committee has declared this past General Assembly an “evil” gathering—accusing the commissioners who gathered in Richmond, Virginia this summer of “abandoning the Christian faith and the moral principles that emanate from it.”  Even though these faithful folk attempted to build consensus, and to create common ground, and to find workable solutions to bridge deep divides, still the members of the Lay Committee seem to be more concerned with doling out slander rather than  working to mend the torn and tattered fabric of our Church’s communal life.  “Good, God-fearing people”, they write, “should distance themselves vigorously and publicly from this morally sick Church!” And thus mimicking the political practices of our day, the Lay Committee seems to be more concerned with tearing down than building up.  They seem to value slander more than they do solutions.  And they would rather entrap than engage in honest dialog—with all of this done under the guise of true Christianity.

Listen well to the soft-buzzing slander—slick moths that eat an honest name!

And so as Matthew tells us this morning, it was Jesus himself who was the selected victim of such practices as well—for the Pharisees were deeply troubled by this backwoods prophet from Galilee who was stirring up the common folk through both his words and his actions.  They had observed Jesus hanging out with the despised and the discardable of their society.  They had stood by as Jesus listened to the hurts and hopes of common folk with compassion and concern.  Ignoring the stringent Pharisaic purity codes of cleanliness and separation, this wayward Jew had even reached out to the unclean and had dared to dine at table with blatant sinners.  But worst yet, the Pharisees thought, was the fact that Jesus was talking crazy talk to those found at the very bottom of the social ladder.  Jesus was telling them that the radical reign of God was not somehow coming down the pike but was present and in their midst.  He was telling them that the last would be first and the first would be last.  He was telling them that everyone was interconnected and incorporated into the family of God without regard to their rank or status, their sexual preference or their social birth-lines!  This Jesus was even running around telling those who were lame, or lost, or viewed with low regard by those of power that they were incredibly special in God’s eyes.  They were precious and of worth—for they bore within themselves the indelible image of their compassionate Creator!

And so thus having felt the stinging judgment of Jesus’ far-fetched parables and pronouncements, having sensed the wide-armed breadth of Jesus’ inclusive ministry,  the Pharisees had had their fill.  They were now ready to seize this country carpenter so as to silence him.  But they were also aware of the fact that this could not be done openly—for Jesus had found favor among the crowds.  His public polls were sky high—and so the accusation of being misguided theologically—an apostate in their midst— would not be enough to bring him down!

So here is what the Pharisees decided to do!  As our text tells us, they sent a few of their disciples out into the country-side so as to confront and accuse Jesus of treachery.  But more importantly, they also sent along with their disciples a delegation of Herodians—those aligned with the Roman ruler of the day, Herod Antipas!  For you see, the Pharisees were not naive politically.  They knew that charging Jesus with religious heresy would not be enough to shut up his teaching or shut down his ministry!  For he had to be trapped making remarks which would constitute political treason.

Now it was a well-known fact that the matter of paying taxes to Rome was an incendiary issue among the lower classes—as it still is today.  As the Jewish historian Josephus reports, many political rebels had declared that it was nothing less than treason against God to pay taxes to the occupying rulers of Rome—and the Pharisees knew this!  So they carefully fashioned a taxing question for the Heriodians to put to Jesus—a question with no right answer, a question so volatile that by answering it Jesus would either alienate himself from the crowds or hang himself before those of political power—a question which would make any present-day political spin doctor proud and most likely prosperous!

Finding Jesus in the midst of the people, the Herodians were now ready to carry out their pre-formulated task.  But first, they had to offer up to Jesus a cloaked and well-calculated compliment to lure him in!:  “Now good teacher . . .we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality!”  And with that said, we are told, they then unsheathed their political sword!  “So tell us, good one, is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

And suddenly there was a deafening silence—the crowd waiting for Jesus to respond. . the Herodians ready to seize him . . .all of them knowing that no answer from this radical prophet would be correct!  For if Jesus said, ‘Pay the tax!” the crowds would pack it in and go home—for he would be siding with Rome!  And if Jesus said, ‘Don’t pay the tax!” Jesus would be shackled and dragged off to jail—and it would be the ruin of his movement!  It was a lose / lose situation in anyone’s book!

That is, except, in Jesus’.  For he spoke up, and he said to his questioners, “You hypocrites!  Why are you putting me to the test?  For give me the coin that is used for tax!”  Then holding up the cast coin before all who were present, he asked the Heroidians, ‘I want you to tell me whose image you see here, and whose title is written upon it?”  And dumbfounded, they said, “It is the Emperor’s image that we see, and his name engraved there!”  But then turning to the crowd, Jesus said to everyone who was gathered there, ‘Then give to the emperor the things that are his, and to God the things that are God’s!”

How stunning this response must have been for everyone who was present that day!  For suddenly a question that was meant to be political became strangely personal!  This question about rendering to Caesar, meant to entrap Jesus, had been radically turned around by him!  For as Jesus said so clearly—those things that bore the emperor’s likeness were his because they were marked and made in his own image.  They should be returned to him without question!  But those things made of God, marked and made in the diverse image of the Divine, were to be rendered and offered up accordingly as well—given not to a callous leader but rather given over to a loving Creator.  The metal coin was the emperor’s to have and to hold,  to be sure! But the lives of those who were part of Christ’s emerging community bore a different image—one marked and made whole by God’s justice, and peace, and equity!

Now very often this text gets rolled out to uphold the separation between Church and State.  But such a use is incorrect, I think.  For you see, Jesus is not saying here that there is one realm for rulers and another realm for God.  There are not two lists for us to follow—one where we carry out our commitments to our Creator and another where we comply with the demands of the Casears of this world!  If Jesus believed that, as so many tend to do, then he surely would have hung himself in his answer to the Herodians-- choosing his response from column A or column B!  But instead he tells us that we, as human beings, bear the indelible image of God within us.  And because this is true, we are to render ourselves and our very lives to God’s will and way—remembering that our  faith does not remove us from the political arena but rather our faith leads us toward the still un-marked path of sound and just political vision!  For hear me well on this! As hard and as challenging as it may be for us to grasp, it is nothing less than our duty as followers of Christ to confront, and question, and challenge any political leader, or any political ideology, or any political practice that would denigrate or demean our fellow human beings. It is nothing less than our duty as followers of Christ to confront, and question, and challenge any political leader, or any political ideology, or any political practice that would embrace preemptive war or engage in deceptive practices.  For the bold assertion that the image of God is present in every person lies at the very heart of our best religious traditions, and is, in fact, a much needed insight that could convert and renew our own political and ecclesiastical systems this very day. 

Imagine, just for a moment, what it would mean to fashion and form our nation’s policies as if every human being had equal and sacred value!  Imagine what it would mean to fashion the Church with such a Christ-like belief at its heart! I ask you, would that not create a fundamental challenge to, and a fundamental shift in, all of our present systems and operating assumptions—from the halls of Congress all the way out to our communities of faith?  Life in accordance to God’s will is fundamentally different than the general run of human affairs—for such life reflects God’s abiding care and God’s non-discriminating concern for all people.  Such life, such a way of living, is characterized by a radical trust in God’s provision, a radical commitment to sacrificial service for others, and a radical love of those deemed by society as dirty, or discardable, or defiled.  For you see, only a renewed consciousness of the worth of each and every one of us can provide the beginning for the new practice of community so desperately needed in this country and in the Presbyterian Church USA.  And if it is to begin with us, then  we, as those who bear God’s image, must be willing to speak the truth not only in the public square but also from the pulpit.  We must be willing to speak the truth in the midst of our culture as well as in the Church—for the politics and polities of de-structive power will never yield to the practices and the procedures of true community without our presence or our persistent call for justice and equity for all of God’s children!

We claim that we are followers of Christ—through whom God’s will and way for all humanity was made both visible and viable!  And as such, Christ tells us that God’s good and gracious image is also present in each of us as well—whether we are black or white, up-and-coming or down-and-out, straight or gay, republican or democrat!  But here is the amazing thing! For as members of Christ’s Church, we are called to rise above and to transcend such categorizations—those of race, class, economics, sexual orientation, and political party.  For the true Church is nothing less than a community of human beings who have caught the contagion of Christ’s freedom, a community of believers who know well in whose diverse image they are made!   And because their knees will not bend to any Caesar (or any Lay Committee for that matter), they are free to render their lives not only in the service of others but also in the service of their just and loving Creator!

Holding up Caesar’s coin before the people, Jesus asked his opponents a question:  ‘Whose image do you see here, and whose name is written upon it?”  And they answered, ‘The emperor’s!”  Then looking at the gathered crowd, Jesus boldly proclaimed:  “Then give to the emperor the things that are his, and to God the things that are God’s!”

May each of us who are gathered here this day look into our hearts so as to see whose image is present there—and then, looking out to the weary world around us, may we render our lives accordingly!  Thanks be to God!  AMEN