On The Boundary – Between Contrasting Worlds

 "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's"

In October of 1988 we were living in the Kansas City Area, and back then it was the custom at all Kansas City Chiefs home games for a religious leader to give an opening invocation a few minutes before kick-off.  A member of my congregation, who was a part of the Chiefs organization, made arrangements for me to do an invocation.

The ground rules were that it had to be an inclusive prayer of 75 words or less, spoken from the 50 yard line in the middle of the field. I would be instructed to wait on the sideline, and when given the signal by the director, I was then to walk briskly to the middle of the field to a waiting microphone. I would be introduced and then begin.  It sounded easy enough! 

We showed up at the appropriate entrance and were escorted to our seats.  When the time was near, someone came and got me. As I was standing on the side-line waiting for the signal, the director, with his headphones and microphone, looked over at me and said, "60 seconds!"   Everything was going as planned until...  just seconds before I was to walk out the director gave me a rather urgent look and asked, "Did anybody tell you about the "delay?"  My throat tightened, and I said, "Delay? No!"  He sort of shook his head, and my anxiety spiked.  My brain was racing, "What delay? What's this all about?  What's he talking about?  What do I do?"

Just as my quiet panic was reaching a crescendo, the director said "Go!"  I must have hesitated for again he said, "Go, Father, Go!"  So I went - not having a clue about the meaning of "delay."

Two things happened to me in those next moments.

First, I began my prayer, "Almighty God..."  I then took a little breath, and just as I was about to speak the next phrase of my prayer I heard this incredible booming voice come from the speakers at far end of the field above the Diamond Vision Screen, "Almighty God. . ."   There was about a two second "delay" from the moment I spoke into the microphone, to actually hearing it come from the speakers.  That may not sound like a big deal, but all I can say is, you try it sometime! Try giving a speech while having someone shout your own words back in your face two seconds later!"   

The second thing is harder to describe. In the midst of it all, an intuitive awareness came over me.  That's the only way I can describe it. I became intuitively aware, as I looked up at 80,000 people from the 50 yard line that I was standing on an invisible boundary between contrasting worlds.  I was no longer just standing on the 50 yard line of Arrowhead Stadium, but I was standing on the boundary between contrasting worlds.  As a representative of the faith community, I had been asked to introduce a spiritual element, however small, however token and insignificant, into the spectacle of the violent world of smash mouth NFL football!   At that moment I felt very uncomfortable; very out-of-place; and reduced to some kind of token.  A little voice was going off in my head, "Joe, what are you doing standing out here, in this specific place, doing specifically this?"  

I believe a way to think about and frame our gospel story this morning is to see that Jesus found himself standing on a boundary between contrasting worlds.  The Pharisees asked, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?”   Their question was actually a set-up to discredit him.   If he answered “no”, he could be accused of advocating denial of Roman authority and charged with sedition.  If he answered “yes”, he ran the perilous risk of discrediting himself with the crowds because the Roman tax was not only economically burdensome to the poor masses, but it reminded the Jews of their lack of sovereignty over their own homeland.  So, the devious question placed him on the treacherous boundary between the Roman authorities and their indigenous collaborators - and the common people. 

But that wasn’t the only contrasting boundary he was standing upon.  By reading the story in a deeper way, we see that Jesus was also standing on the boundary between the kingdom of God that Jesus embodied and proclaimed in his life, and the kingdom of Roman imperial power/theology represented by the emperor’s head imprinted on the coin the Pharisees produced from their pockets.

One of the things that is a key to understanding this story, but is rarely ever discussed, is that the coin that came from the pockets of the Pharisees bore the imprint of Caesar.  Jesus called them hypocrites, not only because they were trying to discredit him, but because in the Jewish homeland of the first century there were two types of coins in circulation.  One type was devoid of human or animal images because of the Jewish prohibition against graven images.  This was the appropriate coin for the Jew to have in his possession.  The other type of coin bore the image of Caesar, who was considered divine, and even called Son of God.  For a Jew to carry a coin bearing the head of Caesar was idolatry.  It was a brilliant counter-trap set and sprung by Jesus.  His accusers were wearing religious clothes, but they were exposed for who they really were and whose side they were really on – the side of imperial Rome with its power to exploit and oppress the masses.

Jesus stood on the boundary between contrasting worlds: the kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Roman imperial power and theology.  It was then he said, "Give… to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."  If you think about it, it’s really a non-answer to their original trick question, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”   Jesus’ cryptic answer cannot be seen as an unqualified endorsement of paying taxes to Rome.  If Jesus wanted to say that he could have simply said “yes, pay your taxes.”   So, on the one hand, his answer was a dismissal of their trick question, but on the other hand, the second part of his answer, “Give to God the things that are God’s,” is both evocative and provocative.  It raises the real issue that Jesus wanted to get at, “What does belong to Caesar, and what does belong to God.”   Matthew tells us that the crowd was “amazed; and they left him and went away.”

That’s just another way of saying that they had to go home and deeply reflect upon what Jesus had just said.  If they did go home and reflect, as heartfelt Jews they could only have come to one inevitable conclusion:  that everything belonged to God – as their sacred scriptures affirmed.    

Jesus stood on the boundary between contrasting worlds, and so do we!   We feel enormous pressure every day to sell our souls to the imperial power and theology of the world:  to invest ourselves totally in the secular stuff of the world; to trust self-indulgent materialism to fill us; to collaborate with Caesar in ways that ignore and exploit the poor and powerless;  to use faith in a token manner to justify greedy schemes and agendas.  It’s seductive, and we are subject to its advances every day.

Jesus stood on the boundary between contrasting worlds, but he always walked that boundary firmly and immovably grounded in the kingdom of God, but yet not removed from life's hard realities;

Jesus stood on the boundary between contrasting worlds cultivating a relationship with God, but yet always vulnerable and sensitized to the world around him, bringing to expression, in his life, the love and compassion of the kingdom of God.

Jesus stood on the boundary between contrasting worlds and physically touched those who nobody else would touch for fear of religious and social contamination – he reached out to and even embraced the lepers!

Jesus stood on the boundary between contrasting worlds and he associated with those whom respectable and decently religious folks deplored and despised - tax collectors, prostitutes, the losers and riffraff!

Even when it meant defying sacred Sabbath laws and spiritual traditions, deeds of mercy, works of healing, and affirmation of the lost always took precedence over divine law and tradition.

Jesus stood on the boundary between contrasting worlds  and he crossed over a myriad of social, cultural, religious, economic, ethnic, and gender barriers to affirm those sequestered behind them.

As disciples and followers of Jesus, we are called to walk the same boundary, all the time staying firmly grounded in the love of Jesus and bringing that love and compassion to expression in our own lives.  What might that "boundary life" look in real life?

Paul gives us a clue n the epistle for this morning.  Paul lauds the Thessalonians for being people who demonstrated a "work of faith... labor of love... and steadfastness of hope..."

What might that boundary life look like?   I think of some special people I have been blessed to know over the years, and how the life of Jesus was alive through them.

- It looks like a women I know in Anchorage who works as a volunteer in a hospice, especially ministering to those dying of complications from AIDS, sharing the love and compassion of God bringing comfort and the hope that comes with God's promises through the crucified and risen Christ.

- It looks like the man who told me he prays everyday for the people he works with before he goes to work. He says he especially prays for grace and understanding with those with whom he has conflict and doesn't like very much.

-It looks like the son I know who decided to forgive his father for childhood abuses, letting go of his  resentment even when the father never acknowledged his sin.

- It looks like a courageous young woman in one of my previous congregations who traveled to some of Africa’s toughest and most despairing places, and came home to challenge the congregation out of indifference toward understanding and action for the sake of the poor, powerless and diseased on this planet.

- It looks like a brave young man I know who insists that a wheel-chair and debilitating illness is not going to discourage him as he “walks” the CROP Walk every year in his wheelchair raising more money than anybody else.

What does it look like?  It looks like you!  It looks your life when you follow Jesus along the boundary of contrasting worlds, having firmly grounded your whole life and your whole being in the kingdom of God.  Then, by God’s grace through Jesus, have the trust and courage to bring God's kingdom to expression through your "work of faith... labor of love... and steadfastness of hope."